{"id":10031,"date":"2022-04-29T08:11:31","date_gmt":"2022-04-29T15:11:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.freedomwithwriting.com\/freedom\/?p=10031"},"modified":"2022-04-29T08:37:29","modified_gmt":"2022-04-29T15:37:29","slug":"interview-with-tamara-jeffries-senior-editor-at-yoga-journal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.freedomwithwriting.com\/freedom\/uncategorized\/interview-with-tamara-jeffries-senior-editor-at-yoga-journal\/","title":{"rendered":"Interview with Tamara Jeffries, Senior Editor at Yoga Journal"},"content":{"rendered":"

Tamara Jeffries,<\/span><\/strong> Senior Editor at Yoga Journal,<\/em> writes, assigns and edits feature packages and articles for the print magazine, and digital stories for the publication. Tamara spoke with Viney Kirpal<\/strong>, health and personal essay freelance writer recently..<\/span><\/p>\n

VK: Thanks, Tamara for this interview. What\u2019s the inspiration behind this international journal on yoga? How do you keep the mission aloft?<\/span><\/strong>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

TJ:<\/span><\/strong> I\u2019m inspired by the group of people who got together in 1975 to put a yoga magazine together. Creating and distributing a magazine from scratch is no small feat, so that was a dedicated group of people.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I\u2019m also inspired by the people who have come forward in more recent years and pushed YJ to do a better job of covering the full diversity of people who are practicing yoga. Dr. Jennifer Webb at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte has done research that shows that most of the images in yoga magazines are of thin, able-bodied, White women. What we know is that Black people practice yoga, trans people practice, people in wheelchairs, older people, and all kinds of folks practice.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The other elephant in the room is that yoga was brought to America from South Asia\u2013but you would rarely see an Indian person on the cover of a yoga magazine or featured on a yoga website. We have to honor yoga\u2019s roots in India\u2013and hear from the people for whom yoga is not a pastime but a way of life.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I have to keep my eyes and ears and heart open to these voices, and give them a platform to share their wisdom and experience.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0As an editor, I have to keep an eye on all the people who are part of the yoga community and remember\u2013and remind others\u2013that the yoga community is very diverse in every way.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

VK: What makes YJ unique among publications on yoga?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0TJ<\/strong>: Yoga Journal is the premier American magazine about yoga. It was founded in 1975, when yoga practice was having a Renaissance in the U.S. (Yoga had been brought to the West almost 100 years before that.)\u00a0Any other publication that exists is following our lead\u2013and there are not a lot of other publications out there covering yoga as completely as we do.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

We are not just presenting yoga poses and sequences\u2013though we do a lot of those and readers rely on us for that. We also cover meditation and breathwork. We do stories on history, philosophy, and the roots of yoga. We understand that yoga infuses how we live and interact\u2013so we write about how yoga influences our relationships, our work, our health, our place in society.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Yoga is not one thing. YJ understands that and brings our readers ALL of what yoga is.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0VK:\u00a0Great answer! But, what does yoga mean to your readers?<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0TJ<\/strong>: Our readers are not just dabblers in yoga\u2013the people who might slip into a yoga class at the gym now and then.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

That doesn\u2019t mean we don\u2019t write for beginners. There are many, many people who come to us who are new to yoga. But these beginners have made yoga a regular part of their life. This group of people relies on us because they want to learn more.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Then we have people who have been practicing for years, who have a level of expertise that they, too, want to take further.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The bottom line is that YJ readers have committed to having yoga as part of their lifestyle. That doesn\u2019t mean they do hours of yoga every day. It doesn\u2019t mean they\u2019re standing on their heads and twisting into complex poses. For some people, it\u2019s 20 minutes of Sun Salutations or gentle asana (postures) every day or so. But it\u2019s something they have incorporated into their lives. They are reading our yoga magazine or coming to the website because they want to learn more, deepen their practice, and understand the philosophy of yoga better.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

They are trusting us to offer information that can help them take their practice further and deeper\u2013whatever that means for them.<\/span><\/p>\n

VK: Is there a winning pitch for YJ? How long should a contributor wait to hear from the editor?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

