[Disclaimer before I begin: sometimes people let me know that they see typos in this newsletter. It's going to happen. This is a free thing I do by myself because, often in gaps of time between other paying work. It's going to happen. And I don't care! I mean, I do, but I do the best I can].
Hello from Baltimore! I am writing to you while in Charm City for the Association of Healthcare Journalists conference. Why am I writing this instead of being at the conference? Because I'm pacing myself! It's a four-day event, and as a person who chooses to work from home and, to a certain extent, live alone, four days of PEOPLE PEOPLE PEOPLE is a lot. So that it's not too much, I take breaks (and, as was the case today, a nap).
There's a terrible piece about freelancing going around today. It's annoying but not surprising. We get these a few times a year. I'm not going to spend the newsletter running through why the story is bad – almost irresponsible – to publish. I think I've spent a decent amount of time debunking freelance myths (which you can go back and read in my archives if you're new here). So instead, I'll going to point you to two things:
1. Courage Camp! In August, I'm headed to Colorado to be part of a fabulous team teaching a masterclass on the business of freelance writing. It's very exciting! You do need to apply – writers are accepted on a rolling basis with applications opening on May 30.
2. Look below. The "recent byline" section of this newsletter is a mix of how I make a living. I do this because I like to show off my work, of course, but also so that other freelancers who get this see how many opportunities are out there.
Enjoy! Oh and yes the newsletter finally has a name! Do you like it? I hope so!
Recent Bylines
"Cheating to Make the Boston Marathon? You Can't Run from This Detective," The New York Times
"When My Dog Died, I Discovered a Thriving Pet Funeral Industry I Never Knew Existed," SELF
"Psychology, Computational Linguistics and the Evolution of Word Meaning," Lehigh News
"Phishing 2.0: Employees are Desperate and Companies More Vulnerable," CIO Dive
"Where Hybrid Cloud Systems Do and Do Not Work," CIO Dive
"How Not to Get Duped When Buying a Used Car," The New York Times
"Filling in the Gaps of Connected Car Data Helps Transportation Planners," MTU News
"How to Stay Patient While Recovering from an Injury," The New York Times
"Hardware as a Service Makes Inroads Beyond Printers," CIO Dive
What I'm Reading
- Deep Medicine: How Artificial Intelligence Can Make Healthcare Human Again by Eric Topol. I've been writing a lot of about AI (specifically in healthcare), which is why I read this. Interesting! Asks a lot of questions about the technology overall, not just in health too.
- The Burning Room by Michael Connelly. Bosch is at it again!
- The Nature of Jade by Deb Caletti I'm doing the #ReadingWomen2019 challenge, and picked this up out of a Little Free Library for it. Meh. I wouldn't recommend it.
- Plain Faith: The True Story of Tragedy, Loss, and Leaving the Amish by Irene Eash, Ora Jay Eash with Tricia Goyer. It was an interesting look into another way of life, but I can't be a cheerlead for a book where one of the two authors list the reasons they like their daughters in law and start with that they're good at keeping house.
- My Sister, the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite. Eeee! What a great thriller!
- The Reversal by Michael Connelly. Bosch again – but with the Lincoln Lawyer!
- Runaway Ralph by Beverly Cleary. I never read this as a kid (that I can remember). What a delight!
- The Governess Game by Tessa Dare. Another one from one of my favorite romance authors.
- Pilgrim at Tinker Creek by Annie Dillard. I am not enough into this to give an assessment – but I hope to be soon.
- Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee by Dee Brown. This is my current audiobook selection while I wait back in the library hold line for the Washington biography. Of course it's excellent.
- What We Do in the Shadows. The movie, not the TV show. I wanted to know what it was all about – it is very silly and I liked it. It's streaming on Hoopla, if you can get that through your library.
- Duck Tales: The Movie. ALSO on Hoopla. It's great!
- Million Dollar Arm. Ehhhhhhh. It's a cheesy Disney sports movie so I'm not sure what I expected.
- Disney Animated Collection Vol. 1; Mickey and the Beanstalk. I probably watched these shorts a zillion times as a kid – a long time ago. But I remembered almost every beat of every single one of them. Memory is a funny thing.
- Avengers Infinity War. I needed to catch up.
- Avengers. Same.
- The Bank Job. I mean….this was rather silly and violent, but it worked as a background movie while writing some travel shorts.
- Captain America: Civil War. I admit that I fell asleep while re-watching this one. But I had seen it recently so that's OK. Also I was tired.
- Avengers: Age of Ultron. I watched this the morning of Endgame and I'm glad I did! It's a clunky movie but important to…
- Avengers: Endgame. Holy shit! I saw it Friday afternoon and spent much of the weekend thinking about it. I won't say more here because I think we're still in the #dontruintheendgame time.
- Queen of the Desert. Oooooaf. Was this Oscar bait? Because it was not great.
Until Next Time!
Jen A. Miller
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