Freelance science writer shares pros of writing for research institutions, universities

Partway through her doctorate program, now freelance writer Rachel Tompa, Ph.D., started to rethink her future as a scientist. "I realized that I really loved learning about science, I love the discovery aspect, but it turns out discoveries don't happen every day or even every year," she said.

So, when Tompa came across a book chapter that introduced her to science writing as a legitimate career path, she set her sights on that future instead. "I was like, 'Oh my gosh, that's a job? That sounds amazing,'" she said

Tompa completed her doctorate in molecular biology, followed by a certificate in science writing. She then took on staff writing positions in various research organizations, including the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center, for nearly 15 years. In fall 2023, she left her job to freelance full-time.

"I'd always been intrigued by freelancing - the idea of being my own boss and getting to do a variety of work," she said. So far, it's been a success. She mostly writes for institutional clients like universities, including Yale School of Medicine and Stanford Medicine. I talked to Tompa, who's based in Seattle, Wa., about her work, her schedule and her favorite home office tricks and tools.

This conversation has been edited for clarity and brevity.

Can you describe a typical assignment?

Most of my assignments are news stories for organizations' websites. Usually, the editor will say, "A paper is coming out from one of our scientists, and we want you to write about it. Then, they'll connect me with their scientists.

Most of my clients are looking for writing that tells a story in an engaging way, and is newsy and honest. But there are a couple of differences from journalistic writing about a paper: One is that the sources at the university or the organization get to review the article, and the other is that we're typically not using outside voices, like other scientists saying what they think about the research.

What does a typical workday look like for you?

It's funny when I read these "day-in-the-life" posts. I think, "These people sound so organized!" I don't feel like I really have a super strong daily structure.

I do get up at the same time every day - usually around 7 a.m. - because I have kids. They're 11 and 13, so they're pretty good about getting themselves ready, but I get up to make sure that nothing gets forgotten and to see them in the morning before they go to school.

Then around 8 or 8:30 I'll check my email, see what's going on, and get more seriously into work by 9. What happens next really depends on what I'm working on. I write a little better in the morning, but sometimes, if I have interviews scheduled, I'm doing my writing in the afternoon.

Related: 'A Typical Workday' articles

We got a dog during the pandemic, so I like to take my dog for a walk in the afternoon, too.

Some days, I'm picking my kids up from school, some days someone else picks them up. But I try to wrap up my day usually by 4 or 4:30 so I can see what they need or just hang out with them a bit.

Do you have any favorite home-office tools?

One thing I bought myself when I started freelancing was a keyboard tray that attaches to my desk.

When I was in an office, everything was set up nicely. When I was working from home during the pandemic, it was a little more thrown together. So, when I started working for myself, I figured I should set things up the way that works best for me. I really like the keyboard tray.

I also just bought a new desk chair because my old one dramatically fell apart.

How do you organize assignments and gauge what you have capacity for?

That's something I feel like I'm still working out. When I started freelancing, I heard about a lot of different organizational and time-tracking tools that people use, like Toggl. So, I set up various accounts, and I found I wasn't using them at all.

In my staff jobs, I would just have a running Word document to track my in-progress stories and I would write handwritten daily to-dos. So, I guess that's what works best for me, and I've been doing the same in terms of making sure I'm on top of what I need to get done.

You wrote on LinkedIn that you've mostly been able to stick to your goal of working four-day weeks. How do you do it?

One tool I started using as a freelancer is Calendly because I was a little worried about being on the West Coast when a lot of my clients are on the East Coast. I wondered if I was going to be doing 5:30 a.m. interviews every day. I didn't love that idea.

Link to LinkedIn post.

Just setting up my calendar to say, "I'm available 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday to Thursday" has generally been completely fine. Other than needing to talk to a few people in Europe, or some really last-minute things, I've had no issues with getting people scheduled in the times I want to be working. I don't have any discovery calls on Fridays, and I really try hard to get all my writing done so that I'm not writing on Fridays.

I do get up and check work email on Friday mornings, or maybe respond to some edits if I have to, so it's not like I'm having a full three-day weekend every week. I try to make myself a little bit available for about an hour. But then, I close the computer and go do something else.

I got really into ceramics during the pandemic, so sometimes I'll go to the ceramic studio, which is awesome. I read a lot of novels. I walk my dog. I pick up my kids from school.

Do you have any parting advice for AHCJ's freelance members?

It was surprising to me how much university and institutional freelance work is out there. To me, that's very hopeful because these are organizations that have a different financial model and are subject to different pressures than journalism outlets. My current clients pay over a dollar per word. The downside of that is it's difficult to know how to find that work.

I've been lucky to have a lot of connections from my work as a staff writer in institutions and just knowing a lot of great folks who went to other institutions. I sometimes get asked, "How do I find institutional work?" And I don't really have great advice other than to ask people you know.

Do you have any goals for the new year?

I did take a pretty big pay cut coming from my staff job, but I also probably work fewer hours and I feel like my quality of life is so much better. I think it remains to be seen whether I'm going to build back up to how much I was making at my last institutional job or stay at this lower level.

In my past jobs, I had a lot of freedom to write features or pitch ideas. And right now, I'm only taking assignments, so I do miss coming up with ideas for my own stories. I'm trying to think about ways I can incorporate that into my freelance work, too.