COVID-19 Pandemic Resources
This page is continually updated as we find more resources that may be helpful for editors, writers, and others during the coronavirus pandemic.
Business and Financial Resources
- Coffee House Press Writers Project (ongoing)
- WNDB Emergency Fund for Diverse Creatives in Children’s Publishing (rolling applications; eligibility criteria expanded in March 2022)
- PEN America Writers’ Emergency Fund
- COVID-19 and Minnesota Housing
- US Senate: Guide to the CARES Act
- US Small Business Administration: COVID-19 Relief Options
- Jonathan Medows, “9 COVID-Related Deductions and Credits That Could Lower Your Freelance Taxes” (February 22, 2021 Freelancers Union)
- Lilly Dancyger, Twitter thread on applying for a PPP loan as a freelancer (July 15, 2020)
- Tanya Mykhaylychenko, “Job Search and Application Strategy for Freelancers” (April 2, 2020, ACES)
- Casey Bond, “Coronavirus Scams: 7 Ways Criminals Prey on Your Fear of the Pandemic” (March 30, 2020, HuffPost)
- Jonathan Medows, “What the CARES Act Means to Freelancers” (March 30, 2020, Freelancers Union)
Editing the Pandemic
- AMA Style Insider: “Abbreviating the Pandemic” (February 22, 2021)
- CMOS Shop Talk: “Styling COVID-19 and Related Terms” (April 21, 2020)
- Merriam-Webster: Coronavirus and the New Words We Added to the Dictionary in March 2020
- Reframe: Reporting on Coronavirus dashboard
- Roy Peter Clark, “12 Writing Tools to Make COVID-19 Coverage Comprehensible. One Stands above the Rest.” (March 20, 2020, Poynter)
- Alina Dizik, “How Covid-19 Is Changing the Language in Emails” (May 14, 2020, Wall Street Journal)
- Daniel King, “ThE sTaFf oF mOtHeR jOnEs iS vErY dIvIdEd OvEr CoViD cApItAlIzAtIoN. HeLp.” (December 10, 2021, Mother Jones)
- Kelly McBride, “When Should You Name COVID-19 Patients and Other Ethical Decisions U.S. Newsrooms Will Face This Week” (March 16, 2020, Poynter)
- Abby Ohlheiser, “Maybe It’s Time to Retire the Idea of ‘Going Viral'” (May 17, 2020, MIT Technology Review)
- Merrill Perlman, “How to Name a Coronavirus” (February 24, 2020, Columbia Journalism Review)
- Amol Rajan, “OED Expands to Reflect Coronavirus” (April 9, 2020, BBC News)
- Suzanne Wertheim, “Three Linguistic Tips for Talking about COVID-19” (March 24, 2020, LinkedIn)
- Ben Zimmer, “‘Front-line’: From the Trenches to the Hospital Wards” (May 29, 2020, Wall Street Journal)
Personal Wellness, Mental Health, and Work Process
- Julia Ries, “It’s Not Just You. A Lot of Us Are Hitting a Pandemic Wall Right Now.” (February 4, 2021, HuffPost)
- Constance Grady, “Why It’s So Hard to Read a Book Right Now, Explained by a Neuroscientist” (May 11, 2020, Vox)
- Erin Brenner, “Weathering a Crisis as a Freelance Editor” (April 9, 2020, ACES)
- Ruth E. Thaler-Carter, “On the Basics—Being Alone in Quarantine Times (and Normal Ones)” (April 5, 2020, An American Editor)
- Amy Gallo, “What Your Coworkers Need Right Now Is Compassion” (March 30, 2020, Harvard Business Review)
- Melissa De Witte, “Instead of Social Distancing, Practice ‘Distant Socializing’ Instead, Urges Stanford Psychologist” (March 19, 2020, Stanford University)
- Editorial Freelancers Association: “Helpful Hints for Working from Home”
- Ben Goldman, Abby Sinnott, and Greg Storey, Remote Work for Design Teams (InVision, free ebook)
- Professional Editors Network: “11 Tips for Working from Home” (previously shared in shortened form on Twitter)
Distractions and Community
- Are You OK? (stories, art, and virtual events by Pollen Midwest)
- CreativeMornings Virtual Meetings (inspirational and educational talks by creative professionals)
- Editors’ Association of Earth (Facebook group)
- Editors Lair (discussion community for editors)
- StayHomeWriMo (initiative by the people behind National Novel Writing Month)
- #StetWalk (information from Grammar Girl about the Twitter and Instagram hashtag editors and writers use to share photos of their work breaks)
Do you have a suggestion for this list? Email PEN marketing liaison and web administrator Madeleine Vasaly at marketing@pensite.org.
Last updated March 17, 2022