I’ve been freelancing for over a decade now. While it feels like a long time, it equally feels like a blur of events, achievements, and tons of busy days. In 2011, I started covering films, then moved into electronic music. In 2017, I parlayed my years-long love of getting high into freelance weed reporting, interviews, and other news endeavors. Along the way, I added freelance copywriting to help cover the bills and stretch my creative muscles.
Freelancing in weed and beyond has been a wild ride, one I’m glad to still be on despite its hardships. To keep up, my typical daily routine has evolved numerous times.
Routines Change. Goals Stay the Same.
No matter the circumstances, every day I do my best to learn about my subject and convey it to my audience through news outlets, brands, or self-published content. When I was younger, I embodied the more classic journo approach, leaning into the breaking news model in particular. I woke early, hitting the news cycles—weed-specific and general news outlets—to find all the information on weed laws, business, culture, or otherwise. For additional perspectives, I turned to social media, in-person meetups, and industry events to get a pulse on the local and larger markets.
The pandemic necessitated a swift adaptation in my fact-finding, shifting from in-person interactions to more digital news gathering using popular news outlets, social media, online presentations, etc. I also relied on online introductions and cold outreach, via email and social media. After dealing with job insecurity in the early pandemic days, I began to do more copywriting to afford living in New York City. The move alleviated my financial worries associated with a journalism career. Around this time, I began to wake up later and steer clear of breaking news and the associated …
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Author: Andrew Ward / High Times
