Alannah Hill Challenge: Update # 8 and FINISHED!

Fireworks! Music! Partying! I've reached my goal of a whiz-bang writing portfolio of magazine articles to kickstart my freelance writing career!

I finally bought the lovely "Poor Little Fun Mum" Alannah Hill cardie pictured above for my reward. I heart it so much! You can't really see from the dodgy-quality photo I took on my iPhone (sorry!), but it's black with pink bows all over it and best of all, I bought it half price and fit into a size smaller than usual. Sweet! Also, because it's black, it'll go with so much of my wardrobe, but it's still quirky and cute enough to make me smile whenever I wear it. I'm so happy I treated myself to celebrate finishing this challenge. : )

When I started the challenge in January, I was all fresh and eager to succeed this year. I've now accumulated six glossy issues in my portfolio, and more on the way, but I'll be honest -- it's been a hard slog and not everything has turned out as expected along the way. This has been both bad and good...

The Bad:

• Being asked to write 'on spec' (with guarantee of publication) by SA Life and, more recently, Good Health and after writing 1,000 words or more each time, having those articles rejected. Grrrrr!!
• Receiving a "yes" from a magazine editor in March, saying she'd be in touch later in the year for their summer issue. When I followed up this week, I discovered she's resigned from that role and I was asked to re-send the pitch (ie back to square one). Double grrrr!!
• A famous brand of travel guides offering me a gig updating the outback SA section of their Australian book for a scarily low rate. By the time I paid for petrol, accommodation etc visiting all the restaurants, sites and hotels, I would've been earning next to nothing. When I sent a polite reply email clarifying the deal, I never heard from them again. Nice.

The Good:

• Learning that feature writing and short stints working as an office temp combine quite well -- you earn a tidy extra income and playing secretary temporarily doesn't interfere with your writing. Also, office work can be quite interesting if you're not at any one workplace long enough to be bored by your allocated tasks or annoyed by the office politics. Yay!
• I'm exploring the wonderful world of copywriting. I'd never really considered it before, but I've been approached by a business to do some blogging for them and I'm seriously looking forward to it -- I think it'd be fun. We're still finalising the details. More info will be revealed as it (hopefully) happens. ; )
• Other opportunities have taken me by surprise as well, such as competitions to be a magazine intern or paid fashion blogger, writing for smaller magazines on some very entertaining topics and being given a role as assistant editor for The Essential Guide to Twitter.
• Exchanging emails with a fellow Sydney Writers' Centre graduate who first wrote to me a couple of months ago. The info and support we've shared has been invaluable in keeping my spirits up and generating ideas.

So it's had a few twists, this Alannah Hill Challenge, but every time I wear this cardie, I'll be wrapped in how far I've come. Thanks to the editors, my email pen pal and the others who've helped me along the way. I couldn't have done it without you. : )

What's your dream job? How have you been working towards it lately?

Alannah Hill Challenge: Update #7

Yes, I'm still on my quest to accumulate a decent writing portfolio. When I'm satisfied with it, I've promised myself a lovely Alannah Hill shopping trip for a frilly cardigan. (See previous updates on this challenge.)

Well, we're at the halfway point of my 12 months of freelancing. I can return to my government job at the end of this year if writing doesn't work out and it's great to have this safety net. I'm thinking I may be mooning my old boss on my way out the door permanently in December, but I still have to prove to myself that writing can earn me full-time money. At the moment, I'm using office temping as a financial crutch, which is working out well, but eventually the plan is to be earning 100% of my income from writing. It ain't as easy as it sounds. : )

I've been doing the office temping for two months now, and I gotta say, it's surprisingly fun. I think of myself as a guerrilla office girl, a kind of mercenary secretary-for-hire, waging war on the crappy 9-5 drudgery. If my short-term gigs are pleasurable, then great, if not, then what-the-hey, I'll only be there for a few days before I move on. It's the perfect set-up for career commitment-phobes like me.

As far as the writing portfolio goes, I can almost feel that new, deliciously overdone AH cardigan wrapped around me! It now displays five magazines (admittedly there's two issues of eBay Life, but hey, that still counts!). A couple more will do it -- preferably with at least one more newly-cracked publication. Happily, I've got another article in the works for Women's Health & Fitness coming to contribute to the cause.

Oh, and did you happen to catch that not only did I write for The Essential Guide to Twitter, I scored the role of assistant editor? Hells yeah, I was rather chuffed with that effort. The actual act of editing other writers' work? Not so much (there were grammar mistakes, repetition, scary turns-of-phrase -- the works!). It's certainly a boost to my writing cred though. Bonza!

Hopefully the next Alannah Hill Challenge post will be my last and I'll need your help to pick my brand-new, brand-name cardie once I've reached my portfolio goal. Good times!

Alannah Hill Challenge: Update #6

The Mission: To amass an impressive magazine writing portfolio and win the Alannah Hill Challenge.
The Reward: Buying myself a pretty cardie from the Alannah Hill collection.
Last Known Status: Living the pauper lifestyle, despiting landing a decent swag of writing assignments.

