I can remember riding the bus home from elementary school with stories burning inside me. I remember sitting down at my coffee table with my special purple notebook and pouring words onto the pages. I wrote every chance I had, and I’m still doing it now.
Although I always wrote in my spare time, I didn’t always want to pursue it as a career. For a brief time, I wanted to be a rock star, then a veterinarian, and then finally in high school I decided I would save the world. At West Virginia University (Let's go Mountaineers!), my first major was environmental protection, which sounded very honorable to me. But I had no idea that saving the environment required so much knowledge of science and math. After starting a beaker on fire in chemistry lab sophomore year, I decided to take a hard look at the direction I was pursuing. I came back to writing, where I was comfortable, safe, and nothing could catch on fire.
I wrote arts and entertainment articles at the school newspaper, The Daily Athenaeum, and studied journalism. I minored in creative writing, and took classes in fiction, poetry, and nonfiction. After graduation, I moved to South Carolina and worked at Barnes & Noble--a bibliophile's dream job.
Although the bookstore had its perks, writing has always been my passion. And after a few months I found a job at an editorial and publishing services firm that did copywriting, editing, and ghostwriting for business consultants and professional speakers. I started as an editorial assistant, transcribing client interviews and writing press releases. But I kept taking ghostwriting assignments, and eventually I was doing more writing and editing than transcribing.
When I left that position a year and a half later, I had ghostwritten over 200 articles and edited five books for clients in a variety of industries, including bankers, financial advisors, real estate agents, health care facilities, educators, security companies, pest management companies, business consultants, motivational speakers, lawyers, authors, landscapers, and property management companies. I also wrote press releases, brochure copy, and sales letters for various businesses, and nonfiction book proposals for authors who sought traditional publishers.
This job was an eye-opening experience for me in a couple of ways. First, I saw a whole world of writing and publishing that I never knew existed. I had heard of ghostwriters, but I thought only famous people used them. And second, writing so regularly and working with my boss to improve gave me a better understanding of active language, rhythm, and other fundamentals of good writing. I learned how to approach large writing and editing projects, and I learned how to help people create publishable works from a glimmer of an idea. Plus, working in a company that guided authors through the self-publishing process, I gained valuable industry knowledge that, I hope, benefits my clients as they work toward their publishing goals.
I left my job at the editorial and publishing services firm in 2005 when I had my son. Although staying at home with my baby was important to me, I knew that this was my chance to break out on my own and see what I could do as a freelance writer and editor. The Writer's Sherpa was born, and this is what I’ve been doing ever since.
The best part about being a freelance editor, for me, is working with other writers, who've dreamed of writing and publishing a book for their whole life. The human spirit to create never ceases to amaze me, and people write the most interesting things. Although everyone dreams of six-figure book advances, I also believe whole-heartedly in the self-publishing industry. Publishing a book, self or otherwise, can do amazing things for a person's career and life. Regardless of my clients' publishing goals, I work with them to create polished, publishable works that gets results. I want my clients' ideas to translate seamlessly onto the page, and I work hard to make that happen with every project I takes on.
Aside from editing and writing for other people, I write community news, book reviews, and features for several local, regional, and national publications, including The South Magazine, SCBIZ, The Charleston Regional Business Journal, Fit Yoga Magazine, Hilton Head Monthly, The Savannah Morning News, The Bluffton City Sun, The Business Report & Journal, iParenting Media web sites, ePregnancy Magazine, and Celebrate Hilton Head. And I'm currently working on my Master's of Fine Arts in creative writing in Goucher College's nonfiction program--a long-time writing goal of mine.
So, now I look forward to getting to know you and your writing goals.
