According to a family story, I began my freelance writing career in the
6th grade, with a news article on class elections. That's not exactly what
I remember from 6th grade, but... I do know that starting in 7th grade, a
typing class guaranteed me a spot on the class newspaper from then on.
Well into early adulthood I mostly read about writing and the writing
business, submitting occasional pieces to local newspapers, but not taking
the call too seriously. When I worked in my father's real estate office I
ended up writing all the ads and most of the sales letters, never
suspecting that others couldn't do the same thing.
That turned out to be excellent training because we closely tracked the
result of every ad - instant and informative feedback about what worked
and what didn't.
About the same time I was asked to become editor-in-chief for a non-profit magazine after attending an
organizational meeting. The pay was small - the experience priceless. It
was there I began to understand that, not only could I write, but I could
work with authors and help them develop their writing. The magazine even
took a Maggie Award.
I began to submit to magazines and other publishers and get accepted. A
new thought minister who had a book contract discovered she couldn't work with her
ghostwriter and asked me to take over. With no real clue what I was
getting into, I accepted. Her book became a best seller.
A seminar leader asked me to do the pre-edit on his book about
relationships... and so it went. Each book I worked on taught me both
about writing and working successfully with people who want to get a book
written.
Over thirty years of successful freelance writing (see list of credits) has taught me a great deal. My writing experience
includes:
- Books, both my own and ghosting for others
- Editor in chief for both magazines and newspapers which meant I was
working with writers, helping them polish their articles
- Articles published in a wide variety of magazines
- Web writing, including websites giving advice to freelance writers.
I live in San Diego where two of my three grandkids live. My writing
companion is often the cat who owns me,
MzTiz. When the water is warm, I boogie board with them (the grandkids,
MzTiz stays home). I'm also a part time potter and active in various
spiritual communities.
