I sometimes call myself an accidental marketer, and that is fitting. My love of reading and writing led me to study literature and writing in college at one point. During that time, I had a beloved professor who told me I was a great writer and that I should keep it up, but if I wanted to keep living indoors, maybe study technical writing too.
A couple of years later, he told our class a story about hearing an unhoused man passionately recite Shakespeare while he was waiting at a stoplight, only to look and realize that he was a former student. Someone who had majored in literature and had been an excellent student. This is why he gave the advice he did, because loving something is great, but it didn’t equate to success. By then I had already followed his advice about technical writing, but at that moment I understood why he had given it so enthusiastically.
Now I realize that I took that advice a bit too much to heart and that there are many paths to success. But at the time, I dove into communication, language, technical writing, and enjoyed every minute of it. For fun I built websites, which needed copy so I wrote that too. Soon, I was writing ads and working with agencies, and the rest is, as they say, history.
Extra Credit
It would be great if we could fast-forward the process of getting to know each other and skip the phase where we need to feel cautious. While that may not be possible, I thought it might help to offer a glimpse into my world and add some dimension past the resume and recommendations. So here are a few things about me and my life.
Halloween is my family’s favorite holiday. We go all out for it, decorating the house embarrassingly early. If you think the stores put out fall décor too early, I won’t tell you when we start. And, we may or may not even have a Halloween tree, which is a Christmas tree with spooky decorations.
Like most people who like to write, I also like to read. Unfortunately, I struggle to find time to read, which is something that I also have in common with most people. Recently, though, I took advantage of a rare cool and cloudy morning. Full disclosure, though, I spent more time watching the birds fuss over the cat food left out for the strays
I really love animals, especially cats. We have several kitty friends, including two rescues. This is Jinx. He wandered up to me off the street one day in very poor shape. Now he enjoys treats, acting weird, sitting on the bench, and daydreaming of doing terrible things to the birds he sees outside. A true rags-to-riches story.