Over the past week, I’ve been seemingly unable to escape the Adele song, “Hello.” (For the record, I love Adele, though, so I don’t mind so much.) But it seems fitting that this should be my background music as I write this intro post.
I’m excited to be the new editor of The Word. And I must give a big shout-out to Laura Laing, my predecessor. I am so appreciative of all of the work she invested into creating such an impressively organized system that will make my life so much easier!
My name and/or face may be familiar to many of you. While I’m new to this blog, I’m not new to ASJA. I’ve been a member for at least a decade now, and have volunteered in a number of different roles over the years. I value the incredible friendships and professional connections I have made through this organization, and I cannot count the many ways that ASJA-related connections, events and resources have helped me both professionally and personally.
For those who don’t know me, I’ll share my quick bio in a nutshell. After a stint as a newspaper reporter and columnist, I enjoyed a terrific period of freelance writing for major consumer magazines back in the glorious days when long feature assignments were plentiful and came with nice hefty checks. I also wrote a dozen or so nonfiction books, and was the ghostwriter for several others.
Like so many other writers, I’ve had to readjust my focus over the past few years. I now do a lot of corporate work and content marketing, which includes writing (and ghostwriting) everything from blog posts and social media content to white papers and case studies. I wrote a Kindle Single ebook—Degrees of Desperation: The Working Class Struggle to Pay for College—which was published this summer. I’m currently working on several projects that I plan to self-publish in the near future.
I suspect my story and my diverse, multi-faceted workload is typical of many ASJA members these days. Now more than ever, I think it is critical to be able to adapt and embrace new opportunities in order to maintain a productive career as a writer.
I love exchanging ideas, tips and funny/embarrassing stories with other writers, and I look forward to reading all of your contributions. Have a writing-related topic you’d love to explore or discuss, or advice to share? We welcome your submissions!