I thought it would be interesting to identify who we are and what type of writing we specialize in.

I'm Debbie, a WAHM of a 2-year old and a 3-year old. So you can imagine how hard it is to find the time to work and how much I enjoy immersing myself in it! I write brochures, web sites, direct mail and all other type of marketing materials for businesses. I work about 10-15 hours a week. (Luckily, my hubby is home by 3:30 every day.) In my former (pre-child) life, I was a Copy Manager from Nordstrom.

So...who are YOU?

I'm Eileen, and I'm a WAHM of four kids. I've been freelance copywriting for about two years, and am having a blast. I get almost all my clients through networking and referrals; the others I've gotten through direct mail. I work 15-20 hours a week and will go to 30 hours a week in September when my youngest starts grade school. I dabbled in writing all my life, got a regular newspaper column syndicated to four Maryland newspapers in 1999, began writing for magazines in 2000 and got some good bylines in national publications. But I hated the process of querying, got tired of little respect from editors and the generally poor compensation. Like many others, Peter Bowerman's book The Well-Fed Writer was the push I needed, and it changed my life. I love this kind of writing and was delighted to discover I was really good at it.

I'm Rhonda. I work full-time during the day as a mechanical engineer at a power plant. I spend my evenings and weekends writing, specializing in fiction for both adults and middle grade children. I focus mainly on novels, although I have been stretching my wings a bit in the short fiction area by taking a couple of writing courses. I do a little non-fiction when the inspiration strikes me. When I'm not writing, I'm researching my family history, so most of my non-fiction has to do with history. I have been writing for over 10 years, but only recently (last year) started actually marketing it. (It's a hard lesson in the joy and pain of really getting your work out there! :lol: ) My hope is to one day be able to support myself with my writing.

G'day I'm Grant,
I live Down Under and have been writing for ever. These days I concentrate on writing books and have published 20 in the last three years. I write full time - or at least while my brain isn't numb. I write mostly about business topics, including journalism. I have also written a book on motorcycling, two children's picture books and a novel. And I'm still writing. I alsio write a regular column for an English magazine. I have written two songs so far and plan on churning out more.

That's me, I guess.

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Author, writer and telegraphist.
New book just released. Check out Successful Journalism - Its All In The Mind at http://www.kbs.com.au/education/prod_show.asp?pID=331
Also The Business OF Freelance Journalism at www.zeus-publications.com

Updated 6/15/06 <3

I'm Gia. I'm a 22-year-old web marketing specialist (read: newsletter writer and general Wearer of Many Hats) in the Portland, OR area. I just got my undergraduate degree in Journalism (with a minor in Creative Writing) from Pacific University and am excited to be working in a city I love-- though someday I intend to travel. A lot. In particular, after a year or two at my current job, I hope to be accepted into JET and teach English in Japan for a year.

Fiction-wise, I'm all across the board. I'm working on a fantasy novel (...slowly...), but I've also written a couple of contemporary ("mainstream"?) short stories. Non-fiction, I'd ideally like to write entertainment stuff...movie reviews and the like.

I'm working a journalism internship this summer, and I actually just finished my first freelance gig last week, so I'm looking forward to whatever the future holds for me. ^_^

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Georgia ("Gia") Manry
[url=http://georgiamanry.com]GeorgiaManry.com[/url]

I'm Patti, and I'm coming out of lurk mode to say hi to everyone!

For the past three years, I've written for a local newspaper here in Columbus OH. I do feature stories, cover political meetings, write happy fluffy pieces that uplift the soul, and all that fun stuff. I also get to write op-ed columns in which I am permitted to mercilessly rant against things that suck.

In January, I put out my first novel, MacFarlane's Ridge, through a POD press. I'm busily pimping out my second book to commerical publishers in the meantime, as well as working on a series of short novels for teens, and doing some freelance work.

My fiction interests lie in Scottish and English history, as well as the American Colonial period. My other interests include genealogy, magick and the occult, and herbalism, so I try to incorporate those into my work as often as possible.

Anyhoo, that's me, and it's nice to meet all of you! :::waves:::

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Patti The Wicked

How far would you go for the adventure of a lifetime?
MacFarlane's Ridge
http://www.booksurge.com/author.php3?ac ... =IMPR02421

Ok, my turn
I am June. I am Canadian.Been writing since I was a kid, oh,all right, for a long, long time.
I have written in almost ever genre imaginable but I love horror. Most of the time I am doing local work, speeches, writing insurance letters, generally anything that i am asked.I am getting more into article writing though. Horror doesnt pay the bills very fast.Well, thats about it.Cest Moi!

