Reading · Aly Walansky's Newsletter

Much like my favorite heroine Buffy Summers, I love trees and think they are pretty. However, I also currently love noise-canceling headphones.

At approximately the crack of dawn this morning, the city arrived outside my apartment building with chainsaws and heavy equipment to remove a tree that has been badly damaged in recent storms. It’s absolutely the right thing to do. Another tree on further up our block already came down during a recent (different) storm and took a big chunk of the sidewalk with it. Better loud today than dangerous tomorrow.

Have you ever tried writing while chainsaws, wood chippers, and heavy machinery are providing the soundtrack? I seriously do not recommend it. Especially when I have an event later today (a fun one, a really fun one!) that necessitates me leaving my apartment by mid-afternoon. Meaning I really only HAVE this morning to get work done or this day is a wash. Much like the tree.

But really, I have to say, the tree isn’t actually what I have on my mind right now, but we all do have those tree-type days. Maybe your internet goes out for half the afternoon. (Also happened recently, thanks recent NYC storms!) Maybe the plumber is fixing a flood that took over your apartment for several weeks while you’re trying to take Zoom calls (also a fond memory from my not-so-long-ago pat). Or maybe construction starts outside your window. Maybe your kids are unexpectedly home. Maybe your dog has decided every horn blaring in a three-block radius is a personal threat. Or maybe your brain simply woke up and chose chaos.

We spend so much time planning for the perfect work day, it becomes almost a fantasy. The inbox is manageable. The coffee is hot. The Wi-Fi works. Nobody needs anything from us. We have hours of uninterrupted focus.

But how often does that day actually happen? For me, most days, life is life-ing. Especially lately. And it’s hard. But I have realized over the years that productivity isn’t about waiting for ideal conditions. If it were, we’d all spend half our days and weeks and careers waiting.

So I’m trying to pivot how I position it. instead of “How do I have my most productive day?” instead: “Given the day I actually have, what’s the smartest work I can do?”

Maybe today isn’t the day I’m going to send my best-ever pitch or write the story that will get me a pulitzer or a parade (then again, I write meatball roundups, that’s highly unlikely to happen), but on a day such as this, maybe today is the day to answer emails, organize tomorrow’s agenda, clean up notes, schedule those meetings. But not actually hold any minutes or make any phone calls, because, again, my work environment sounds like a chainsaw orchestra.

Honestly, my goal for this morning is “good enough.”

You know, a few weeks ago, I mentioned my mom spent the greater part of the week in the hospital, and that journey started with a scary night in the emergency room. While there with her, I was able to observe their practices. Emergency rooms use triage. As you may have learned from watching The Pitt (which I obviously compared everything to) you don’t treat everything exactly the same way—you assess the situation you’re actually in and make the best decisions from there.

With an obvious difference in severity, we also triage our work days.

The city crews outside my window aren’t making all this noise because something went wrong today. They’re making all this noise because they’re preventing something much worse tomorrow. But isn’t that a great reminder that the interruptions in our lives aren’t detours, but a kind of maintenance.

Yes, outside my window today is loud, inconvenient and incredibly distracting and annoying, but even I have to acknowledge, it’s preventing a much bigger disruption down the road. Sometimes the most productive thing we can do isn’t fighting reality, we simply need to do our best to be adapting to it.

It’s really hard for me to accept, and it’s something I’ve been struggling through for years, that productivity is about controlling every variable. It’s best that we work to make progress when the variables refuse to cooperate.

Yes, I’d LOVE to have perfect silence, a full battery, reliable internet, and four uninterrupted hours every morning to do my best work and then eat a healthy and delicious salad (THOUGH GOOD LUCK WITH THAT THESE DAYS), but the reality is that we have chainsaws, storm-related outages, surprise repairs, and a calendar that seems determined to test your patience all while salads are temporarily off the table.

Try to remember though that both types of days to count and try not to measure yourself against the workday you wished you had but aren’t going to get, at least not today.

Hey, you actually showed up. And as we see again and again…that’s a big part of the battle.

