6 ways to find fresh story ideas — and where to sell them

Independent journalist Anna Medaris holds up a recent article of hers during an event hosted by AHCJ and the Journalists & Women Symposium in July. Photo by Demi Guo When aspiring journalists used to ask me how I got my ideas, I worried they were pursuing the wrong profession. After all, I’m a writer largely because there are so many stories I want to tell. Whether it’s the middle of the night or the middle of a shower or the middle of eavesdropping on a stranger’s conversation, I’ve never been at a loss for what to pitch next.  But I’ve come to learn that many journalists I admire came into the field for other — and frankly, more selfless — reasons, like a deep-seated drive to pursue the truth or the ability to write with breaking-news speed.  So in the spirit of learning from one another, here are a few key ways I’ve accumulated story ideas — and spun them into the kind of pitches that secure assignments.  1. Find the intersection between your interests and cultural buzz For the last few years, readers (and therefore editors) have been eating up stories about GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic. Viral stories have explored
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