Wednesday: Today's email is about NOT being productive. Here's how to force yourself not to work on Thanksgiving.

PS: Don't miss out: The completely FREE recording of last month's Zoom webinar event covering pitching, trends, and all things holiday gift guide season is now available -- grab the link right here!

Good morning!

Happy Turkey Day-eve!

I have a ton of cooking planned for tomorrow and I couldn’t be more excited — Thanksgiving is my very favorite holiday.

I won’t lie, I’ll probably be working Friday in the early AM — Black Friday is a big deal in these parts — but I’m planning on not working tomorrow.

And as someone who is constantly sending you emails about how to work from an airport, a plane, a hotel room, the back seat of a car, from home during a power outage, and even a cruise ship, that sounds pretty wild.

But, to be honest, my focus tomorrow is cooking a turkey, not talking turkey.

(But check out my Yahoo author page if you want to talk turkey! I wrote like a dozen stories about turkey and Thanksgiving prep!)

But if you are like me, and struggle NOT to work, especially during this busy season (and quite honestly are not sure what to do with yourself when you’re not working), here’s some tips to successfully take the day off from the darn computer and focus on what really matters: Stuffing and gravy.

Set a firm intention: Simply decide ahead of time you absolutely positively will not work. Treat NOT working as your work for the day.

Avoid loose ends: Stuff ALWAYS comes up, including on holidays. People have no shame. One way to avoid contributing to that factor is to make sure you wrap up anything urgent or timely before the holiday (You may see I’ve published 10 gift guides in the past week!). If you plan ahead to have all your urgent and timely responsibilities covered, there’ll be less likelihood of them coming up when you need to be mashing potatoes and pre-batching cocktails.

Consider an out-of-office: I stopped doing these because, honestly, people just ignore mine and it just encourages them to be more aggressive. But if people respect your out of office, be sure to set a clear one with your return date.

Power down: If you can bear it, turn off phone notifications for work emails for the day. The world will survive. If you make it a little harder for yourself to check work-related items, you may just…not check them.

Schedule your day: I have a strong agenda for tomorrow! It just doesn’t involve work! A full schedule leaves less time to work.

Practice mindfulness and gratitude: In case you forgot while browsing Black Friday sales, it’s actually the whole point of why we do this holiday.

Acknowledge your feelings, and do not judge yourself: Yes you may have the desire to work, but remind yourself that breaks are important. Just be like: “Self, we’re not doing that today.”

Let me know if it works.

I have published many gift guides this past week. Here’s a quick rundown. Be sure to check if your clients are included, and I super appreciate any social shares and tags if they were:

• From steaks to lobster, 15 culinary gifts perfect for the foodie this holiday season

• From latkes to chocolate gelt, these Hanukkah gifts will be at the top of their wishlist this season

• From smart speakers to comfortable chairs, these are the 13 best holiday gifts for upgrading a home office

• From dash cams to diagnostic tools, these are the best holiday gifts for anyone who really loves their car

• From gadgets to skincare: The ultimate guide to holiday gifts for the special guy in your life

• The best tech gifts to impress the gadget fan in your life this holiday

• From packing cubes to toiletry bags, these are the 15 best gifts for travelers this holiday

• These Less Well-Known Spirits Are The Gifts Your Drinking Friends Actually Want This Season

• The Best Celebrity Spirits To Gift This Holiday Season

• The 10 best cookbooks to give the aspiring chef in your life as a gift this holiday season

Note, some of these are still being updated, so if you have a gift you want to pitch in one of these above categories, there’s still a chance — plus many other pending gift guides below!

But what is the one thing you can do to increase your chances of getting into my gift guides — or anyone’s gift guides? Come armed and prepared. That means the succinct pitches that check all the boxes, the right images, the most targeted pitches that fit the theme. There’s a lot to go into these gift guides and a whole lot of competition.

Luckily for you — I have a workshop we created of all of our best practices, tips, and advice for pitching any holiday gift guide — and the whole recording of the webinar is available for free (yes, completely free!) as a benefit for subscribers - it’s well over an hour of commentary, Q&A, and tons of information you can use this season. Grab the details here.

If you are pitching holiday gift guides this season, you’re competing with thousands of other emails in every journalist’s inbox. Make sure your pitch stands out and gets noticed.

In the meantime, if you have a topic or question you want me to cover in a future newsletter, drop me an email at alywalansky@gmail.com.

OK, now on to today’s business! Check out fresh newly published content and also pending assignments I’m working on by scrolling below…

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Book your consulting session!

I still have some space available for November!

I can join your team on Zoom, a phone call, or in-person and do a team Q&A and answer any of your questions about planning events, mailers, trips, pitching, followups, etc — giving you a very necessary media perspective. Email me at alywalansky@gmail.com if you are interested in chatting more and setting something up :)

We can switch it up in any way you or your team needs. While most of my calls do end up being virtual, I just did one where we did our session over a martini lunch! I’m available for whatever your team prefers. Lets chat.

I’m now contributing to the Yahoo Creators platform, writing a wide range of lifestyles topics: check out my author profile to see some of my most recent pieces! (This is updated daily - usually multiple times daily - so you’ll want to keep checking it out for new content!)

Limited-time deal on ad placement!

I’m 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 more than 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!

Tools of the trade

Thanks so much to everyone who attended my Pitchcraft panel last week on everything to you need to know about Yahoo creators. We covered a ton of ground and Pitchcraft will actually be sharing a replay — but it’s only available to members.

Luckily, I’m excited to share I partnered with Pitchcraft to be able to share a special offer just for my readers: Use code ALY200: new users will get $200 off their first month of the monthly PR Membership or code ALY400: This one offers new users $400 off their first year of the annual PR Membership.

