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Week on 11/10: work on my website, editing anything salvageable I have written so that I can give editors an idea of my writing style.
Why I’m stoked: Having a website will give me a more legitimate chance of getting an article accepted.
Concerns or challenges: I have a hefty non-writing-related to-do list, and I worry that if writing isn’t my number one priority, I won’t get anything done.
Did the magic happen:I pitched an idea to 7 different outlets and did not hear back from any of them so no.Week of October 27: Find mid-market outlets to pitch to. Practice letting go of whatever I think my story is about and allowing some flexibility to change the story to suit different outlets. Think about writing as a business!
Why I’m stoked: This week, I will send out pitches.
Concerns or challenges: Finding mid-market outlets to pitch to. Spending too much time perfecting one pitch to one outlet.
Did the magic happen: not yet
The sources you cite to demonstrate that this trend is happening are relevant, comprehensive, and concise.
Personally, ads annoy me, but I don’t necessarily feel rage. It makes me wonder why people feel full-blown rage. Is it because ads interrupt the flow of whatever content we are consuming? Or is it something like: being comforted with this idea that Big Business thinks we are all manipulable pawns?
Also, your pitch reminds me of this Black Mirror episode (link below), which could be right up Future Perfect’s alley. Brief synopsis in case you haven’t seen it: After the main character becomes dependent on this subscription-based service to operate a part of her brain that had been removed, problems develop when she starts involuntarily rehearsing ads in her day-to-day conversations. The upgrade to an ad-free version of this life-saving service is unaffordable on her teacher’s salary. But these ads become so disruptive that they threaten her personal and professional life.
I think this is a great idea for an article that speaks to managing problems that are out of our control.
Week of Oct 20, 2025: Create an organization method that works. Find reasonable outlets to pitch to and organize each story idea and the outlets I intend to pitch that idea to.
Why I’m stoked: I like tools that streamline work. I feel that I have lost a lot of pproductivity and power to disorganization. I am hoping this will keep me focused and directional.
Concerns or challenges: I feel ready to pitch and fail. I am very concerned about succeeding and needing to write an article on a deadline/interview experts.
Did the magic happen? Nothing specifically happened, but in general, I am feeling hopeful.
Hi team! My name is Jess, and I’m looking forward to getting to know you all.
Week of 10/14/2025: This week, I am focusing on creating mental space so that ideas can flow more easily when I sit down to write.
Why I’m stoked: I’m excited to add some structure and direction to my writing goals with this course.
Concerns or challenges: Staring at a blank Word doc for hours. I’m also worried that I don’t have enough ideas to turn into stories.
Did the magic happen? I haven’t taken any risks lately, so no.NAME: Jess Silverman
OCCUPATION: yoga teacher
PRONOUNS*: she/her
AGE: 29
HERITAGE: white
LANGUAGES: English; enough Latin American Spanish to usually reach my intended destination, find the best pollo a la brasa, and climb mountains with a decent sense of the relevant dangers.
HOBBIES: Climbing, skiing, and kayaking—typically pursued at a level where mortality demands your full attention. However, I also find enjoyment in many non-death-defying hobbies, such as eating good food, practicing yoga, dancing, and sauna-ing.
CURRENT LOCATION: Colorado, though I live in a Van and move around a lot. I usually spend about half a year in British Columbia.
WRITING EXPERIENCE: Very little. I was a grant writer for a genomics lab for a short time. And I wrote a never-published academic article for a Neuroscience degree.
FAVORITE WRITERS: Hunter S. Thompson, Ed Yong, Sam Kean, Barbara Demmick, Katherine Boo, Margaret Atwood, Anthony Bourdain, Kurt Vonnegut, and Aldous Huxley.
GOALS FOR THE COURSE: It feels like when I write (and read), I don’t understand why something is good or bad. There is just a goodness or badness hovering around it. So my goal for this course is to learn precisely why a piece of writing is good. How it works, why it works. I am also looking forward to being a part of this community. I don’t have a writing community in my life right now. My goal for this course is to never say that again.
WRITING AMBITIONS: I want to be a freelance journalist. I can’t decide between science, travel, or investigative journalism. I want to get paid to travel to remote or strange places–I find theocracies and surveillance states to be particularly interesting. I’d love to be a science writer who can report on a bunch of different disciplines-though my first love is Neuroscience.
WEBSITES & CONTACTS: https://medium.com/@jesssilverman jessicasilverman956@gmail.com
