Former journalist seeks return to the newsroom.
Current reporter returns to the newsroom after five-year hiatus.
Health reporter nearly lost career to health issues.
I keep writing and re-writing headlines to my own story in my head – no doubt because I’ve been writing a lot of cover letters lately.
Am I a “former reporter” returning to the news business? Am I a current reporter who has just had five years off because of my health and disability? Will anyone even hire someone who hasn’t had a single new clip to slip in the portfolio in five years? Does any editor want a health reporter whose body comes with its very own self-destruct button embedded in the genetic code?
Am I just a neurotic Gen-X reporter who worries endlessly and that’s why I always loved the distraction of a good deadline and a strong cup of coffee? Even I know the answer to this question: a resounding “Yes!”
I’ve been applying for remote jobs with an emphasis on being able to work in or around Boston, Mass., for about a month, while at the same time, looking for freelance work if I can’t find a fulltime remote newsroom health gig. It’s all a little terrifying to be starting over more than two decades after I started my career, but I’m doing it because health reporting is a calling. And I hear the clarion call to come back and cover all that is going on in the world – from pandemics and spreading diseases to new medical and biotech discoveries – loud and clear.