Why I Talk With My Hands When I Talk About ASJA

When I watched my interview with Estelle Erasmus on her podcast Freelance Writing Direct, I thought of my colleague, friend and fellow ASJA member Jenny Fink. Jenny recently posted photos from a workshop she had led at Scholastic last month. Her caption: Pictorial proof that I talk with my hands.

My podcast interview is video proof that I too talk with my hands. And the animation of my hands is directly proportional to how excited I am about what I’m talking about.

Apparently I get very excited when I talk about ASJA.

(I always thought that I talked with my hands because I’m a native New Yorker. Jenny proves that the trait does not follow geographic lines.)

There’s a lot at ASJA to get excited about these days. First, we have not one but TWO conferences coming up. Registration is open now for our “conference from anywhere,” taking place on a screen near you on September 24-26. I couldn’t be more excited about the lineup of keynote speakers, including Krishan Trotman (the Beyonce of books!) and Peter Shankman, back by popular demand. We’ve got sessions about books, journalism and content writing—and something for freelance writers at all stages of their careers. ASJA members can sign up to be part of Client Connections—A Virtual Event, with more than 40 editors already registered to attend. The platform we’re using for the conference is well set up for networking, including some features that capture the feel of those hallway chats we all love from our in-person conferences. Look for a blog post about that soon!

Virtual conferences reach members and non-members who may not be able to take the time or spend the bucks to travel to an in-person conference. It’s really important to us at ASJA to offer the option to tap into ASJA’s knowledge base with minimal inconvenience and expense. But we also know that so many are yearning for that face-to-face connection that you can only get at an in-person conference.

And for you, we have NYC in February 2025. While it may seem counterintuitive, we chose February on purpose to deliver to our members lower hotel prices along with the stellar content and networking opportunities you expect. Our conference committee is hard at work planning a fun and worthwhile event that will be an investment in your business as well as yourself. We’ll have more information about registration coming out soon—and discounts for people who register for both conferences.

I also get excited when I talk about diversity and inclusion at ASJA and in freelance writing in general. Estelle asked me about that during our interview too. At ASJA, we want to make sure that our organization and our community reflect the diversity of our nation and lift up voices from historically underrepresented populations.

This is not an easy time for journalism, and publishing is constantly changing and evolving. We freelance writers need to stand together and support each other as we navigate this changing landscape. As I told Estelle in this interview, I have been freelancing for more than 30 years. I would not have weathered the storms and continued to thrive in this field if it were not for ASJA. That’s why I stepped up to be president of this amazing, member-driven organization. And that’s why I urge all freelance writers to join ASJA and participate in our conferences and our diversity and inclusion efforts.

We are stronger together.

And that’s why I talk with my hands when I talk about ASJA.