I’M TOLD I HAVE A GIFT FOR GETTING THE WORDS JUST RIGHT.

I’ve been blessed with many opportunities to put my word skills to work during my writing career. The love of words has been with me since childhood.

I’ve worked: in the corporate communications world; in the nonprofit sector; for a high school college-readiness program; at monthly magazines; for a San Francisco ad agency; in a university public affairs office; and at weekly and daily newspapers.

I’ve: created newspaper advertorial sections; developed and administered  marketing and advertising campaigns and budgets; formulated style sheets and guides for publications; generated copy for appeal letters, calendars, catalogs, corporate publications, directories, comprehensive topical listings and news briefs, and assisted authors with book drafts.

My experience includes: orchestrating campaigns for business mergers;  launching three regional magazines; and twice reorganizing newspaper content and staff.

I’ve used my word skills for projects small and large during more than two decades of professional writing. My words get the job done, and that’s brought me many return clients. You’ll find remarks from many of them on the Testimonials page.

MY BACKGROUND

I was raised in northern California’s  Wine Country and lived and worked in or near there until five years ago. That’s when my husband, son and two cats moved to Oregon’s new Wine Country. We’ve added a cat, two Labrador retrievers, four hens, a rooster a horse and many friends since arriving. I love the life here so much that I started a blog a year ago to recount many of our animal-related adventures. If you’d like to visit my blog, here’s the url,

http://AnimalsOurEVERYTHING.worpress.com

PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATIONS DURING WRITING CAREER INCLUDE:

American Horse Publications,

American Quarter Horse Association,
Editicetera, Freelance Writers Den, Media Alliance,
Northern California Book Publicists, Northern California Newspaper Guild, Poynter Institute, Read Write Web, Sigma Delta Chi, Professional Society of Journalists, Sonoma County Ad Club, Sonoma County Press Club, Women in Communication, Women’s National Book Association, Yamhill County Arts Alliance.

BOARD AND LEADERSHIP ROLES

• ASPIRE (Access to Student Programs In Reach of Everyone), a high school program coordinator and state-level Advisory Council charter member;
• Countywide Dog Training Club, board member;
• Diversity Committee, The Santa Rosa Press Democrat,  founding member;
• Leadership Tomorrow, workshop coordinator and presenter, The Santa Rosa Press Democrat;
• Pact, an Adoption Alliance, board member;
• Safety Committee, The Santa Rosa Press Democrat;
• Santa Rosa Press Democrat, Employee of the Month;
• Sigma Delta Chi, Mark of Excellence Award;
• Site Council member at the following schools, Doyle Park Elementary, Herbert Slater Middle and Yamhill Carlton High.

 EDUCATION     

CONTINUING 

• Writers Digest University and other online courses on blogging, copywriting, social media, freelance writing, editing and marketing;
• Chemeketa Community College, Oregon, high school counseling and citizen’s courses;
• Citizens Academy, Santa Rosa, California; and Citizens Police Academy, McMinnville, Oregon, Certificates of Completion;
  
• News University, e-learning;
• New York  Times Business Ethics Policy Course, Certificate of Completion.

FORMAL 

• University of California, Berkeley,  Publishing Certificate in technical writing and editing;
• California Polytechnic State University, Bachelor’s degree in  Journalism with Animal Science minor;
• Santa Rosa Junior College, California, Associate’s degree in English.