So what's the current status of my challenge?

Thankfully, I'm much more cashed up, due to applying to temping agencies and scoring two office jobs from them. The first was at a law firm dealing in patents and trademarks for two weeks and the other a two-day stint at a wine industry organisation. I'm eager to keep temping to top up my writing income, as long as I can find the right balance and it doesn't interfere with writing time. I'm also expecting to be paid for several articles in the next two months, so hooray for the money rolling in!

My Women's Health & Fitness article, "Being Left-handed," was published two weeks ago. I returned from buying the magazine on my lunch break and couldn't resist showing my supervisor at the law firm, who photocopied the article and pinned it to the noticeboard. It was like a proud mum sticking a kid's drawing on the fridge! Very cute.

I'm now back on the bandwagon of pitching article ideas to magazines, but there have been no new breakthroughs to report, sadly. In the meantime, I've tidied my current portfolio and linked the entries to my scanned-in articles. Check out the spiffy results here and click on one of the magazine covers to read my articles, if you'd like. : )

It's beginning to take shape...

Alannah Hill Challenge: Update #5

The Alannah Hill Challenge aims to motivate me to build an enviable magazine writing portfolio by dangling a designer clothing carrot -- a girly Alannah Hill cardie. How's my quest going lately?

It's been a lean couple of months. Yes, I've been given writing assignments by some pretty juicy publications. No, (sadly) I don't mean I've shed any kilos. Yes, I'm eating my fair quota of Easter eggs. What I mean is cold, hard, sweet, sweet cash -- it's been eluding me.

You see, as a freelance writer you pen your article, send it to your editor along with your invoice and wait for the cash to roll in. If you're lucky, you're paid once the article is accepted. The other option is you're paid sometime after the piece is published, which could be months down the track.

So I was overjoyed to be paid this week. Hooray! I also finished an assignment that saw me take on an assistant editor position for a new magazine about social media. This was pretty exciting, but I learnt editing other people's writing can be time-consuming and frustrating. It was a great resume-booster getting that gig though.

So now I'm back on to pitching article ideas to magazines and (hopefully) my book proposal I haven't even glanced at since time immemorial. In a couple of weeks my article for Women's Health and Fitness should be out as well. I can't wait to see it in print. : )

In the interests of curing my bank account's anorexia, I've also developed a game plan of which magazines I'll pitch article ideas to next.

Here's my new list of magazines to tackle (view the old one here):

• Madison
• Frankie
• Peppermint
• WellBeing
• Women's Health
• Cleo
• Cosmopolitan
• Jetstar
• Virgin Blue Voyeur
• Shop Til You Drop

Fingers crossed I'll get a mountain of work and be able to afford a little Hill soon.

Alannah Hill Challenge: Update #4

Wow, it's been a month since I last updated you on how the Alannah Hill Challenge is going!

My mission, since I chose to accept it, is to write magazine articles, thereby growing an incredible portfolio of clips from the likes of Cosmopolitan, Vogue and Marie Claire. When I left off, I'd added two articles for fledgling publication eBaylife to my debut Cosmo Bride article and had a tentative yes from local-but-prestigious SA Life.

Unfortunately, SA Life didn't pan out, but my work for eBaylife has snowballed into five articles (I'm just finishing the fourth today) and extras like fillers, tips, news and gossip. Hooray! The articles are really satisfying and fun to write, so I'm well pleased with this arrangement. The first one, "Everybody Loves Lego," is out in the current issue:

I'm also thrilled to announce I've scored a commission to do a piece for Women's Health & Fitness. It's on a subject close to my heart, so I'm looking forward to getting stuck into it.

I'm still aiming to crack the top fashion magazines, but for now I'm pleased to be getting paying work at magazines available at news agencies.

Not too shabby at all. : )

Alannah Hill Challenge: Update #3

The Alannah Hill Challenge to build up my magazine writing portfolio is still ticking along...

I'm still pitching one article per weekday and have only had one more yes, from  eBaylife again. I've written this second article and sent it to them and I'm now focusing on the SA Life one.

Feeling a bit pitch-weary, I'm going to stop doing it every day Monday-Friday and follow up on the month's worth of ones already sent out instead. Like a good earth-conscious girl, where a publication rejects a pitch, I'll recycle it by sending it elsewhere to a similar magazine.

I'll also slow down on adding further magazine guides to this blog. Since my last update, I've uploaded Wellbeing, Shop Til You Drop, Dance Australia, Peppermint, and Girlfriend, taking the tally up to 17. You guys will probably enjoy the rest from the relentless stream as well!

Once I've finished the current article I'm writing, I might start sending fresh pitches out again. I want to be efficient, not lazy. There's a fine line.

Hopefully I'll get a "yes" from one of my dream publications soon...

Alannah Hill Challenge: Update #2

The Alannah Hill Challenge to put my name to some well-known magazine articles has progressed well this week.

