How a Science Journalist Structures Her Day When Nothing Is Working
When pitching stops working, the daily structure is usually the first thing to examine
Yuliya Ostrand has been writing about ecology and climate science for 6 years. She went through a period of 8 months where she could not place a single story. This interview covers what her days looked like then, and what she changed to get back on track.
8 a.m. — The reading block that has no output goal
During her difficult period, Yuliya kept her morning reading ritual even when she had nothing to pitch. She read for 90 minutes every day without the pressure of finding a story. She says that removing the goal temporarily was the only way she stopped dreading the morning.
Where her pitches were failing
An editor at a science outlet finally gave her direct feedback after her 6th rejected pitch: her stories were accurate but not urgent. She had been writing about things that were interesting in a general sense but carried no specific moment — no reason to read this today rather than in 6 months.
Yuliya Ostrand: I started asking why now for every pitch. If the answer was just because it is interesting, I rewrote the angle until I had a real answer. That took me about 3 weeks to get comfortable with.
Afternoon: Writing without finishing
She writes partial drafts every afternoon — not to complete them, but to find the paragraph that actually contains the story. She estimates that in 7 out of 10 pieces, the real lead is buried in paragraph 4 or 5 of her first draft.
She ends each day by writing 2 sentences about what she learned that had nothing to do with any current assignment. Over 12 months, this became the source of 4 of her best pitches.