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UPDATES FROM ME

• The Freelance Writing Awards are still open for submissions! We’re especially keen to see more entries for the Freelance Champion Award. This category is reserved for media companies who exhibit best practice in working with their freelancers and the money raised from the entry fees help fund the FWAs, including paying the judges and the cash prizes for the freelancers who win

• For The Stack World, I wrote a long read on why venture-capital funding to female-led businesses fell during the pandemic. Much like ambition, the pandemic didn’t cause the problem, it exacerbated it. I spoke to three female founders who all struggled to raise funding in the last year, despite overall VC dollars being at a record high

• I got my first vaccine this week – I wrote a micro-story about how talking to a stranger in the queue reminded me of the joy of random acts of human connection

WEEKLY FAVS

• A really thought-provoking episode of The Culture Journalist podcast about “parasocial anxiety”, the weird false intimacy that the shift towards subscription-based culture has given rise to. As someone who actively part-takes in the creator economy (as a maker and consumer), I find these conversations super interesting, especially when led by creators themselves

• “Its very strengths and weaknesses reflect those of the country that developed it, epitomizing Israel’s interminable conflict with the Palestinians.” Anshel Pfeffer on the Iron Dome

• I loved this story from Chris Stokel-Walker about a petrol station in Sheffield that’s become a holy site for TikTokers

• “Burnout is a metaphor disguised as a diagnosis. It suffers from two confusions: the particular with the general, and the clinical with the vernacular. If burnout is universal and eternal, it’s meaningless.” Jill Lepore on burnout

• “Too often, it feels like you’re nailing Jell-O to a wall.” This roundtable-style discussion about the frustrations of pitching really hit home

• Similarly, a segment on This American Life about why an obscure musician posts daily YouTube videos really chimed with my own experiences as a freelancer who feels frustrated by the gatekeepers

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