I think you can definitely write part-time, and I even encourage it as you start out because the money isn’t great or consistent. Some articles definitely take a lot of time to research, but for those, you are generally getting paid more. For some articles, they are fun and don’t take very long to write. I come up with article ideas from food trends I see around me, from seasonal things (like holidays and food days) and from new research. Only you can decided what is worth your time. As you saw in the article, I did a ton of stuff for free just to get my name out there. I still do things to get my name out there. It’s a balance. And my best tip for practicing writing is to write more and to read. Editors don’t always give feedback, but you can generally tell if you’re hitting the nail on the head. Also, grammar doesn’t matter as much as being able to put a well composed article together. But if you’re really focused on grammar, you can take a free writing course on Coursera. If you have any more questions, feel free to email me!

A few other questions that come to mind for those of us looking to get started in media:
– Can media writing as an RD be a part-time thing, or do you feel like you really need to focus on it FT to make it worth the effort?
– How do you find balance between spending time researching (like actually looking at research articles, etc.) vs. spending time writing?
– How can you come up with new article ideas? I feel like so much has already been done out there – if you think of a topic or question and google it, you’ll likely find something…even if it’s 3 or 5 years old. So how do you not feel like you recycle ideas over time?
– How do you decide whether an article/project is worth your time (e.g. considering the time it takes to research & write vs. what you’ll get paid for it)? I guess another way to word this is how do you decide what you are worth?
– Do you have any other resources for developing your writing skills–whether webinars, books, etc. that coached you to improve you writing skills? In the writing experiences I have had so far (for newsletters mostly), I have not received feedback from the editors so it’s hard to know how to improve.