Monday: Shiver me timbers! Some newly published content going into this rather busy week!

Also: Keeping a daily agenda and how it helps - today's tip of the day!

Good morning!

A kind of different kind of Monday as I’m headed in a few hours on the NYC media preview inaugural cruise of the new Norwegian Aqua and will be posting/writing from there for the next few days (and hoping to run into a lot of friends while I’m at it!).

Some new content to share before I go, though (it was actually a pretty busy weekend, work-wise, and you’ll notice a bunch of pending assignments have been wrapped up and disappeared from the below list).

Newly published this week, for Apartment Therapy: I Tried the Pomodoro Technique for Tax Prep — Here’s Why I’ll Never Do It Another Way (and y’all, if you haven’t done your taxes yet, you should really get on it!), for Today.com: Best drugstore wrinkle creams 2025, according to experts, and for Forbes.com: The Pizza Martini Creates A Sippable Version Of Everyone’s Favorite Snack.

Every day I try to share a little bit of a productivity tip or way I save time (or budget my time) wherever possible.

To that end, I'm all about to-do lists. And I don't even mean specifically today's story deadlines (though those are on every day’s list too, of course). But I write down all the tasks I hope to complete in a day -- from finishing those stories, to sending those pitches, to stuff like returning a phone call that I haven't returned yet or picking up some oat milk. For example, yesterday’s to-do list involved packing, painting my toes, and to take boneless skinless chicken thighs out of the freezer to throw in the fridge to defrost.

It's not just the work tasks but all the tasks you hope to check off in a day. Even the little ones that feel small but are actually pretty significant to your overall routine. When all those tasks do get checked off, you feel so great.

We’re all so busy, it can feel really overwhelming at times. And we’ve all been that person at one point that has so many things we need to do, we don’t know where to start, and end up paralyzed with indecision — which then wastes time and takes away from getting anything done.

Keeping to a personal agenda will help with that. It's all about managing your life, one task at a time. And making sure you leave nothing out! Sometimes I will put these to-do lists in priority order, with the biggest tasks on top and the smaller or less important on the bottom, but you can also design your list from what is easier to knock out to what is more demanding.

Whatever works for you!

Fair winds and following seas! And to nothing Doctor Odyssey-adjacent happening in the next few days…

Limited-time deals on consulting sessions and ad placement!

Reminder: I’m offering a limited-time special consulting session discount for paid subscribers: If you are a paid subscriber, you can for a limited time, get 25% off a virtual consulting session (where we can have your own private or agency-wide AMA session on anything you want to chat about!) — I have some slots open in the next few weeks, so if you or your agency is interested in booking one, email me today and we’ll chat details.

Flash sale: If you book a group subscription for your agency, you may be eligible for a FREE consulting session for your team (if you buy 12 or more seats as part of your annual group subscription). Email me so we can discuss!

I’m also offering a seasonal special on advertising in this newsletter. I’d love to place your sponsored posts and advertising in this substack, which goes out to nearly 10,000 media professionals every single day; Note: I do limit advertising to only what would be of interest to my readers, but am open to both short paragraph blurbs and dedicated posts - if you are interested in chatting details and scheduling something, please email me at alywalansky@gmail.com today!

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Thank you for helping get the word out!

We had an amazing turnout at our recent Mother’s Day gift guide pitching workshop — and there’s a full recording available for paid subscribers. If you are interested in me sending you the video link, drop me an email. Thanks so much for your support and happy gift guide pitching!

Related: We loved how many of attended you took the time to attend our webinar event last month, covering the upcoming ShareASale to Awin migration. We covered an overview of the migration process and timeline, pricing of networks, and choosing a network for your specific client needs. If you missed it, we do have a recording available for paid subscribers. Email if interested and I’ll share how to grab that recording as well!

Looking to up your affiliate marketing game?

Affiliate marketing is complicated, and it seems that the landscape keeps changing. If you are looking to be prepared for gift guide season and all other shopping-related content, you may want to try the Ultimate Masterclass and Introduction to Affiliate Marketing for Publicists. It's a brilliant course and it'll answer all your questions (including some you didn't know you had!)