I'm just trying my wings, so to speak, at writing. I have enjoyed dabbling a bit for the past couple of years and write mainly essay type things. My friends and family have been trying to tell me for several years that (their opinion here) I have talent and style to my writing but I am not trained in writing/journalism. My college major was Rehabilitation Education (Counseling) but it was while in college that I discovered myself a little with my papers --never got a bad grade on any of my papers and it was what started to awaken the desire to try to write within me.

I live in central PA --near Penn State University's main campus and am an alum of Penn State --yep, WE ARE is my slogan! I didn't go to college until I was 46 years old --graduated as a sort of 50th birthday present to myself and a darned expensive gift that turned out to be too!

A single mother of three (divorced for 24 years now) and extremely proud grandma now to a 7-year old grandson and a 6-month old granddaughter --my little prince and princess --I am now trying to get disabilty after having had colo-rectal cancer, chemo, radiation, surgery, more chemo in the past year and now have severe back problems which make sitting/walking/standing for prolonged periods of time very difficult. Writing is one thing I could do though as I could do that at home, as my back and legs will allow me to be utilitized without creating more stress to my life.

What else can I say other than that I have had a couple essay-type articles published recently in a new, small and struggling to get a foothold, local monthly newsletter in my area. The response to my work there was really exciting, very heart-warming too when I would walk in the grocery store and have various folks comment to me of having read this article or that one and how they related to it or they remembered what I was commenting on and enjoyed it. Really a terrific ego boost to an extremely deflated ego!

Just call me "Jeni"!

I'm just trying my wings, so to speak, at writing. I have enjoyed dabbling a bit for the past couple of years and write mainly essay type things. My friends and family have been trying to tell me for several years that (their opinion here) I have talent and style to my writing but I am not trained in writing/journalism. My college major was Rehabilitation Education (Counseling) but it was while in college that I discovered myself a little with my papers --never got a bad grade on any of my papers and it was what started to awaken the desire to try to write within me.

I live in central PA --near Penn State University's main campus and am an alum of Penn State --yep, WE ARE is my slogan! I didn't go to college until I was 46 years old --graduated as a sort of 50th birthday present to myself and a darned expensive gift that turned out to be too!

A single mother of three (divorced for 24 years now) and extremely proud grandma now to a 7-year old grandson and a 6-month old granddaughter --my little prince and princess --I am now trying to get disabilty after having had colo-rectal cancer, chemo, radiation, surgery, more chemo in the past year and now have severe back problems which make sitting/walking/standing for prolonged periods of time very difficult. Writing is one thing I could do though as I could do that at home, as my back and legs will allow me to be utilitized without creating more stress to my life.

What else can I say other than that I have had a couple essay-type articles published recently in a new, small and struggling to get a foothold, local monthly newsletter in my area. The response to my work there was really exciting, very heart-warming too when I would walk in the grocery store and have various folks comment to me of having read this article or that one and how they related to it or they remembered what I was commenting on and enjoyed it. Really a terrific ego boost to an extremely deflated ego!

Just call me "Jeni"!

My name is Cindy. I am a WAHM of 3. One is 15, one is 12, and one is 3 1/2. I am 37 and I did a lot of poetry in HS but that was about it. After having my last child, I decided to take a writing class and see where that leads me. So far my interest is picture books. I have finished one and hope to have it out to publishers by next week. I want to freelance with articles but really don't know where to start. From what I've learned, local is the best place to start but I live in Central Missouri and there isn't a lot here. I should be finishing my class in the next month and have 2 more books in the works. After that I plan to dig a little deeper and submit a few articles. My main focus is on kids issues. With the ages of my children, I have so much to learn and to teach.

That's about it!

This was a great idea!

Thanks!

Well, since everyone else is self-disclosing, I shall get in that spirit. I'm actually David H. Levin. 8^) Primarily employed as a systems engineering contractor in the telecom industry, when between assignments (as now) I revert to author/publisher mode. My third and most recent book, Bridge Puzzles for Children, was just published earlier this month, under my sole proprietorship known as Syllogism Press. My first two books: Position and Pawn Tension in Chess and Chess Puzzles for Children. See my website (see post signature) for information on availability. [Note: post was edited May 5, 2006 to insert the previous two sentences.] [Edit of May 7, 2011: I've just published my first e-book, Chess Strategy for Children. Details may be found on my website.]

