Jan Collins

I am a freelance writer and editor based in Columbia, South Carolina.  My articles have appeared in such publications as The Economist, Ms., The New Republic, Reader’s Digest, Parade, Redbook, Newsweek, Southern Exposure, Business Week, American Archaeology, The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The Charlotte Observer, The St. Petersburg Times, and The Columbia Star.  Previously, I worked as a journalist at five newspapers in three states; as a managing editor and executive editor for two university magazines; as a syndicated columnist (Next Steps and Flying Solo); as a columnist for daily and weekly newspapers; as a freelance writer and editor for numerous national and international magazines and newpapers, public relations/advertising firms, corporations, and government agencies.  I am currently a blogger for South Carolina Women in Leadership.

I have wide-ranging interests as a writer and editor, including aging, divorce, politics, business, education, issues of special interest to women, family memoirs, and personality profiles.In addition, I have written chapters for a family travel guide and for a history book about America in the 1950s.  The popular Chicken Soup series selected one of my stories for publication in Chicken Soup for the Golfer’s Soul.

 A book that I coauthored, Next Steps:  A Practical Guide to Planning for the Best Half of Your Life (Quill Driver Books, 2009) was a winner in the 19th Annual National Mature Media Awards program.

I was awarded a coveted Nieman Fellowship for Journalists at Harvard University and a Congressional Fellowship on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C.