Make 2025 the year you finally write your book
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We introduce literary experts each month, with honest advice and insights via live online Q&As. Run by author and accredited coach Helen Jane Campbell, this accountability group programme is ready to welcome you. Last few places available.
"A career-changing book... if you're thinking about going freelance, read this first," says GQ’s Oliver Franklin-Wallis.
My book The Pyjama Myth: the Freelance Writer's Survival Guide will make you a better, happier freelancer and you can order your copy from Bookshop.
Hello! How are you doing in the run up to Christmas? I’m celebrating finishing my novel draft! It feels brilliant to have a complete story after five years of writing. As always, this newsletter is the last thing on my to-do list before I down tools completely. I’ve got some exciting plans for FWJ launching next year, but this afternoon I’m going to bake bourbon and pecan brownies, and get cosy on the sofa with all of the Christmas films I’ve been saving. I hope you get a little time to relax over the festive season, and that whatever you’ve been wishing for finds its way to you.
There will always be a free version of Freelance Writing Jobs, but it’s only possible with support from paying members. Here’s a reminder of the perks:
The weekly newsletter, 24 hours in advance.
Monthly interviews with editors who are actively commissioning freelancers.
The monthly round-up, packed with writing bursaries, prizes, and residencies with upcoming deadlines.
First dibs on event tickets plus recordings of all of online events.
Katie Dancey-Downs at Index on Censorship wants your pitches.
Florence Derrick at Ink is keen for pitches for the May and June issues of Selamta.
Another one for travel writers, Sarah Riches at World of Cruising is looking for journalists to cover topics including wildlife and Cape Verde.
Investigative news platform, The Detail, is looking for feature pitches.
Chiara Wilkinson at Time Out is needs journalists based in Slough, Whitby and Bradford.
Reach is looking for audience writers for its Spare Time content hub. This one’s a four-month contract.
ITV News is taking on a deputy content editor for three months.
Money on your mind? Financial Interest is hiring a freelance content writer.
A fashion house is looking for an e-commerce studio writer to work 2-3 days a week. This one’s through a recruiter so I can’t be sure who it’s with.
Raise your hands, bookworms. Publishing company Quarto is taking on an editorial/publishing assistant for three months.
Science writers, the University of Cambridge needs a part-time communications manager and magazine editor for its chemistry publication Chem@Cam.
Staffordshire’s New Vic Theatre needs a part-time media and communications officer. Copywriting experience a must.
This is pleasing symmetry: the Old Vic Theatre is hiring a content manager to work part-time in a job share contract.
Extra Teeth magazine is open for submissions until the end of the month. There’s also a mentoring opportunity available, details on the same page.
As part of City of Literature, Manchester is hosting a playwright exchange project with Nanjing.
A whole bunch of Faber’s online course scholarships have deadlines coming up, make sure you apply for the one you want.
The Hakluyt Society Essay Prize is open for entries.
The Rheidol Prize is open for entries of prose with a Welsh theme or setting. There’s a fee waiver for writers on a low income.
Another with the New Welsh Review, this time for poetry. The Borzello Prize is open for submissions on the theme of ‘the Welsh churchyard’. Some low income entry slots are available.
The Royal Historical Early Career Article Prize is open for entries.
Seren Books is accepting submissions for Welsh Gothic, and Fantasy novels.
Children’s writers, Naomi Jones is offering picture book mentoring to an underrepresented writer.
The newsletter will be back in your inboxes in January! To keep you busy until then, here’s bunch of brilliant awards opening up right at the start of the year:
The Deborah Rogers Foundation Writers Award is aimed at emerging fiction writers.
The Curae Prize for writers who are also carers, will be back for a second year.
Here’s a new one for those of your who graduated from a Welsh University: the Gareth Jones Memorial Travelling Scholarship launches early next year.
One of my favourites: the Alpine Fellowship launches on 1st January with a brand new theme.
Finance journalists, this one’s for you: the Headline Money Awards will open at the start of January.
Last listing of the year before I wrangle the cat out of the tree: the Jane Martin Poetry Prize will open for submissions on New Year’s Day.
Loved this week’s issue? Hit that heart button, share with a freelance friend, or buy me a mince pie.
And finally: took a punt and adored it | unseasonal ice cream plans | freelance Christmas lunch | new additions to my favourite books of 2024.
I'm Sian Meades-Williams. I'm a freelance writer, author and poet and I was the winner of the 2022 Yeovil Literary Prize. My book The Pyjama Myth: the Freelance Writer's Survival Guide will make you a better, happier freelancer and it’s out now.
Best of luck with your pitches this week!