How to protect your mental health as a writer
Plus how to have more success on Medium & the usual tips/resources/opps!
Hi writers and friends!
Happy May! In honor of May being Mental Health Awareness Month:
How to Protect Your Mental Health as a Writer
Be mindful of:
How much you take on (Can you do less?)
What you take on (Are these stories too hard, emotionally or logistically?)
What you need (More assignments? Fewer? More passive income sources? More work now so you can relax next month or vice versa?)
Friendly reminder that therapy is for everyone, not just people who are struggling with mental illness!
Follow and engage with fellow writers on Twitter, IRL, etc. This can help you feel less alone and get the answers you need!
Practice self-care and self-compassion as consistently as you can! Affirm yourself, listen to your body, etc. This can help you avoid major burnout.
Also: You can support fellow LGBTQIA+ journalists’ mental health by donating to this therapy fund!
From Giphy
Want to Have More Success on Medium?
I created a 14-page guide with all my tips for making money, getting views, and gaining followers on Medium!
More about my credibility:
Over 12.2K followers
Top writer & featured on the site
Made tens of thousands of dollars
Published in major pubs, like Start It Up, Better Marketing, etc
Received hundreds of comments on how helpful/encouraging my content is
Some topics I cover:
General success tips
What worked for me (& what won’t work)
How to gain momentum
What Medium readers want
How some of my articles went viral
How to build an audience
And more (listed here)!
Purchasing the Medium guide also allows you to ask me questions :)
It’s currently only $14. Buy it today!
Writing/Freelancing Tips
Pitch Calls
PLEASE NOTE:
If the story is about a marginalized community, you probably need to be in that community to write the piece.
Mentioning my name in your pitch won’t help, unfortunately!
If the rate isn’t mentioned, one site that may help is Who Pays Writers.
Pitch calls:
Daily Dot — LGBTQIA+ writers on how they learned they were queer on the internet — rate is $250+
Healthline — personal essays about the intersection of food & culture, identity, and relationships — rate is $300 to $400
HuffPost — personal essays from AAPI writers about their identity — rate starts at $125
Well+Good — personal essays about bodies — rate starts at $200
Want a bunch of these weekly? Purchase a paid subscription to my writing opportunities newsletter!
Writer Jobs
Plus, a spreadsheet of journalism internships!
Want a bunch of these weekly? Purchase a paid subscription to my writing opportunities newsletter!
Writing/Freelance Resources
Encouragement
My Articles + Successes
I started writing for Dame and Apartment Therapy!
At least 18 people have already bought my Medium guide!
I was able to work a lot this month while also making time to relax, which I desperately needed!
Announcements + Housekeeping
NEW: Don’t forget about my Medium guide, explained in detail toward the top of the newsletter!
More of my content: (1) my writing Twitter // (2) my portfolio // (3) my resource set // (4) my newsletter with tons of writing jobs and pitch calls
Feedback from you: (1) For the newsletter // (2) For the resource set
This newsletter is free, but if you’d like to donate, my Venmo is @AshleyBroadwater, my PayPal is paypal.me/aebroad, and my CashApp is $ashleybroadwater3 :) A huge thanks to donors!
That’s all for now! Thanks for reading this month’s newsletter. As always, feel free to reach out if you have any questions :)
Awesome article