Interview with Britni de la Cretaz

Freelance Writer

Britni de la Cretaz is a social-worker-turned-freelance writer based in Boston, Massachusetts. She’s a proud, feminist mother, recovered alcoholic, and die-hard Red Sox fan. We talked about personal essay writing, breaking into mainstream publications, and incorporating social justice into careers. Check out her Contently portfolio to read her writing.

Your work has appeared on the Washington Post, Vice Sports, ESPNW, Marie Claire, Refinery29, Buzzfeed, and more. Could you name a story you’re most proud of?

It depends what of beat people are looking at. Personally, I’m stoked about my sports work. I wanted to break into the beat for a while, but was scared to do it. My ESPNW bylines mean a lot to me.

Also, my feature on Marie Claire about having herpes during pregnancy is one I’m proud of.

How do you balance your identity between different beats and interests?

It’s really hard. Younger writers are doing this differently than journalists who came before. Many of us break into personal or reported essays, which combine journalism with a personal narratives in a way older generations aren’t used to. I think you’ll hear conflicting advice on this. You might here, from older generations, not to reveal too much about yourself whether it’s on Twitter or even in your essays.

What do I want to see more of being written? I can use my own stories and identity to make that happen.

For me, I find my identities give me the ability to write about a lot of different topics, from unique angles. What do I want to see more of being written? I can use my own stories and identity to make that happen. Because I have personal experience with something, like having herpes or being a trauma survivor who got pregnant, whatever else it is, I can use that to sell a piece to an editor in a way someone else might not be able to.

I can relate to that, since my first paid bylines were personal essays.

People looking to break in, particularly with young writers, it’s really easy for you to give your story away for $50 in exchange for an xoJane byline, for example. It’s important to decide what your story is worth, and what you’re willing to sell it for. I’ve always personally revealed a lot, but even I have experiences I haven’t written about yet because for me, they’re worth more. I’m saving them for a book or the right publication or the right time. It’s not something I want to give away for pennies.

How old are you right now?

31, I’m an older millennial.

And how old were you when you started freelance writing? What brought you into freelancing?

I started at 29 when I had my daughter. I was a social worker and I’d been blogging for ten years, which is how I got into writing. I resigned from my job because child care is expensive and social workers don’t make very much. I couldn’t afford it. I was concerned about finances with one income. A friend of mine was writing for Ravishly and asked me if I wanted to get paid to write. She connected me to her editor at Ravishly. I got a few bylines with then, and I was also connected to Hearst’s platform, the Mix, before it launched through the same friend. When it launched, I was one of the first writers to get a byline through it. I got Cosmo bylines quickly, so I used those to pitch [in the beginning].

That’s awesome.

I got lucky. If you don’t know what you’re doing, you don’t know who to email. You don’t know what a pitch is. You don’t know any of that. I’d been blogging for ten years on my own platform. I didn’t even know what it was like to have someone edit my work.

What was your first ever paid assignment?

For Ravishly, I think. Whatever my first piece on that site is, I got 50 dollars for it. I did personally essays and realized there was more money in reported work. I fudged my way into reported work and pretended I knew what I was doing.

What do you enjoy about freelancing?

I like the flexibility, that I can write about things I find interesting. I like how it challenges me, how I learn so much, particularly with reported pieces. I talk to all these interesting people.

If I stop finding something interesting, I can stop writing about it.

I enjoy that people trust me with their stories and I can give them a platform they might not have otherwise had. I’m able to amplify peoples’ voices in that way.

Do you have any routines or rituals? Things you do everyday?

I have a spreadsheet with all my pitches. It’s got what I have due, tabs for my deadlines and what’s been accepted, rejected, or outstanding. I also use it for what I’ve billed, such as outstanding invoices. I follow up about payment even if it’s one day late. I always look at my pitch list, which tells me if there’s any pitches I need to follow up on. I’m always adding my list of ideas to pitch, even if it’s just a word, phrase, or question. I keep that going and I check social media to see what people are talking about.

What are some issues that are important to you as a freelance writer, whether you write, read, or think about them?

Since I’ve gotten into journalism, what’s become important is not only the pay issue we talked about, but the diversity in whose voices are published and where. That entails a lot of voices from women to people of color and trans folks and other marginalized identities, but also, the kind of work we’re getting. We talk a lot about the first-person industrial complex with female writers and whether or not our work is valued in the same way, whether we’re given the same kind of assignments as male writers.

How do you incorporate social justice into your career?

All of my work is from a social justice lens. I always try to incorporate an angle to a story that might be overlooked. It also entails knowing what I can, cannot, and shouldn’t write about.

There are certain issues I might be passionate about, like racial justice, and it might be better to have a woman of color write about it than me.

It’s about knowing when it’s not my place to pitch something or recommending an invited assignment to a more potentially marginalized writer.

What would you say to someone that isn’t sure if they should be writing about a particular topic?

I would ask them if it’s being written about an identity they hold. If it’s not about an identity they hold, it doesn’t mean they shouldn’t write it, but they definately need to take more into consideration. If it’s speaking as an ally, seeking to amplify the issue than it’s a maybe, there could be a way to do that respectfully, but if it’s speaking for a community in which they do not belong, they should not write about it.

What message do you have for the Millennial Freelancer’s audience?

Freelancing is really hard. If you’re not prepared for a lot of rejection, if you’re not prepared to pitch you ass off, it’s probably not for you. Compared to the beginning, before I had working relationships with editors, now they’re more likely to open my email. Before, I was sending 10 to 15 pitches a week and most were rejected. Sometimes, these pitches aren’t unique, they’re just re-pitched to different editors. I gave myself two days to send over a revision of a rejected pitch. Aim high, too.

We’re capable of more than we know, and it can be surprising. Pitch high, and work your way down as a piece gets rejected.

Sometimes, we sell ourselves short and we pitch where we know we can get in. Landing bylines helps get more. Even one byline at a major publication can make a huge difference when pitching editors in the future.