As I write, I’m watching my stepfather in his final hours before the cancer that struck a year ago takes him from us.
Writing these newsletters throughout this tough time has been a solace. Events and opportunities remind me that there’s a vibrant media community to come back to, and these notes have allowed me to translate hard-earned wisdom into lessons that apply equally to freelance life.
Here’s another one: Never, ever wait to delegate. I cared for my stepfather almost exclusively until the last days. But when I suddenly faced tasks I couldn’t do, I called for help. A nighttime caregiver not only allowed me to rest during his most restless hours but also ensured he was comfortable.
Also, I learned that sometimes, it’s okay to wait until the last minute. There’s a value in the pressure of time commanding you and everyone around you to just get it done. I called in the morning and had a caregiver that night. I made big decisions before he passed with clarity and calm because the pressure didn’t muddle my brain so much as strip away any time I might have taken to chew things over. Since I tend to be a planner, I didn’t realize how much of life actually gets done — and done well — on last-minute moves.
I’m so lucky to be a freelancer, because it allowed me to take this final journey with him in a way that put him, our family, and me first. And it will also allow me to take on only as much work as I can handle as I move from being with him to handling the tasks and emotions that will land after he’s gone. Which I’m sure I’ll write about a lot in the future, because “the admin of death” will probably teach me a lot about how better to manage “the admin of freelance.”
~ Sara
🚨 THIS WEEK: The IIJ is at NABJ!
The National Association of Black Journalists annual conference is this week in Atlanta, and the IIJ will be there! On Aug. 13, come at 1 p.m. ET for a panel on sustainable freelance revenue with moderator Shernay Williams of the IIJ, IIJ founder Katherine Reynolds Lewis, and journalists Tatyana Arrington and LaMar Holliday.
The panel will be followed later that same day, at 5 p.m. ET, by a free meetup co-hosted by the Association of Independents in Radio, the International Women’s Media Foundation, and NextGen Journalism. Katherine and Shernay, IIJ leader Benét Wilson, and the IWMF’s Tat Bellamy-Walker will all be there!
🏳️🌈 Join us at #NLGJA26 next month!
Join IIJ founder Katherine Reynolds Lewis and friends in San Francisco in September for the annual Association of LGBTQ+ Journalists conference! She’ll speak on a panel about the current media landscape for freelancers on Sept. 10 at 11 a.m. PT with COYOTE Media’s Soleil Ho and Kae Petrin, co-founder of the Trans Journalists Association.
Then, join her, Eric Ferrero of the Fund for Investigative Journalism, and the International Women’s Media Foundation’s Tat Bellamy-Walker for a 6 p.m. PT meetup! The Association of Independents in Radio is also co-hosting.
📋 Editors: Help the IIJ help you!
If you are an editor or publisher who hires — or wants to hire — freelancers, the IIJ wants your feedback! We’re building a user-friendly marketplace tool to help editors and independent journalists find each other easily and efficiently. This 10-15-minute survey includes questions about how you track pitches and vet freelancers, and helps us build a platform that works for you.
Pitch Calls and Other Opportunities
🏃🏾♀️ RUNHER wants stories for next issue
RUNHER Magazine wants stories about women and running, especially on the following topics: field sports, diversity and safety, extreme racing, photo spreads, and the politics of women running. 💰$0.50 to $1 a word. Read the submission guidelines here, and submit pitches here. Deadline: Sunday, Aug. 16.
➗ IWMF grant supports stories on divisive rhetoric
The International Women’s Media Foundation has launched the Fault Lines Reporting Fund, which will support stories that investigate the sources of rhetoric that promote intolerance, division, and hatred. 💰$2,500 to $10,000. Learn more here, and apply here. Deadline: Rolling basis.
🤳 Fellowship helps creators built trust, skillset
News Creator Corps invites content creators to apply for the Fall 2026 cohort of its Trusted Creator Fellowship program. Best suited to creators unfamiliar with the basics of fact-checking, FOIA requests, and interview strategies, the two-month program aims to build trust with the public through transparency and ethical reporting. 💰$5,000 stipend. Learn more here and apply here. Deadline: Monday, Aug. 17.
