Interview with The New Lead Blogger at The New York Times Motherlode.

A few months ago The New York Times announced that KJ Dell’Antonia would be joining them as the new blogger for Motherlode. Last week I had the opportunity to chat with KJ about her new position, her writing background and what aspiring writers need to do to take their career to the next level.

KJ began her career in the legal field but said that she has always been a writer and was always meant to be a writer. “I like to say that writers are born not made.”

After 9-11 she was laid off from her job, when she and her husband agreed that it was the perfect time for her to start focusing on a new career. That’s when KJ made the decision to begin writing professionally. “I was writing about food and living in New York and started writing for Time Out New York.” She and her husband soon decided to move away from New York to New Hampshire and she stayed home with her four kids. KJ continued to focus on her writing career while multitasking as a stay at home mom.

“It took years to meet editors who were interested in hearing my pitches. It took a long time to  properly get paid for a national magazine.” KJ targeted the places that she wanted to work for and didn’t take no for an answer. “Also, I said yes to everything. If I wanted to write for a publication I would write about whatever they wanted in whatever voice they wanted. To get the good work you have to prove that you are willing to do all of the work.”

How did you get involved with The New York Times?

“When Slate created their DoubleX offshoot I really wanted to write for them. I sent them everything I could possibly come up with. I got in front of the person who was doing kids media reviewing. It was one of those stories that saying yes to other things leads you to what you really want. She offered me a position reviewing media. When the editor quit she recommended me and I worked with them to learn more about blogging. Eventually I was asked to write for DoubleX. I then became someone who was doing parenting blogging for a major media outlet, and in the way that The Times wanted it done…There aren’t many parenting blogs that are topical, political and cultural all at once. I’ve known Lisa Belkin for years and when I learned she was leaving to go to the Huffington Post I reached out and pitched The New York Times.

What Suggestions do you have for bloggers who may want to take their writing to a mainstream publication?

“I suggest targeting the publications that you want to write for. I suggest reading them intensely. If you really want to write for a national magazine you probably have to give up your smaller local stuff. You have to do the small local stuff but at some point you have to go for the big stuff. You have to pitch it again and again. They aren’t going to find you. You have to get in front of them. Say yes! If the editor doesn’t like your idea but offers another then write it. Be professional and stick to the word count.”

You mentioned that you would be featuring guest posts and regular contributors. How can writers become contributors or have a guest post featured on Motherlode?

“A writer without a lot of clips is going to need to write about something. I don’t mind having someone email me saying ‘Can I try writing something about x?’ You can try but I may not end up liking it or giving you feedback on how to improve it. A writer who is known to me (I know a lot of people who do great work in this space) or someone with a lot of clips might have an idea and I just say yes.”

” It has to be something that will be interesting to The New York Times. The topics have to be both deeply personal but broad enough that a wide audience will be interested.”

If you are interested in pitching a story you can send it to: motherlode@nytimes.com