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Everyone has a story. As a copywriter, my usual focus is telling the world yours. But here's the story of how I came to be writing, well, this.

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My fascination with words showed itself early in my childhood. Back in the second grade during roll call one morning in mid-Advent, instead of answering “Present,” I decided to say, “Waiting for presents!” That seemed to me at the time the height of sophisticated wordplay.

 

My seven-year-old friends LOLed. Sister Delphine smiled benevolently. And for this budding wordsmith, there was no turning back.  

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An "aha moment" 

 

The power of words—to delight, to connect, to move people to feel and respond—hit me then and there like a well-aimed throw in a recess game of dodgeball. 

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From there to here

 

In high school I wrote for the school newspaper. On my way to an M.A. in English, I wrote for the university’s alumni magazine. Yet I didn’t decide to become a “real writer” until after I’d been teaching English and composition for a few years. The field of advertising offered a way to do exactly that.

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Doing what I love

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Within three years I moved up from an entry-level copywriting position to Creative Director at a major San Diego agency. Big office. Lots of windows. Then I did what some might think unthinkable: I decided to go freelance.

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The metrics of success

 

​From tag lines to multi-page websites and brochures, I'm experienced in all kinds of messaging for the marketplace. After I recently started blogging for one of my clients and tweeting those links for the company, the number of their Twitter followers grew exponentially.  And it's not uncommon for the email blasts I craft to have a 30% - 40% open rate. (The industry average hovers around 15%.)

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Versatile, and then some

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In addition to my ongoing ad work, I've also written for publication: opinion pieces, features, a long-running humor column, and an award-winning syndicated series on the war in Iraq. Those pieces served as the starting point for my book, Minefields of the Heart, published by Potomac Books.

 

Words and pictures. Better together.

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Shortly after Minefields was published, I began exploring the idea of having a book trailer to supplement the marketing efforts of my publisher.

 

Collaborating on that project opened my eyes to the power and possibilities that are part of storytelling in The Digital Age. And that led me to a local college’s Graphic Communications Department and to classes in Adobe PhotoShop, InDesign, Premiere Pro and After Effects. 

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Everyone has a story.

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"The universe is made of stories, not atoms," the poet Muriel Rukeyser said. You've just read mine. Now I'd love to hear yours and help you share it with the world. Let's talk soon.