📽️ Greater Good wants pop culture writers
Greater Good, the online magazine of the Greater Good Science Center, is ramping up its pop culture coverage and is hoping to commission a story about relationships as portrayed in the movie The Invite. 💰$0.25 per word, $200 to $300 flat fee for certain genres. Learn more about pitching them here and send clips and resume to [email protected] or through the pitch form here.
💦 Pitch water crisis stories to Fuller
Fuller, a global magazine focused on improving the lives of women and gender-diverse people, wants more pitches for its upcoming water issue. It is looking for reporting on humanitarian crises, climate-driven drought, water infrastructure issues, and more. 💰$150 for short video, $200 per day for photography, $500 to $750 for various reported pieces. Learn more and pitch here.
Interesting Reads
📖 Jaya Saxena of worker-owned food publication Ravenous writes about the challenges editors face now to tell whether a pitch uses AI. As a result, editors tend to rely on people they know already (to be human), making it harder than ever for new writers to break through. “It feels like we’re being forced to view our comrades in underemployment with distrust, to treat every pitch in our inbox as a scam. Nobody actually wants to live this way,” she writes.
📖 Journalist Joseph Darius Jaafari spoke to NiemanLab about his plans to expand his Arizona-based LGBTQ+ out LOOKOUT into Colorado and beyond. He created the publication to tell a broader range of stories about and for the queer community. “I’m stealing every single brand and voice and guide, and everything from the old ’90s Christopher Street magazines and queer magazines,” Jaafari said. “I’m stealing everything that is cool in our community and putting it into this.” The publication also relies on freelancers, who can learn more about pitching here.
📖 If you use Airtable at all for your freelance business, you may want to press the eject button now, Lex Roman writes in Revenue Rulebreaker. The company was just acquired by Bending Spoons, a company that tends to fire most personnel and raise consumer prices. Read on to learn how to export your data from Airtable, and keep in mind Roman’s wise advice: “Take this as a warning that any apps you are fully dependent on could go belly up at any moment.”
Calendar
🗓️ THIS WEEK: Thursday, Aug. 13 - At the National Association of Black Journalists annual convention in Atlanta, IIJ leaders Katherine Reynolds Lewis and Shernay Williams will join journalists Tatyana Arrington and LaMar Holliday for a panel called “Where’s the Bag: How to Build Sustainable Income on Your Own” at 1 p.m. ET.
🗓️ THIS WEEK: Thursday, Aug. 13 - We’re also co-hosting a 5 p.m. ET meetup at NABJ with AIR, the IWMF, and NextGen Journalism! RSVP here to join the IIJ’s Katherine Reynolds Lewis, Shernay Lewis, and Benét Wilson, as well as the IWMF’s Tat Bellamy-Walker.
🗓️ Thursday, Sept. 10 - Join the IIJ for a panel at the 2026 convention for NLGJA: The Association of LGBTQ+ Journalists in San Francisco! At 11 a.m. PT, Trans Journalists Association co-founder Kae Petrin, COYOTE Media worker-owner Soleil Ho, and the IIJ’s Katherine Reynolds Lewis will present a panel on “The Reality of Freelance Journalism Today.”
🗓️ Thursday, Sept. 10 - Our freelancer meetup at NLGJA, co-hosted with AIR, the IWMF, and the FIJ, takes place at 6 p.m. PT. Come meet IIJ leader Katherine Reynolds Lewis, IWMF leader Tat Bellamy-Walker, and Eric Ferrero from the FIJ! Register here.
🗓️ Friday, Oct. 16 - The IIJ’s Ann Marie Awad will participate in an 11:30 a.m. ET panel on what to do if you’re laid off at the National Association of Science Writers virtual conference. She’ll be joined by freelance writers Alaina G. Levine and Elizabeth Pennisi, CNN Senior Science Reporter Kasha Patel, and Vita-Activa’s Luisa Ortiz Pérez.
