We're organising an event from The Second Source after being quiet for a while and there are few subjects more important than this one. Journalists, male and female, please share and attend 🚨🚨🚨

Journalists, get your ticket for our event on 26th July: how to report femicide eventbrite.co.uk/e/dignity-for-…

I was disturbed to hear someone recently pitched a story about domestic violence & a senior journalist dismissed it replying "women are killed all the time" - newsrooms need to take the reporting of the shadow pandemic seriously. We're holding a free training event nxt wk. Come.

The Second Source I pitched for a more senior job that I wanted - that didn’t exist yet - at a company I was already working at.

The Second Source I was flatly rejected and learned that it was a bad approach to suddenly ambush them with a detailed pitch they weren’t expecting (I rocked up to an annual review with a full job description and should have had a more casual conversation).

The Second Source BUT I also learnt by pitching it that that role was what I wanted to do, and there seemed no chance of the company supporting me doing that any time soon. So I got another job - the same one I’d pitched - at another company!

The Second Source And - even more of a happy ending - ended up doing that job at the first company a few years later, using almost exactly the same pitch that I had put together in the past. So I don’t regret it all - you’ve got to go for what you want.

The Second Source I laugh now about a phone call I took from a group editor once. “[Magazine] is going to need a new editor soon, and we wondered if YOU… …could recommend anyone for the role.” There have been plenty more more classic rejections in my career, but this implied one? 😘👌

The Second Source It took me years to get a reply to my pitches. I remember pitching an editor I'd finally made contact with at my fave paper. They replied: 'Jasmine, I like your ideas, but this is just a stream of consciousness.' It still makes me cringe now - but I'm glad they said it

There's a pervasive idea that decent journalists never get their pitches rejected, turned down for jobs, etc... it's a load of crap! Can you reply to this The Second Source tweet with your rejection stories to i) help new entrants and ii) create more transparency in our industry?

The Second Source I've had a million ideas rejected. So when I write a pitch now, I spend time making it succinct & clear. Even then, not everything gets the go-ahead, and that's ok. It took me 6 years to get on air/get a byline, so I'm not worried about timelines/comparisons with others.

The Second Source Omg where to start. If you’re a professional writer it’s precisely *because* you’ve learned to cope with rejection; roll with the punches. I know a lot of incredible writers with bylines at the very top and this applies to 100% of them.

The Second Source Not a specific story, but never forget that the “rejection” means much more to you than it does the editor. Its not personal, on another day you might have got the job. So don’t let it stop you going back with more ideas.

Check out great new mentorship initiative YungMash Collective. It's been inspired by Masha Shishkina, and set up by her family & friends. I've been especially loving listening to Masha's podcast Yungmash Radio on Spotify & it's great her community will carry it on. Please follow.