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Meg Waite Clayton

Author of the international bestsellers The Postmistress of Paris, The Last Train to London, and 6 other novels

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September 25, 2021 By Meg Waite Clayton

Writing and Placing Opinion Pieces

Ten years ago today, on the 40th anniversary of Sandra Day O’Connor taking her seat as the 1st female Justice of the Supreme Court, I published my first opinion piece. “Flirting with Justice” ran in the Los Angeles times, and was also picked up by the San Jose Mercury News and the Miami Herald. It remains as relevant today as it was then, so read it, please! It’s publication opened doors for me to write for other news sources, too, so I thought I’d offer a little bit here about how I broke into writing opinion pieces with this.

I’ve long been an opinion reader, which is the first step to writing anything — to know what it is you write.

I found a great source of how-to information at the OpEd Project, which was started to change who writes history — an organization in which I now mentor.

I chose something I was in a unique position to write about. I’d just started law school when this happened. And a topic about which I’m passionate: having women in prominent roles matters!

I wrote, and rewrote, and rewrote.

I knew it could take me months to place the piece because I didn’t have opinion credits (although I did have short stories, essays and novels) or relationships with editors, so I wrote it months before it might run, and pitched it months before too. I had compiled a list of newspapers to which I wanted to submit, and started at the top of the list. I submitted through the general submission door, which was the only way in I had.

And Susan Brenneman from the LA Times pulled it from her (email) slush pile. She is a fabulous editor, and I learned so much about writing opinions from her — not just with this piece, but with the many pieces of mine she has published over the years.

Now I have those relationships, which is important in opinion writing. The news cycle moves so fast these days that if I want to write an opinion about something, I sit down and do it, and pitch it. Sometimes it runs later that same day, before it gets stale.

But if you want to break into this world — and it is a really rewarding space to write in, not financially, but in audience reach and impact — consider starting with something you are passionate about that might also be timeless, so your piece can have time to be found before it turns stale.

Happy Saturday! Which for me, is just another writing day, because I love what I do.

 

 

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Filed Under: Publishing Tips, Top Writing Tips, Uncategorized, Writing Tips

Meg Waite Clayton


Meg Waite Clayton is the New York Times and internationally bestselling author of eight novels, including the Good Morning America Buzz pick and New York Times Book Review Editors' Choice THE POSTMISTRESS OF PARIS, the National Jewish Book Award finalist THE LAST TRAIN TO LONDON, the Langum-Prize honored THE RACE FOR PARIS, and THE WEDNESDAY SISTERS, one of Entertainment Weekly’s 25 Essential Best Friend Novels of all time. Her novels have been published in 23 languages. She has also written more than 100 pieces for major newspapers, magazines, and public radio, mentors in the OpEd Project, and is a member of the National Book Critics Circle and the California bar. megwaiteclayton.com

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