TJ:<\/span><\/strong> A winning pitch doesn\u2019t have to be very long and elaborate, but it has to show that you understand the magazine. You should know what kinds of stories we do and understand the format and length of our stories. If you are pitching for print, be specific about the section of the magazine your story is for.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Pitch something that is timely, trending, or personally relevant to our readers. What do people want to know about your topic? What will they take away from reading your story? Your pitch should explain why people want to read this story now.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

What are people searching for online? What are people talking about on social media? You can develop story ideas from that information, too.<\/span><\/p>\n

Share links to other writing you\u2019ve done so that I can see your writing style and the quality of your reporting and research.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

You don\u2019t have to be a yoga practitioner to pitch to us\u2014not all of our stories are about yoga\u2014but you should show that you have a strong understanding of the topic you\u2019re pitching.<\/span><\/p>\n

If you send me a good, timely pitch, I may be able to give you a positive response right away\u2013the same day. Sometimes I want to discuss it with my team, which may mean it may take longer. And there are times when we\u2019re really busy in production or other projects and our focus is on that. If you don\u2019t hear from an editor in a couple of weeks, it\u2019s okay to give a gentle nudge.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0VK: Any other advice which you\u2019d like to give aspiring writers who write for you?<\/strong>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

TJ<\/span><\/strong>: Please, please, please, read the publication or website before you pitch. Find out if we\u2019ve already covered the topic you\u2019re pitching about. If they have, how long ago? Is there a new angle you can bring? New information?\u00a0New research? A new perspective?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

When I was an editor at another publication, I had someone pitch me a story that would profile a certain woman business owner. We were a women\u2019s magazine, but we never<\/em> did that kind of profile. Editors want writers to pay attention to things like that. When you pitch, try to match the format and tone of the publication. Every magazine has a different voice. Pitch a story in the voice of the publication you\u2019re writing for.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

VK:<\/span><\/strong> What do you mean by your \u2018voice\u2019? Each magazine has a different voice. Isn\u2019t it a bit like asking every writer to write like someone else?\u00a0<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

TJ: <\/span><\/strong>Good question\u2013because this is something that many people don\u2019t get\u2013which interferes with them being able to do as much magazine writing as they might like.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Each magazine has a tone, voice, and perspective\u2013a way they address their particular audience. If you are writing for that magazine, you generally need to be aware of that voice. That doesn\u2019t mean that your own voice doesn\u2019t come into play\u2013it definitely should. But it should align with the publication.<\/span><\/p>\n

You don\u2019t speak in a business meeting the same way you talk to friends at a party, right? You\u2019re still you\u2013but you\u2019re presenting in a way that\u2019s appropriate for the environment you\u2019re in. The best writers can do that in the writing they do for publications. I can write a piece that is playful and sassy; I can also write something that is more deeply reported, nuanced, and serious. It\u2019s still my voice.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

This isn\u2019t like writing a novel, a poem, or a short story\u2013where you are purely expressing your personal creativity. Writing for magazines or websites\u2013periodicals that are audience driven\u2013uses just as much creativity, but it\u2019s a different creative muscle.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Thank you, Tamara. Enjoyed your interview thoroughly. Your expectations came through some wonderful examples. I\u2019m sure FWW readers are going to love it. Interested, readers may visit <\/span>https:\/\/www.yogajournal.com<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Tamara Jeffries, Senior Editor at Yoga Journal, writes, assigns and edits feature packages and articles for the print magazine, and digital stories for the publication. Tamara spoke with Viney Kirpal, health and personal essay freelance writer recently.. VK: Thanks, Tamara for this interview. What\u2019s the inspiration behind this international journal on yoga? How do you…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":10083,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[64,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10031","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-editor-interviews","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.freedomwithwriting.com\/freedom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10031","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.freedomwithwriting.com\/freedom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.freedomwithwriting.com\/freedom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.freedomwithwriting.com\/freedom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.freedomwithwriting.com\/freedom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10031"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.freedomwithwriting.com\/freedom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10031\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10085,"href":"https:\/\/www.freedomwithwriting.com\/freedom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10031\/revisions\/10085"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.freedomwithwriting.com\/freedom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10083"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.freedomwithwriting.com\/freedom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10031"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.freedomwithwriting.com\/freedom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10031"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.freedomwithwriting.com\/freedom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10031"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}