Rachel Timpa, Ph.D. Photo by Erik Dinnel
Halfway from her doctoral program, now an independent writer Rachel TimpaPh.D., began to rethink its future as a scientist. “I realized that I really liked to learn the sciences, I like the discovery aspect, but it turns out that discoveries do not arrive every day or even every year,” she said.
Thus, when Tompa came across a book chapter which presented her scientific writing as a legitimate career path, she rather set her sights on this future. “I said to myself,” Oh my God, is that a job? ” It sounds incredible, “she said.
Tompa completed his doctorate in molecular biology, followed by a certificate in scientific writing. She then held writing positions in various research organizations, including the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center, for almost 15 years. In the fall of 2023, she left her job to launch out in a full -time freelance.
“I have always been intrigued by independent work-the idea of being my own boss and being able to carry out various work,” she said. So far, it is a success. She writes mainly for institutional clients such as universities, especially Yale School of Medicine And Stanford medicine. I spoke to Tompa, who lives in Seattle, in the state of Washington, his work, his schedule and his favorite tips and tools for the home office.
This conversation has been changed for more clarity and conciseness.
Can you describe a standard mission?
Most of my missions are reports for organizational websites. Usually, the publisher will say: “An article has just been published by one of our scientists and we want you to write on this subject. Then they will put me in contact with their scientists.
Most of my clients are looking for writings that tell a story in a engaging, current and honest way. But there are some differences in relation to journalistic writing on an article: one is that the sources of the university or the organization can examine the article, and the other is that we generally do not use external voices, like other scientists who say what. They think about research.
What does a typical work day look like?
It’s funny when I read these articles on a “day in life”. I think: “These people look so organized! »I don’t feel like I really have a super solid daily structure.
I get up at the same time every day – usually around 7 a.m. – because I have children. They are 11 and 13 years old, so they are rather gifted to prepare, but I get up to make sure that nothing is forgotten and to see them in the morning before they go to school.
Then, around 8 or 8:30 a.m., I check my emails, see what’s going on and put myself more seriously at work at 9 am. What is going on then really depends on what I work on. I write a little better in the morning, but sometimes, if I have scheduled interviews, I write in the afternoon.
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We had a dog during the pandemic, so I also like to walk my dog in the afternoon.
Some days I will get my children from school, other days, someone else collects them. But I generally try to end my day around 4 or 4:30 p.m. to be able to see what they need or simply spend a little time with them.
Do you have favorite home office tools?
One thing I bought myself when I started working in freelance was a keyboard tray that sets off at my office.
When I was in an office, everything was well organized. When I worked at home during the pandemic, it was a little more complicated. So when I started working on my own, I thought I should organize things in the way that suited me best. I really like the keyboard tray.
I also just bought a new office chair because my old man collapsed spectacularly.
How do you organize missions and evaluate your abilities?
This is something on which I have the impression that I am still working. When I started working in freelance, I have heard of many organizations of organization and monitoring of the time that people use, as To fall over. So I created several accounts and I discovered that I did not use them at all.
In my personnel jobs, I would simply have a Word document running to follow my current stories and I would write handwritten daily tasks. So, I guess that is what works best for me, and I did the same to make sure I am at the top of what I have to do.
You have written on LinkedIn that you mostly managed to respect your goal of working four days a week. How do you do?
A tool that I started to use as a sign -up is Calendon Because I was a little worried about being on the west coast when many of my customers are on the east coast. I was wondering if I was going to do interviews at 5:30 am every day. I didn’t like this idea.
The simple fact of configuring my calendar to say: “I am available from 9 am to 4 pm Monday to Thursday” is generally very good. Apart from the need to speak to a few people in Europe, or really last minute things, I had no problem planning people at the hours when I want to work. I have no discovery calls on Friday and I really try to finish all my writings so as not to write on Friday.
I get up and check my professional emails on Friday morning, or I may respond to certain changes if I owe it, so it’s not as if I had a full weekend of three days each week. I try to make myself a little available for about an hour. But then I close the computer and go doing something else.
I really became interested in ceramics during the pandemic, so sometimes I go to the ceramic studio, which is great. I read a lot of novels. I walk my dog. I recover my children at school.
Do you have any departure advice for independent AHCJ members?
I was surprised to see how much independent work exists in universities and institutions. For me, it is very encouraging because they are organizations that have a different financial model and are subject to pressures different from those of the media. My current customers pay more than one dollar per word. The drawback is that it is difficult to know how to find this work.
I was fortunate to have a lot of relationships thanks to my work as an editor in institutions and to know many great people who have gone to other institutions. I am sometimes asked: “How to find institutional work? And I don’t really have good advice to give apart from people you know.
Do you have goals for the new year?
I had a fairly large drop in salary due to my teamwork, but I probably also work for less hours and I have the impression that my quality of life is much better. I think it remains to be seen if I will find the salary that I earned during my last institutional job or if I will stay at this lower level.
In my previous jobs, I had a lot of freedom to write articles or present ideas. And for the moment, I only take homework, so I fail to find ideas for my own stories. I also try to think about the ways to integrate this into my independent work.