This is a great network to join because it’s a community of both PR professionals and journalists working together to find better ways to work together and share opportunities, and you know how much I believe in all of that.

Absolutely check it out!

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Exciting news from our friend Sarah Karger (who recently was a star expert panelist for our big holiday gift guide pitching workshop!) - she just launched her new course, Affiliate Marketing & Performance-Based PR for Publicists - It’s built specifically to help PR pros and agencies add affiliate management as a core capability, something we all know is completely essential in today’s media landscape. This is in-depth training that equips publicists with the exact strategies to:

• Set up affiliate programs for clients

• Pitch commerce editors with confidence

• Deliver measurable ROI through performance-based PR

It’s a must-have for anyone trying to navigate this ever-changing biz!

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.

• Yahoo Creators: Check out my author profile (I have several new stories a day across the lifestyles umbrella, so that’s the best way to stay updated!)

• Southern Living: 5 Thanksgiving Dishes Southern Chefs Admit Even They Take Shortcuts On

• Southern Living: We Asked Southern Chefs Their Favorite Thanksgiving Dessert And The Answer Was Unanimous

• Southern Living: Can You Eat Sprouted Potatoes? An Expert Explains

• Forbes.com: These Less Well-Known Spirits Are The Gifts Your Drinking Friends Actually Want This Season

• Southern Living: 5 Desserts Southern Chefs Are Making This Thanksgiving

• Apartment Therapy: My Packing Trick Helps Me Pack Perfectly Every Time

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

• Travel & Leisure: Traveling Alone Can Be Expensive—Here Are 15 Budget-friendly Hacks That Save Me Money

• Yahoo Creators: The best tech gifts to impress the gadget fan in your life this holiday

• Travel & Leisure: A Travel Writer’s $8 Amazon Packing Hack for Shoes

• Forbes.com: 18 Ways To Savor The Season Via Thanksgiving-Inspired Dishes And Cocktails

• Apartment Therapy: What Pro Travelers Never Pack in Their Carry-On Bag

• Forbes.com: The Best Celebrity Spirits To Gift This Holiday Season

• Yahoo Creators: From packing cubes to toiletry bags, these are the 13 best gifts for travelers this holiday

• Yahoo Creators: The 10 best cookbooks to give the aspiring chef in your life as a gift this holiday season.

• Yahoo Creators: From gadgets to skincare: The ultimate guide to gifts for the special guy in your life this holiday season

• Travel & Leisure: I’m a Solo Traveler, and I Tell All My Friends to Pack These Anti-theft Essentials—Up to 56% Off at Amazon

• Forbes.com: 7 Low ABV Cocktails To Enjoy When Trying To Stay Moderate During The Holidays

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

• Travel & Leisure: This $8 Flight Attendant-loved Hack Helps Me Carry More Bags at the Airport—Without Paying Extra

• Food Network: You Can Pre-Order Your Entire Thanksgiving Feast

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

• Today.com: What Are The Best Drugstore Eye Creams? Experts and Editors Reveal Their Favorites

• Southern Living: The Best And Worst Times To Go To The Grocery Store

• Southern Living: How To Cook A Perfect Steak Every Time, According To Southern Chefs.

• Southern Living: The One-Pan Cheesy Meal I Make Whenever I'm Too Tired To Cook

• Travel & Leisure: I’m a Travel Writer, and I Swear by These Packable Ballet Flats for Comfort, Support, and Long Days on My Feet

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.

Southern Living

Working on two fun new pieces!

1 - We asked southern chefs, what were their favorite dishes they had this year?. I’m basically asking chefs to weigh in on: The Best Thing These Southern Chefs Ate This Year - tell me what it was, and why it was so memorable!

2 - A travel packing hack piece, you know I love those! This is about the 3-second rule -- This is basically self-explanatory, but helps so much not only with packing for trips but even for cleaning out my closet, doing a giveaway bag, spring cleaning and shopping. It’s that you pick up an item and give yourself three seconds to decide if you’ll wear it at all on your trip (or in life). if you hesitate at all, you leave it behind. It’s a great way of streamlining! I’d love some travel experts/organization experts/packing experts/etc to weigh in on this one.

Yahoo Creators

I’m working on a few holiday gift guides!

I’m seeking:

• Frilly/girlie gift ideas (think cute, pink, lacey, girlie, frilly, sexy, fun, lingerie, underthings, etc)

• gifts for your man

• home/kitchen related gifts,

• Last-minute gifts you can get on Amazon Prime (So this will be an Amazon specific guide and only feature items that people can get a few days before the holiday and still receive in time)

To pitch me for these guides, please be sure to include the following:

• Name of item

• Links to major retailers where sold (it’s in your best interest to include several retailer link options when pitching, especially major ones like Amazon)

• Link to image and any necessary credits

• Description why it’s a fit

Item must be currently available and currently in stock. Be sure to start a new email thread and be clear in the subject line what specific gift guide(s) you are pitching. Just replying to this email is a great way to get your pitch buried in a heap - we don’t want that!

Tip: If you want any guidance on how to pitch for gift guides more successfully, be sure to check out the complete webinar recording linked here — it’s free!

Before pitching: Please be sure to refer to my photo submission guidelines for help with photo submission best practices!

Forbes

I’m looking for Hanukkah-inspired cocktails available at bars/restaurants. Also please pitch me if you have any fun Hanukkah-related dishes, such as, say, a fun and unique spin on latkes.

For all my cocktail pieces, the format for pitching remains:

• Name of cocktail

• Where served, city, state, URL

• LINK to image of the drink and photo credit

• description (NOT a recipe) of drink, and quote about drink, with appropriate credit.

Thanks!

Have a great day, and thanks again for being such an incredible community <3

aly