Resources

 First...take a listen to this incredible point at min 19 until 22 from the Unlocking Us podcast (Brene Brown & Alicia Keys)

Brene: "Anyone that I know that has any experience of success...a lot of women especially is 'I can never say no [to overextending oneself] because I'll be perceived as ungrateful and the opportunities might go away' "

Alicia writes: "Opportunity is never a promise, rather it's a hope and a powerful hustle..."

And, remember what Kurt Vonnegut advised: “We have to continually be jumping off cliffs and developing our wings on the way down.”

Some resources for the hustle (after the jump):

1.Books on Writing, Creativity, Productivity:

i)William Zinsser, “On Writing Well” 

ii)Roy Peter Clark, “Writing Tools: 50 Essential Strategies for Every Writer” 

iii)Cal Newport, "Deep Work"

iv)Sarah Lewis, "The Rise"

v)Tiffany Yates Martin, "Intuitive Editing"

2.Writing Podcasts

i) Longform

ii) Write About Now

iii) #AmWriting

iv) I share some tips in a podcast here.

v) Website: The Write Life

3.Writing Opinion articles/Op-eds

This resource from The Op-Ed Project (OEP) is helpful to delineate structure as well as to read about the other op-ed writing basics (and while you're there, read about The OEP and consider participating in one of their workshops! After that, you can request to paired with me as your mentor-editor.) NB: in 2021 my participation in The OEP is intermittent primarily due to book editing demands. 

4.The best advice I can offer is to cultivate supportive community (this goes for writing, medicine, and beyond!)

For writing, it's summed up by this tweet and this tweet -- we live in an abundant world (promise!). 

Turn envy into inspiration and motivation! And be *KIND* (and uplift/support/encourage fellow writers)!!

My second best piece of advice: writing is 90% thinking about what you'd like to write, 10% is actually writing.

My third best piece of advice: successful story placement is largely contingent on the quality of your story ideas combined with the confidence to pitch frequently, widely (different outlets/editors), and persistently.  Assuming a very conservative 5% pitch success rate, if you pitch 2 to 19 times --stories and/or outlets -- a year, likely yields zero stories published. Pitching 20 times will yield at least one story a year.  Don't forget that sharing your work on Medium.com, or a personal blog, is a great way to get the wheels turning/creative juices flowing and build a writing habit (and it gets much easier over time) and increase the chances of your work being noticed. 

5.Medicine/Health-focused journalism training

Harvard: https://postgraduateeducation.hms.harvard.edu/certificate-programs/open-enrollment-programs/media-medicine

CUNY: Newmark J-school (health and science concentration): https://www.journalism.cuny.edu/future-students/m-a-in-journalism/subject-concentrations/health-science-reporting/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cRv6GkP7BAE

Harvard writer's conference: https://wps.hmscme.com

Tufts: https://publichealth.tufts.edu/graduate-programs/professional-development/hcom-professionaldevelopment/medical-journalism

UNC Science Journalism: http://scimedjournalism.web.unc.edu/

Munk School, Toronto: https://munkschool.utoronto.ca/journalism/

Columbia Narrative Medicine: http://sps.columbia.edu/narrative-medicine

**This resources section is comprehensive and includes one long podcast interview where I share everything I know about freelancing in health/medical journalism and writing. Ava filters my email requests and in general, due to the number of emails we receive, and other demands on my time/energy, I am unable to respond to individual requests for advice or tips. The most efficient solution was to share it all here, for free, and update this section as I learn and discover more things worth sharing**