Dear writers,
Welcome to July.
I am going to start this newsletter on a slightly harsh note. In the last month, I’ve come across two instances where the paid version of the newsletter has been shared with strangers. It made me angry and upset. It’s unfair to my paying subscribers. It may not seem like much but I put in a lot of effort into this newsletter. It takes two days of my week, two days I cannot spend on my own work. And there’s the backend: keeping track of payments, trying to get new subscribers etc.
A warning: if I learn you have forwarded this paid newsletter, you and whoever you sent it to will be blacklisted and blocked.
I received a lot of suggestions from people: include a pay-as-you-wish component, increase the rates, create a password lock, set up an exclusive Google Drive. They were all good suggestions, but none of them guarantee this won’t be copied. I will increase the price, soon, because I want to open this newsletter to contributors and pay them.
Now for some good news. Last month’s newsletter – the interview with Firstpost – resulted in two subscribers getting published. I lost the link to one but here is Jaishree Kumar’s piece about TikTok as a safe pace for LGBTQI creators.
Next week’s paid newsletter will be a basic guide on how to pitch with advice from editors, and writers, and will include an example of one of my successful pitches.
This week’s paid newsletter is a continuation of my series on Mongabay-India; this time I’ve interviewed their multi-media editor. There are a few job listings, both full-time and part-time; some grants and fellowships for journalists in need; and pitch calls. The free version is a condensed version.
I usually send out both newsletters on the same day — today — but an issue with Substack means only this one can be published. The paid version will go out this week, (tomorrow, hopefully). If you want to subscribe, email me at itsallwrite@outlook.in.
Ready? Let’s begin.
NEED A JOB?
(Opportunities for full-time and part-time work)
Goa-based IT-enabled services firm Hash Cookies is hiring Javascript developers (more deets here). Experience: needs to be adept in EmberJS, or willing to learn it. Pay is industry-grade and you can work from home. Email pickme@hashcooki.es or WhatsApp Axel on 9637 443666
Zubaan is looking for a Projects Associate (Outreach & Communications). It’s a one-year contract managing Zubaan’s online and offline media programme as well as outreach programme. Email contact@zubaanprojects.org by July 17. Note: the position is only open to women, trans and non-binary people from minority religious communities. More details here.
Indian Policy Collective is looking for interns interested in better governance, social media outreach, policy and research. Email contact@indianpolicycollective.com
Eco Products India is hiring full-time interns to support them in communication and operations. Email india.ecoproduct@gmail.com
MISCELLANY
(Interesting events, research grants, and other news you can use)
Read: I haven’t read much this week, so am sharing just two stories. Shalini Singh’s story in Verve is an excellent example of travel writing in the age of the Coronavirus. For Catapult, Meher Mirza writes this evocative piece about searching for her religious roots in Uzbekistan. Both are examples of unexpected but evocative travel writing.
Support: Chamar is a fashion enterprise – they sell bags, belts, shoes and jackets made from recycled rubber – that celebrates the skill and artistry of the Dalit community.
Apply: The NWMI have announced their fourth NWMI Fellowship for Women Journalists. To apply: you have to be a member of NWMI for at least one year. Preference will be given to members from Adivasi, Dalit, religious/ethnic minority or other disadvantaged groups, living in conflict areas or in other difficult circumstances. Deadline: July 21. Email nwmifellowship@gmail.com for queries and more details.
Attend: Walking India: Photographing & Reporting a Nation on Foot is a discussion with Paul Salopek, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and founder of the Out of Eden Walk project, and some of India’s most distinguished journalists, Arati Kumar-Rao, Prem Panicker and Priyanka Borpujari, and others. They will share the challenges they faced and the lessons learned during the reporting of “Water Everywhere, and Nowhere,” in the current issue of National Geographic Magazine; a story that spans 2,400 walked miles of reportage across northern India. Free. Register here.
Subscribe: Author Damyanti Biswas curates two gazettes: The Reading Gazette contains curated book recommendations, reading strategies, book event news etc and The Writing Gazette contains Writing Craft resources (fiction/ non-fiction), #WritingLife resources and alerts on workshops and events/ launches. Subscribe here.
In conclusion, allow me to repeat myself: under no circumstances should this newsletter be shared with anyone. If you want to share something, all my earlier newsletter are available on joannalobo.substack.com. If you want to subscribe to the paid version, email me at itsallwrite@outlook.in.
I will end with some sage advice from one of my favourite authors, Jerry Pinto. He recently did an Instagram Live on the SCM Sophia account where he spoke about the benefits of reading every day. He suggested starting with ten minutes a day and then gradually increasing the time, and reading ‘anything and everything’.
“When you read, what you are essentially doing is walking through the bare plain of your mind and tossing seeds. As time passes, the seeds grow into a rich tropical forest of ideas. One day, you can walk through this forest and pluck ideas from the trees you’ve planted. You will never have to ask: what do I write now because you have an embarrassment of riches [ideas]. Reading means you’ve spent time fertilizing your brain and making it a rich eco-system.”
Keep reading, keep writing, and keep pitching. And, please subscribe!
Until next time,