Find Your Voice, Become a Better Storyteller, and Get Published with Award-Winning Journalist, Estelle S. Erasmus
Why do we write?
This question has been asked to many different people in many different times and circumstances. It’s both an easy and a difficult question, with many variations to its answer.
It is natural for people to tell stories. We do this every day, even without us noticing it. Like when you tell a workmate your interesting experience while commuting to work, or at dinner when you share with your family how your day went.
We all love to tell stories. Others just communicate it in a very special way—writing. And in that way, they’re somehow immortalizing their stories and making their life’s legacy.
When Estelle Erasmus left her job as a journalist to start her family, she never thought she could still go back. It was as if motherhood and being a writer were two totally different things impossible for someone to do at the same time.
But writing is a natural response to the great need for storytelling and communicating. After discovering how blogging works, mustering her courage to write again, and finding her voice, Estelle has slowly claimed her spotlight back in the world of writing with her articles published in the New York Times and Washington Post that have gone viral globally and her book, ‘Writing That Gets Noticed: Find Your Voice, Become a Better Storyteller, Get Published.’
In this episode, Estelle narrates her own writing journey and tells us how she shares the writing spotlight with her students, readers, and listeners, allowing them to find their own voice through writing.
Thoughts to Empower
- “I don't think there's any shame in ambition.” - Estelle Erasmus
- “You can't identify by a title. You are the sum total of your skillsets.” - Estelle Erasmus
- “You never know when your bad luck is your good luck.” - Estelle Erasmus
- “My philosophy in teaching is that you give a person a fish, you feed them for the night. You teach them how to fish, they can feed themselves for the rest of their lives.” - Estelle Erasmus
- “Never accept someone else's reality as your own.” - Estelle Erasmus
- “People may want your stories, but you have to protect how you are portraying them and what you are sharing.” - Estelle Erasmus
Key Points From This Episode:
- From a journalist to a mother: What prompted Estelle to write
- How transformative motherhood is
- Why you shouldn’t be ashamed of your ambition
- Getting back to the writing spotlight but not knowing how to
- How ‘Listen to Your Mother’ allowed her to bring her voice back
- Why women feel they have to start over
- Discovering the world of blogging
- Why you shouldn’t listen to what others say
- How finding your voice through writing is emPOWERing
About Estelle Erasmus:
Estelle Erasmus is a professor of writing at New York University, the host of the Freelance Writing Direct podcast, and former “All About the Pitch” columnist for Writer’s Digest. She has written about a variety of subjects (health, beauty, fitness, publishing, business, travel) for numerous publications. Her articles for the New York Times and Washington Post have gone globally viral (with more than 500 comments on her NYT piece, “How to Bullyproof Your Child”). She has appeared on Good Morning America and has had her articles discussed on The View. She has also taught, coached, and mentored many writers who have gone on to be widely published. She is an American Society of Journalists and Authors award winner and was a cast member in the inaugural New York City production of the Listen to Your Mother storytelling show.
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