Since update #1, I have:

• Added two more magazines to my guides, Women's Health & Fitness and Harper's Bazaar.
• Kept up my pitch-per-weekday rate (I'm a couple behind today due to being sick yesterday, but I'm confident I can catch up).
• Emailed my article and invoice to eBaylife and have SA Life interested in one of my pitches, pending how the finished article looks. Both of these publications are from my "First Magazines to Tackle" list, so I've nominated candidates at the right level, it seems.
• Pitched article ideas to Yen, Women's Health, Women's Health & Fitness, Virgin Blue Voyeur, Cosmo Bride and Shop Til You Drop.
• Been rejected by Yen, but it was one of those helpful, encouraging rejections, so I'll try again soon with a new idea.

While Vogue and Madison are not beating a path to my door yet, I'm feeling optimistic about my progress. A nice little Alannah Hill treat is firmly in my sights...

Alannah Hill Challenge: Update #1

It's dangerous to stray too close to the Alannah Hill counter in David Jones. That's me above trying on a cardie this morning and falling in love with it. It took every scrap of willpower I possess to resist purchasing it, especially as it was marked down ($149.95 from $220). At least I've been inching closer to winning the Alannah Hill Challenge and earning my precious cardie...


To win the challenge, my mission is to compile an impressive freelance writing portfolio. I haven't acquired any new clips yet, but I've been working my way through the steps to success I conjured up last week.

Here's my progress to date:

• Print out and re-read my notes from the Sydney Writers' Centre freelancing course. Did this today.
• Write an average of one pitch email per weekday, mostly ones from my "First Magazines to Tackle" list and follow up by phone a couple of days later. Ongoing. I've pitched once per weekday on average, but haven't phoned yet because I figure editors are likely still sunbathing in the Bahamas until mid-January.
• Scour blogs of established freelancers to find more "First Magazines to Tackle". I added Women's Health and Fitness, Wellbeing and eBaylife to my list.
• Create a list of pitches and ideas so I can keep track of them and reuse unsuccessful pitches for other magazines. Haven't recycled any pitches yet, but I'm keeping track using a Chemplus calendar Adam's mum gave me. Daggy, but effective!
• Keep adding to the magazine guides on Becks and the City (Yen, Dance Australia etc -- "First Magazines to Tackle"). You may have noticed the Vogue and Yen guides materialising on the site in recent days. More to follow.
• Notify Sydney Writers' Centre of my successes. None yet, but not too concerned... There was bound to be a time lag before the successes start (undoubtedly!) rolling in.

My pitches so far have been to Cosmo Bride, SA Motor, frankie, eBaylife, Jetstar Magazine and SA Life. Today's idea will be sent to Yen. Well, once I finish that email languishing in my drafts.


Time will tell whether my pitches will be converted to runs on the board and cardies on the Beck...

Writing Goals For 2011

Welcome to my year of full-time freelancing!


After some soul-searching, I've set my two main goals for 2011. With the success of The Tiffany Challenge in 2010, I'll issue myself new challenges with designer prizes to help motivate me. The goals and the steps to achieving them are below. I'm hoping to polish these off by the close of January and set new ones. How far do you think I'll get? ; )


1.   Grow a Freelancing Portfolio of High-profile Magazines

• Print out and re-read my notes from the Sydney Writers' Centre freelancing course.
• Write an average of one pitch email per weekday, mostly ones from my "First Magazines to Tackle" list and follow up by phone a couple of days later.
• Scour blogs of established freelancers to find more "First Magazines to Tackle".
• Create a list of pitches and ideas so I can keep track of them and reuse unsuccessful pitches for other magazines.
• Keep adding to the magazine guides on Becks and the City (Yen, Dance Australia etc -- "First Magazines to Tackle").
• Notify Sydney Writers' Centre of my successes.

The Alannah Hill Challenge

You may have gleaned from previous posts that I have a major crush on Alannah Hill's cutesy cardies, frilly frocks and alluring accessories. The challenge, if I choose to accept it, is to compile an impressive freelancing portfolio. My reward will be running free in the Alannah Hill Rundle Street store and picking out a cardie or equivalent fashion delight. Excitement!

2.   Get My Non-Fiction Book Published

• Write another blog post on my other blog, I LOVE WINNING.
• Amass 200 Google followers on that blog.
• Print out my book proposal and sample chapters.
• Finish sample chapters.
• Update proposal with 2010 media training and appearances, plus freelance writing, and check comparisons with other books etc are still up-to-date.
• Create ordered list of agents and publishers to whom I'll send my proposal.
• Select first round of agents and publishers to send to and check their guidelines.
• Send out proposal/cover letters to first round.

The Marc Jacobs Challenge

Obsessed. Love these mouse flats, which have been released in a dazzling array of colours and styles. If I snare either an agent or publisher for my book, I'm treating myself to an adorable pair. White or black patent? Decisions, decisions!

Keep a watch out for frequent updates on my sure-to-be-stellar progress!