Burnt out. Will be back this fall
I still want to hear from you during this publishing break
Ok, I’ll admit. I’m burnt out. And I need a break.
I’ve been spreading myself too thin in the past few months. I slept about four hours each day in April and May. I would be up from 4 a.m. and end my day around 9-10 p.m.
What did I have on my plate? Full-time grad school. A part-time fact-checking job with an early morning shift, five days a week. Two other part-time jobs at school. An entrepreneurial journalism program at CUNY. And obviously, this newsletter.
Here’s a snippet of my April weekly schedule — which didn’t include Nutgraf stuff beyond scheduled interviews.
I realized in late May I needed a break. I never took one and pushed it for another month.
But it’s time. The Nutgraf will take a 1.5-month-long publishing break. It will be back when the fall semester begins.
I just came back from Mexico City. I’m heading to Washington, D.C. for a few days this week. Then, I’m flying to Tokyo next week.
I’m pretty excited to completely turn my email notification off for a few weeks.
📰 Read more about my journey with The Nutgraf: I thought running a newsletter about student journalism would be easy (Journalism Innovation)
🗣️ I still want to hear from you
When I come back from the break, I will do another round of outreach with both current subscribers and new people. These will be my ask. Feel free to reach out to me before I do.
Journalism educators: I want to introduce myself and the newsletter and talk about your ideas on how this newsletter can be more helpful for your students. I will ask you to share it with your students.
Professional organizations/nonprofits: I want to talk about the potential for us to collaborate. I’m brainstorming ideas right now.
Student journalists: I want to ask what topics in student journalism you’re interested in. I want to know what cool things your publication is doing or planning to do.
All of the above: I’m exploring hosting virtual events in the fall on topics such as AI in student newsrooms, how student journalists cover the 2024 presidential election and career advice. If you have an idea on this or want to help or speak, email me.
Extra! Extra!
I did a Q&A with Your First Byline on Substack by Ryan Teague Beck about how you can use the student paper to get a leg up in journalism. Please show it some love.
Thank you for reading. Here are some of the most-read articles this year. Have a great summer! 🌞
