the monthly TLDR (annual TLDR at the end):

metric	goal	result	percent to goal
pitches	60	49	82%
pieces filed	11	13	118%
conversion rate	18%	23%	+5%
estimated payment	$1000	$1865	187%

I LANDED THREE NEW OUTLETS IN APRIL. sorry for yelling, but i feel like that should just be the full recap right there. i am really excited about all three of them. i’m not going to jinx anything by saying what they are as ideas and stories can always get “killed” but my fingers are crossed very very hard that the stories come to fruition.

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i didn’t file as many pieces in april as i did in march, but i was still busy busy busy. many of the pieces that i’m worked on in april and am working on to file in may are requiring more effort and work (to find sources, interviews etc) so i found that i spent more time writing fewer pieces last month.

hence the yet again late recap that so many people are reading, but that i feel committed to doing each month to help me keep track of the highs and the lows of this endeavor.

how many pieces did i write in april?

i filed 13 pieces in april, beating my goal of 11 pieces. i’ve continued to find that getting up at 5:30 is a “good” way to get writing in and to ensure that things are on time. i say good because while i love the solitude and ability to go heads down for a bit i don’t love waking up that early.

i’ve been day dreaming of the day that i might be able to pursue writing full-time so that i have more time and space to write and to pitch, but it’s going to be awhile before that can happen. (hello daycare bills)

it’s hard to pick a favorite piece from this month as i loved so many that i wrote. i’m personally very invested in the new cheese shop opening soon as i love cheese, and was jazzed to write about a new-ish burger spot that also does monthly omakase dinners.

but i also wrote about the absurd new ‘baby bonus’ ideas as well as my personal struggles with accepting anti-depressants, and those felt really meaningful. i also did my first fashion piece which was a lot of fun!

how much did i pitch this month?

my goal is to pitch 2x a day (or more) and i didn’t quite that this month. i came close, but between my corporate job having some extra needs, parenting and writing i didn’t have enough time to sit and think as much. oftentimes 3-4 (what i think) great ideas will come to me if i can just carve out time to sit and contemplate.

that said, i hit some magic this month with assignments. i’ve talked about this before but i’d like to hope that over time i’ll build relationships with editors so that from time to time i get offered assignments that i didn’t pitch. that happened once in april which felt awesome!

i also got introduced to an editor by way of a friend, and it was the right place/right time as i got handed two assignments. new outlet AND assignments – you better believe i’m a nervous mess trying to make sure those are great when i file.

my may is fairly slammed until memorial day, and my pitch volume in may is down as well. i’m hoping to have some real time to noodle on ideas the last week of may as i know i cannot expect regular assignments at this point and need to keep focusing on the top of my pipeline!

how much did i make in april?

if the invoicing gods are on my side (starting to realize how much work it can be to chase payment for pieces) i should make $1865 for april. less than march but my average payment per piece went up to $143 last month, an increase over the $139/piece from march.

roses and thorns from april

well, the obvious – THREE NEW OUTLETS. one is national and two are regional, but the regional opportunities are in food/travel, two beats that i am eager to expand on and are well regarded outlets.

another rose is that i heard a no from one of the largest national food magazines out there. it’s a rose because hey, the editor read my pitch AND responded to it AND said he’d encourage me to keep pitching. i’m sure that’s something he says to everyone but still counting it as a win.

my thorn from april is that it feels like there’s been a big energy shift at an outlet i love writing for. i’m not sure exactly what’s happened but i used to communicate a few times a week with the editor and felt like we were building a good relationship, and that’s come to a halt. i feel torn – i don’t want to potentially jeopardize the relationship even further by asking if there’s something i did as i really want to keep writing for the outlet but it’s tough to feel suddenly on the outs.

of course, i could be overanalyzing everything here which i’m prone to do so i’ll just keep pitching and figure at some point the editor will tell me to f off (professionally) if they don’t want to work with me anymore. hoping that’s not the case.

still, more roses than thorns this month and still more excitement about what’s to come for may and beyond!

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YTD stats!

metric	goal	result YTD	percent to goal
pitches	240	265	110%
pieces filed	44	53	121%
conversion rate	18%	20%	NA
estimated payment	$4000	$6935	173%