Books, words and writing...
have been a constant throughout my life. I was a bookworm at an early age, won an award for a poetry anthology in high school and even owned a bookstore. But, it was the words themselves that became a magnet, drawing me to freelance writing. It just took me a while to realize this is what I was meant to do.
I started my working career in a variety of office settings taking on fairly mundane admin jobs, but each one included a writing or editing component. In many cases, the person who was hiring wanted to offload writing from their workload, and I fit the bill perfectly.
It was only a matter of time before I had to face reality, those jobs just weren’t cutting it. So I took a leap of faith, volunteering to work as a staff writer for a small weekly newspaper for no pay, just experience. I realized I was meant to write.
I was quickly offered a job as a writer and the editor for a fledgling, small-town weekly newspaper. A few years later I landed a contract job as assistant editor of a lifestyle magazine. When the contract ended, editors for several publications asked me if I’d consider working as a freelance writer for them, saying what I heard over and over again after that: “We love your writing style.”
IN Print:
My articles have appeared at Connect Meetings, Next Avenue Headspace, Conveniencecentral, , Foodbiz, Make A Living Writing and in Chef Connexion, Costco Connection, Maclean’s, Canadian Business (formerly Profit Magazine), Today’s Parent, Ivey Intouch Alumni Magazine, Western Alumni Magazine, Your Convenience Manager and Octane, Franchise Canada, Your Foodservice Manager, Canadian Retailer, Business London Magazine, London Inc. The London Free Press, Canadian Grocer and more. I'm also Contributing author for the book The Fur-Bearing Trout...and Other True Tales of Canadian Life. Copies available on Amazon.ca, Amazon.com and Amazon International sites.
IN Business:
I’ve written hundreds of articles for a wide range of business and non-profit clients including Ivey School of Business, 3M Canada, Investor's Group, Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry (Western University) TechAlliance (over 100 ghostwritten newspaper columns on tech sector news), Pillar Nonprofit Network, Special Olympics (Canada), Mike & Mike's Organics, Brain Tumour Foundation of Canada, Faculty of Law at Western University, Thames Valley Children's Centre, Shared Hierarchical Academic Research Computing Network (SHARCNET) and many more. I also coach writers on enhancing their writing, how to become freelancers and have helped established freelance writers expand their businesses.
INvolved:
- Member of Professional Writers Association of Canada (PWAC) since 1995 and sat on the organization’s national Board of Directors for six years, and the local Executive for 15 years, and held the position of President on both.
- Member of American Society of Journalists and Authors (ASJA)
- Member of Canadian Media Guild – Freelance (CMG).
- Former member of International Association of Business Communicators (IABC) (past local board member and was co-editor of the chapter’s newsletter)
- Former member of Toastmasters. Received Competent Communicator (CC) and Competent Leadership (CL) designations.
IN Recognition:
- Only individual to have won the Professional Writers Association of Canada Lawrence Jackson Outstanding Achievement Award (for outstanding volunteer commitment) twice.
- IABC Virtuoso Award of Excellence for features and editorial and IABC Virtuoso Award of Merit for newsletter entry.
IN Addition:
Instructor for Western’s Continuing Studies Program since 2006. Currently teach : Writing for Publication and Copywriting.
Professional Certificate in Adult Education
Dual Canadian/US citizen.