During my previous engineering break of around ten years ago, I wrote and published my first two books which were on chess. The chess books have sold well enough for me to have kept them in print, but given the focused audience, have made but a small profit. Still I'm quite pleased with the outcome. Self-publishing was definitely the right way for me to go, though it wouldn't suit everyone equally. I'd be happy to discuss self-publishing (i.e., doing everything oneself except the manufacturing) privately or on another thread, should someone have the poor judgment to get me started. 8^)

I've been marketing the bridge book much more energetically than the others. The internet has been a great boon in this regard. Other pursuits include math and computer science tutoring, maintaining my website http://www.davidlevinchess.com (though I haven't added much material lately), and combing http://www.craigslist.org daily for possible freelance gigs. [Edit of May 5, 2006: freelance editing of nonfiction has long since taken over as my primary pursuit.]

I guess my main literary achievement has been a hardly coveted Miscellaneous Dishonorable Mention in the 2001 Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest for the entry, "The victim was found in a water hazard adjoining the Seventh Hole, a picturesque but demanding little Par 5 at 583 yards, with copious sand traps, dangerously sloped fairway and a perilously fast green." See http://www.bulwer-lytton.com/ for a formidable collection of amusing stuff.

I've also tried my hand in the current Wergle Flomp Poetry Contest which is part of the winningwriters.com site. To view my entry, entitled "A Most Satisfying Hole," go to the following webpage and search on my name:

http://www.poetry.com/Publications/pubsmain.asp

I hope some find this interesting; I don't usually talk so much about myself.

Dave

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www.davidlevinchess.com

I'm Karin. Since 1989 I've owned ComputerEase, a small computer training and technical writing company in the Philly suburbs. I've written a few mainstream books (Computers in Clinical Practice, Internet Illuminated, Internet Search Techniques), and especially enjoy writing user guides and reference manuals. (If you can believe that!)

I also teach online (Element K, Netscape Learning Center, Sony Learning Center, HP Learning Center, and soon Suite101), and develop couseware for my clients. For fun writing, I blog (geekygurl.blogspot.com). I would like to branch out of my tech writing realm into more creative non-fiction, and would love to write a column one day (I think).

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KARIN REX
www.karinrex.com

Hi: My name is Leanne Beattie and I'm a Canadian. I turn 37 this month and I've got three daughters, ages 14 1/2, 13 and 9. I've been divorced from their dad for 8 years and but I'm in a serious relationship again.

I've been freelancing full-time since last November, but I'd always write "on the side" before finally starting my own business. I freelance for my local newspaper, as well as for local clients and Elance clients. I do a lot of direct mail copywriting, web content and business/finance articles. The hardest thing for me is dealing with loneliness--I'm a real social person and I miss the office cameraderie--except 2 lay-offs in 2 years convinced me pretty quickly that I should be self-employed and I'll never go back! I love not having the stress of running around in the morning getting everyone out the door on time. Thank goodness I can work from home!

I'm also writing a novel, but that's going pretty slow--after writing all day for a living, sometimes I just want to turn the brain off for a while!

Toodles!

Leanne

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Leanne Beattie
New Century Communications...Creativity that Sells!

Oh good lord who started this thread?

It was a dark and stormy night . . . Oh, that's not a good way to start.

I was born in a small Alberta town . . . Yeah, like that matters.

All right, here goes. I'm Dave (writerdave - go figure), a Canucklehead of epic proportions. I live in the Okanagan Valley of British Columbia and Okanagan Lake sits but 30 feet from my front door.

I am responsible for all the space between the ads in a very small town newspaper. In a typical week I will write between 4,000 and 5,000 words, edit 500 to 1,000 (submissions) and do the setup/layout.

I finished my first novel one year ago. It took me three weeks and I banged out 78,500 words. To say I was obsessed would be putting it mildy - my top day was 13,000 words in 15 hours. I've left the novel cool, mostly because I am terribly unsure of it and because I know I wrote it for me - now I have to go back and write it for readers.

I have almost completed a collection of poignant and hilarious short stories of when I was a kid (Northerners - remember sticking your tongue to a slide?) and I'll be actively looking at self publishing that shortly.

I have been tentatively commissioned to write a book on how a local group saved a 100 year old one-room schoolhouse here in town. Very interesting stuff.

That's it for now.
writerdave

I'm Tom, a Mississippi boy, and I've been writing nonfiction full-time for four years. Depending on whether you count "additional writing and research by" gigs, I've got between thirteen and sixteen books to my name. Right now I'm putting the finishing touches on a volume of interviews for my local university press, working on a grades 4-9 history of religious freedom for Facts On File, and negotiating my first trade religion/spirituality title (I think I've got an editor hooked, which is always a plus). All of my previously published books have been in either education/career or juvenile nonfiction, but I'm trying to refocus my career in the general direction of philosophy, religion, and the history of ideas because that's where my natural interests tend to run.


Cheers,

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Tom Head
www.tomhead.net

"Being properly distracted for a moment is child's play; being rightly distracted for a lifetime is an art."
-- Douglas Adams