It’s not like any year is free of gruesome media layoffs.

But this time feels different. The conversations I’ve been having with friends across media this year keep going back to the same idea: resilience. And not in the wishy-washy self-helpy connotation of the word: resilience, as in continued drive and purpose through the chaos.

The jobs and resources aren’t coming back — is there a way that the writing and publishing can continue without the jobs and resources?

I don’t have answers in the macro sense. But I, like many, have had to juggle side jobs in addition to what I consider my actual career: writing. And I’m talking with a number of people who are beginning to do the same. Instead of looking for another journalism job, these journalists are transitioning from a career into moonlighting. This might mean publishing two stories a year instead of twelve. But it’s something.

What’s changed is there’s now a lot less secrecy around journalist-moonlighters. There’s no longer any illusion that, if you were actually any good, someone would have hired you. (Who is there to hire you?) The stigma around not being a “real journalist” has lessened — the thinnest of thin silver linings. But again, at least it’s something.