Thanks to the implosion of the newspaper industry, Connecticut has more freelance journalists than ever. So why not help each other out?

Former Courant writers Theresa Sullivan Barger and Len Felson –now successful freelancers — have organized a meeting that will facilitate that. Here’s the official announcement of the event:

Are you struggling to find good-paying freelance work? Wondering if you’re the only freelancer who pitches to editors who never gets a response? (You’re not.) Wondering how much time to devote to pitching versus writing? Wondering whether you can make a living freelancing?

Working from the philosophy that two heads are better than one, full-time freelance writers Len Felson and Theresa Sullivan Barger, both former Hartford Courant staff writers and members of the American Society of Journalists & Authors, are inviting Connecticut’s freelancers to get together to meet to share what works and what doesn’t. The goal is to help former newspaper staff writers, editors and photographers who are trying to make it as freelance journalists make it work. We don’t have all the answers, but we’ve made enough mistakes to know what not to do.

We hope all the participants will come together to share resources that have helped them, answer each other’s questions, and, hopefully, learn from one another. This free forum, offered as part of ASJA’s Education Foundation, is geared to those who have already worked in journalism and is focused on the business of freelance journalism.

The meeting will be Thursday, Oct. 11, from 1 to 3 p.m. at the West Hartford Public Library Meeting Room A, in West Hartford Center.

Thank you,

Theresa