Regional Freelance Writers Sometimes Feel Like We’re Working on the Moon
By Jessica Howard
Freelance journalist Jessica Howard shares her experience after winning the inaugural Esme Fenston Fellowship.
I’ve spent most of my two-decade career in newsrooms — bustling ones full of busy people rushing to record voiceovers, cut packages or beat everyone to the pantry on donut day. I mostly felt suffocated: how was I meant to write in an open plan office when there was so much noise around me?
Six years ago I became a freelance writer and photographer — pivoting from news to features; television to print; city to country living — and it’s the best switch I’ve made for my creativity and quality of life. What I didn’t foresee was how hard that pivot would be so far from the action. Away from the centres of power and publishing, I’ve often felt like I was working on the professional moon, sending my pitches out like little rockets — out into the vacuum of space. Then vast silence.
I started my own publication because I wasn’t sure how else to collect the stories I wanted to tell. If no one wanted to publish them, then I would publish them myself. It’s been a fantastically stressful and enriching experience — but also an isolating one. And so earlier this year I applied for, and was fortunate enough to win, the Walkey Foundation’s Esme Fenston Fellowship with The Australian Women’s Weekly.
Before starting my week’s placement in Are Media’s Sydney office, I joked with family that I’d be the oldest intern on the books — and while I certainly wasn’t treated like one, I approached my time there with complete openness and a desire to soak in as much knowledge as I could. Over five days, I spent time with every key staff member at AWW including the General Manager of Lifestyle (Nicole Byers), the Creative Director, Photo Editor, Digital Managing Editor, designers and Are Media’s Head of Books. I attended a Country Style editorial meeting, and sat alongside the Creative Director, Deputy Editor and designers who gave me key advice on their craft. I was given the opportunity to pitch three stories in an AWW editorial meeting — all three of which were green lit. I was in the thick of it again and it felt great.
All of this was under the expert guidance of Features Editor Samantha Trenoweth (from whom I learnt so much): “Jess laughs that she was our oldest intern ever,” she says, “but it was great that she’d had enough experience in media to have a clear idea of what she wanted to get out of the fellowship, and we did our best to provide those opportunities. We also wanted to make sure that the week gave her the experiences she’d need to become a great and longstanding freelance contributor to The Weekly. And I think we all succeeded there.”
Unless you’re a master networker (which I definitely am not), it’s easy to feel like an outsider when working as a freelancer: running into contacts or mixing in media circles is next to impossible when you live hundreds or even thousands of kilometres away. But for that week l was on the inside watching how decisions are made and gaining greater understanding on what gets a story over the line. And because I also take photographs and design a publication, I was able to glean immediately-useful information from every single person I spent time with — about font pairings and photography framing, to SEO, layouts and even book distribution. Access to this is invaluable for my professional development.
It’s a credit to the team at AWW that they’re seeking more regional stories — and there’s no one better placed to share these stories than regional journalists and photographers. We’re connected to our communities and desperate to share the best of them with the rest of Australia.
