I quit my job at CNN!

And here's what I'm up to now.

You read that right! After more than five years at CNN, and seven years in broadcast news, I am officially an independent journalist unaffiliated with any one network or publication. But that doesn’t mean I’ve stepped away from journalism… far from it.

Here’s a picture from commercial break on my last night working at CNN. I was producing John Berman, who was filling in anchoring Anderson Cooper 360. The weird face I’m making is me trying to figure out why the words on the teleprompter weren’t the same as the words in iNews, the program on John’s computer we use to write scripts.

Since then, my first month as a freelancer has been really fruitful. We’re preparing for the release of my second book this summer, 24 Hours in Charlottesville, which you can read more about in an old post here. I’ve been doing a lot of writing on my novel-in-progress and really enjoyed the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators’ winter conference in Manhattan. And I’m teaching an undergrad course on journalism and new media at LIM College in New York and absolutely love it. (My students call me Professor Neus which seems both hilarious and inaccurate to me, but it is in fact my title.)

I’ve had writing published, too. For Descript, I shared some of the video producing skills I’ve picked up over my career and also interviewed Qusay Noor (or Firas, in Muhammad Najem, War Reporter) about lessons learned as a war photojournalist. And my first report for VICE News published; we were the first national outlet to report on a Black man’s death in a Memphis jail after he was beaten by corrections officers (cw: police violence, death, racism).

My first story for VICE News

I’m working on a few other projects I can’t talk about yet, but I will be continuing to cover race and policing in America for VICE. My next piece for them comes out Monday, so follow me on Twitter or Instagram (@noraneus on both) to get notified when it’s published.

On another note, I have more book news! The cool version of sharing this is: I wrote a book with Phoebe Bridgers, Hanif Abdurraqib, JP Brammer and others under the incredible Brandon Stosuy as editor.

The less cool version is this: I wrote an essay about crying as a journalist and it was accepted into an anthology that also includes essays by other people, some of whom are famous.

Either way, I’m pretty jazzed about it, honestly.

The (GORGEOUS) cover was just released and I truly cannot wait to see what artist Rose Lazar dreams up for my accompanying illustration.

You can pre-order it here to benefit independent bookstores, or at any other retailer you’d prefer.

Last, but not least, I’ve been doing some really fun appearances to talk about my writing and especially Muhammad Najem, War Reporter, and my next one is open to the public & FREE!

Mark your calendars for March 5th at 4p at the First Presbyterian Church in Tenafly, NJ. We’ll have signed books for sale! More information below.

Enjoy the rest of February, everyone, and join me in hoping for warm weather soon!