The Project

Way back in 2015, I stumbled across a blog about motherhood and I was blown away by the quality of the writing. They were accepting submissions, and on a whim, I wrote a personal essay called “The Little Landing,” which detailed how it felt to learn I was pregnant with our fourth child—after deciding we were done at three.

The Process

This was from the heart. I wasn’t paid. I didn’t have a strategy. I wasn’t thinking about the audience or how to optimize for Google. There were no strategic H2s, no keyword-targeted title. It was just a story from that time in our lives. I sent it on a Tuesday in late November and got a reply the very next day. “First skim: Love this. Putting it into our ‘yes’ folder…” The site had a few guest spots open each month, and my piece published in January. I’d seen my byline many times before, but this was gratifying in an entirely new way.