My kid was fascinated and impressed recently when he discovered I used to update this blog once a day, five days a week, for many years. I am impressed too! Although I did it for fun and didn't get paid for it, so is it that impressive? (As someone who doesn't have a coherent or creative thought to spare anymore, I say yes.) 

Anyway for those who pop by this site from time to time or still get the very occasional new posts in your feed, I wanted to highlight the semi-regular projects I've been working on lately:

Not Right Now podcast: Quinn Emmett, founder, writer, and host of the site/podcast Important, Not Important, and I launched this semi-weekly podcast last year to hash through what it's like to raise children during these unquiet times. In fact, we won a Signal Award for best podcast in the Family and Child-Raising category. I hear a lot of nice things from people who enjoy and get a hoot out of our talks; we often bring on guests to address issues like nutrition, death, ADHD, public health and other expertise (while we also get them to admit the parenting fails and frustrations they face while doing what they do.) You can listen to individual episodes on the site or subscribe via your preferred podcasting medium. You can also find videos of the podcasts on YouTube and social media, but honestly, I can live without people looking at videos of me talking with a moving face. If you like the pod, maybe write us a nice review! 

Evil Witches newsletter and community: Shortly after my second kid was born I started a social media group for moms I a.) could trust with my meanest, most irreverent, least topical and most vulnerable parts of family life and b.) who I thought would enjoy knowing each other. I eventually grew the group into a Substack newsletter for "People who happen to be mothers." It's not for everybody but it's also not exclusively for mothers either -- whenever a childless woman or a dad lets me know they appreciate it I feel like I've achieved my goal of creating a parenting publication that transcends what I saw as the issue of catering to an audience of people who don't think about much other than how to be an optimal mom.  The newsletter is mostly free, but you can become a paid subscriber to support me/the work. 

Raising Evanston newsletter: Last year the editors of our local independent newspaper, the Evanston RoundTable, asked me if I'd be interesting in developing and writing/editing a weekly newsletter geared at families in Evanston, IL, where I live and grew up. I hadn't joined a team since I started my last day job in 2013 so it was a bit of an adjustment to learn things like who does what, how to use the CMS, how to find photos, how to avoid pissing off the photo department by accidentally including an AI image (I should have known an image of a bunch of beautiful multicultural kids all holding tiny guitars and mandolines was too good to be true). But not only have I found my groove (I like to think) it's been great to have an official reason to talk more to people in my town, learn more about what's available here to families and appreciate what concerns and delights them. Plus I got to march with them in the July 4th parade right behind the Jesse White Tumblers which, if you're from Illinois, you know is a big deal, parade-wise. Give it a subscribe if you're in town or pass it along to any current/incoming Evanston families you know. 

Inbox Collective editing: Inbox Collective is a consultancy that helps brands grow audiences, build relationships, and get results via email. Run by veteran newsletter creator Dan Oshinsky (Buzzfeed, The New Yorker), I am the managing editor of the Inbox Collective newsletter, which gives me the opportunity to learn a lot more about the newsletter field and speak with some really cool folks from around the world who also make their careers communicating this way. As someone who used to get a little thrill every time an email showed up back when email was a nascent thing, it feels like a lucky full circle moment to get paid to explore the topics, questions, concerns and success stories from people in this field. Subscribe to the newsletter if you care about email publishing at all (or communications in 2026 basically) and/or hit up Dan if you want some help with your strategy. 

Freelancing! I am pitching less than I used to since I'm so busy with regular work, but I still love taking one-off assignments, especially if they're in the realm of alumni/academic publications, culture and branded content/corporate bio type things. You can email me at clairezulkey at gmail.com if you ever have questions about rates or availability. Not to brag, but I'm still pretty good at getting, sometimes even responding to, email.