I’ve been a professional writer and editor for 10 years, and strive to continually explore new mediums—print, web, video, social media, and whatever is coming next. Here you’ll find a small sampling of the projects I’ve worked in publishing, marketing, and corporate communications. If you’d like to learn more about my professional background, please visit my LinkedIn profile for a more complete run-down of my work experience. You can also follow me on Twitter to see what I’m working on now and visit my crafting and cooking blog, Homemade-Handmade.net.

My Book

In 2009 I was approached by Kalmbach Books to write a beading book for their Absolute Beginners Guide series. After a few months of intense work, I turned in the manuscript for The Absolute Beginners Guide: Stitching Beaded Jewelry, a Fall 2010 release. The book features 27 projects that progressively teach readers 11 stitches, along with several common variations on each. It’s designed to make it easy for even complete beading novices to get started (and hopefully create jewelry that they actually want to wear).  Click on the cover picture to visit the book’s Amazon.com page and take a look inside.

Other Book Projects

Working at Kalmbach Books gave me the opportunity to work on many different titles—almost 100 books and booklets while I worked in the Books department, and several additional titles on a freelance basis since leaving the company. Here are some of my favorites.

 

 

 

 

 

Two books I managed from proposal to publication are Cool Jewels: Beading Projects for Teens by Naomi Fujimoto and Seed Bead Stitching: Creative Variations on Traditional Techniques by Beth Stone. The books are very different in audience and scope (within the beading niche), but both have been successful for the authors and the company—in fact, Beth has since written a sequel (More Seed Bead Stitching).

Technical editing (freelance)

Technical editing of instructions is always very much the same, whether you’re editing a software manual or a book of beaded projects. Clarity, consistency, and thoroughness are the keys. Being a subject matter expert was a bonus on these two projects. I had compiled the previous two volumes of the Creative Beading series before being asked to tech edit Vol. 4.

Bead&Button

After four years at Kalmbach Books, I transfered within the company to work at Bead&Button
magazine, where I had the opportunity to work in a wider range of media. My online projects at
Bead&Button.com included transforming articles I’d written for the print magazine into
expanded digital articles, such as our Beader’s Glossary, writing companion web articles, and
creating some of the beginner articles that would introduce visitors discovering us via the
website (rather than the magazine) to our product. I also scripted and helped create several
videos that complemented articles in the print magazine. Interaction with our readers was a key
component of our digital strategy, and my participation was primarily through blogging and
forum moderation and participation.

ManpowerGroup

In the Global Marketing and Communication Department at ManpowerGroup, I administrated and created content for both our global corporate website and one of our internal intranet sites. In this role, I coordinated the efforts of several different teams (Thought Leadership, Strategic Communications, Marketing, Finance, Investor Relations, etc.) to get the content up on the site, doing everything from working with the design team to create the promotional “banners” on the home page to writing copy describing our social responsibility efforts around the world (such as this Environmental Impact page I developed with our Director of CSR). For another recent project, I coordinated the creation of a web page and press kit for our Strategic Communications team regarding Manpower’s participation in the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2011.

Thought Leadership

As a member of the Thought Leadership team, I assisted with the creation of white papers, research reports and associated materials, including conducting preliminary research, working with outside writers and editing papers. Often I created additional sales and promotional materials, such as PowerPoint presentations, research summaries, and sales letters, and internal communications detailing how our teams around the world could use the content we created. You can see the latest research from ManpowerGroup here.

I also guided the creation of print and web materials for global initiatives, such as ManpowerGroup’s new Borderless Talent Solutions offering. I worked as the lead editor, coordinating with the Product Manager and design team to create an internal playbook, client guide, brochure, FAQ, and Case Study package.

MyPath

I was the editorial manager of MyPath.com until it was shuttered in January 2011. While working on this career-management website, I selected and published a variety of syndicated content, but also developed an editorial calendar and worked with freelance writers to create original material. I also played a role in the design of the content matrix, wrote a good deal of the copy that appeared on the site, and worked closely with our Community Manager to ensure that our content was being effectively shared via social media. Below you’ll find some sample pages from the site; just click and zoom to read.