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Upcoming travel: I’ll be in Dallas for a few days in October. If you want to try to meet up for a drink or coffee or have a client you are hoping I can check out (or general recommendations) - drop me a line! (Note: Thanks so much but where I’m staying is all set!)

Work with some of my dearest of dear friends! BrandBomb PR is hiring a full-time PR Coordinator to join their award-winning agency. If you’re ready to gain hands-on experience pitching local and national media, supporting red carpet events and working with an exciting mix of clients across hospitality, entertainment, healthcare, lifestyle and more, they’d love to hear from you. Candidates must have 1-2 years of PR experience and either live in Las Vegas or be willing to relocate. (Side note: I love these ladies so much and anyone who work with them will have a THRILLING experience.)

I still have some space available the remainder of 2026!

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.

Be sure to follow me on the Yahoo Creators platform. I’m 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!)

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July is holiday gift guide "high season,” and that makes right now the time to share new products and services with editors and writers of national publications for consideration of their popular December lists. The Recipe for Press Media Directory is a one-stop resource for everything you need to do just that. It's an essential and affordable database of relevant market editors and more in food, fashion, travel, business and lifestyle. Founded by former editor, Amy Flurry, the directory features emails, titles, active social media addresses, and a notes section with submission guidelines. It's created for people in the trenches by someone who knows how editors want to be pitched. This is why leading publicists, editors, and entrepreneurs across the country, including me, widely use and recommend it! Annual subscription price is just $195 and absolutely packed with value.

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

Exciting news from our friend Sarah Karger (who you’ve seen as the star expert panelist for several of our gift guide pitching workshops!) - she 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.

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: I Tried Trader Joe’s New $2 Seasoning—And Now I’m Putting It On Everything
Forbes.com: 30 Delectable Ways To Appreciate Caviar
Southern Living: 5 Store-Bought Salad Dressings Chefs Always Keep In Their Kitchens
Travel & Leisure: I’m a Frequent Business Traveler, and I Found 6 Comfy Airplane Outfits That Still Look Put Together—From $8
Apartment Therapy:The 18 Best Prime Day Travel Deals, Vetted by Pro Travelers (Starting at $8!)
Travel & Leisure: This Plane Seat Cushion Is My Secret to Arriving at Destinations Pain-free
Food Network: 25 Little Treats You Can Score for Free on Your Birthday
Travel & Leisure: I Travel for Work, and These Are the 5 Genius Hacks That Save Me From Luggage Messes and Spills—From $4
Travel & Leisure: I’ve Been Solo Traveling for 25 Years—12 Mistakes That Cause the Biggest Headaches, and How to Prevent Them
Forbes.com: 20 Great Variations On The Classic Martini
Southern Living: I Tried Trader Joe’s New Marinated Mozzarella Balls—Now I’m Using Them In Nearly Every Meal
Southern Living: I’m A Travel Writer, And This Cruise Hack Gets Me An Empty Pool, No Buffet Lines, And A Better Vacation
Southern Living: I’ve Tried Every Way To Bake A Potato—This 1 Wins Every Time
Travel & Leisure: Frequent Fliers Say This Genius Hack Makes It Feel Like They’ve Upgraded Their Seat—and It’s Only $35
Travel & Leisure: I’m a Frequent Solo Traveler, and This Genius Safety Device Gives Me Peace of Mind in Every Airbnb
Yahoo: The best cooling fans of 2026, tested and reviewed
Southern Living: I’m A Travel Writer, And My Friends And I Are Obsessed With This App For Tracking Each Other’s Flights
Travel & Leisure: I Fly Around the Country for Work, and This Roomy Tote Is My No. 1 Airport Essential for Looking Put Together.
Travel & Leisure: I’m a Solo Traveler of 25 Years, and These Are the 18 Products I Swear By for Personal Safety in 2026
Travel & Leisure: Traveling Alone Can Be Expensive—Here Are 15 Budget-friendly Hacks That Save Me Money
Southern Living: The One-Pan Cheesy Meal I Make Whenever I'm Too Tired To Cook

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.

Tuesday: Making progress (anyway)

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