Newly published or freshly updated

Since people are often asking about the status of stories from a while ago, and I only share stories in this newsletter that were published or updated in the current week, I have created a list of my author pages at various publications to which I contribute. Bookmark it and make your life a bit easier.

• Apartment Therapy: I Tried the Pomodoro Technique for Tax Prep — Here’s Why I’ll Never Do It Another Way

• Today.com: Best drugstore wrinkle creams 2025, according to experts

• Forbes.com: The Pizza Martini Creates A Sippable Version Of Everyone’s Favorite Snack

• Forbes.com: 7 Celebratory Cocktails To Enjoy This Passover

• Forbes.com: 17 Spring-Inspired Cocktails To Enjoy This Easter

• Forbes.com: 15 Sustainable Cocktails To Enjoy During Earth Month

• Travel & Leisure: I Travel Solo Often, and I Won’t Stay in Another Airbnb Without Packing This 1 Safety Device

• Yahoo Life!: Best pedometers of 2025, tested and reviewed

• Yahoo Life: The best black tea to brew in 2025, according to testers and experts

• Travel & Leisure: I Found the Perfect Walking Shoes to Prevent Sore Feet During Travel — Score Styles on Sale Up to 62% Off

• Apartment Therapy: The $3 Cleaning Gem I Use in Almost Every Room of My Small Apartment

• Food Network: Popeyes Is Bringing Its Most Popular Sauces to Grocery Aisles.

• Southern Living: KFC Is Bringing Back Their Most-Requested Side—But For 2 Weeks Only

• Travel & Leisure: In-flight Theft Is Unfortunately a Thing, but These 12 Items Give Me Peace of Mind When I'm Traveling by Plane

• Apartment Therapy: I Asked Pro Travelers to Share Their Packing Tips for Spring Break

• RetailMeNot: How to Save Money on Groceries in 2025: 10 Tips That Actually Work

• Southern Living: The Unexpected Reason I Always Travel With Duct Tape—And You Should Too

If you or your client are featured in any of these stories, I super appreciate any social media shares! Please remember to tag @alywalansky and the outlet.

Here’s what I’m working on:

Be sure to read the below list carefully. Many are stories I posted about yesterday, but some of yesterday's stories are no longer listed and a few new ones have been added since yesterday. This (below) is everything that is still a currently open opportunity as of today.

Please remember when pitching me: Email me at alywalansky@gmail.com - do NOT just hit reply on this newsletter, or there’s a good shot your email will be lost in the heap. Give your email a subject line that makes it clear which story you are pitching me for — it’ll help you in the long run.

Please consult my industry insights guides on submitting expert commentary, sending emails that will catch a journalist’s attention, how to craft pitches journalists will say ‘yes’ to, and the right and wrong way to submit photos, if you need any extra guidance before sending your pitches.

Newsweek Reader’s Choice Nominations

As I have mentioned in the past, I’m on the committee of food and travel journalists that work on nominations for the Newsweek Readers Choice awards in a variety of categories. Currently working on categories that include: Best Meal Delivery Kits (nominees will be based on Food Quality: Are fresh ingredients provided? Is the food organic? Seasonal? Are the kits shipped in refrigerated boxes? Are steps taken to prevent cross contamination? Affordability: What is the cost per meal? How many meals are included in a subscription? How many people can the kit serve? Ease of Use: Are the recipes easy to follow? Are the instructions clear? Are the recipes easy to cook? Food Options: Are there options available for special dietary needs? Is there a variety of meals to choose from? Can subscribers skip/substitute a meal? (if applicable) Availability: How often do subscribers receive meals? (if applicable) Are all meals available year-round or are the meals based on seasonality? and Best Outdoor Music Festivals — nominations will be based on: The festival should be highly rated/well reviewed by attendees.n o security or safety violations should be associated with the festival, the festival is located in the US., diversity of genre, target demographic (for example, if it's a hardcore punk festival, it's probably not all-ages friendly), geographic diversity and variety (we want to represent the whole country), value for the money, seasonal diversity, events that take place in consecutive days as opposed to a series that takes place over the course of the summer.

Forbes

How To Enhance Springtime Recipes With Specialty Pantry Items And Chef-Approved Tips - this is more of a how-to/explainer than a product/shopping guide, but I’m still totally open to include products that serve the story, and very up for chef commentary!

<3

aly