The other night I got a very nice email from a reader named Lucy, asking me a bunch of questions about my career and how I got where I am and what I suggest for others who would like to join me here in the land of word whoredom. I figured I would share my answers publicly, just in case any of you lurkers have been wondering yourselves. So, for the rest of the week, I’ll be answering her questions.

How did you get to where you are professionally?

Oof, that’s a big question! For you, I will go way, way back. Here’s the general progression:

  • 1979-1985: Was read to by my parents
  • 1986: Started keeping a daily diary (6th grade)
  • 1987: Thought it was fun to use mom’s electric typewriter to make gossip column/zine for classmates in 7th grade
  • 1989: Was told my writing was “elitist and esoteric” by 8th grade honors teacher
  • 1989-1992: Sailed through honors English classes
  • 1993: Received a C- on my Senior Thesis, which was about matriarchal vs. patriarchal religions and their views of the body and sexuality.
  • 1993: Was told by my honors English teacher Freshman year of college that I was a good writer, but that I fell back on my vocabulary and cheap tricks, and that if I weren’t so lazy I could be much, much better. To this day, this is the most honest writing critique I’ve ever received.
  • 1994: Considered majoring in Communications, but the UW wasn’t accepting any more Communication majors that year. Declared as Sociology instead.
  • 1995: Stunned father by writing a essay on a vacation about a book I hadn’t read. Stunned father further after receiving a B+ on the essay.
  • 1996: Creepy raver friend tried to push me into starting a rave magazine based on the 1000-word party reviews I emailed to the NWRaves mailing list.
  • 1997: Bored while taking a year off from college, I decided to start writing for a little SF zine called Spunk!
  • 1997: Had first event review published in Lotus Magazine
  • 1998:Was promoted to editor of Lotus Magazine. Gig didn’t really pay, but looked good on the resume, especially since techy types saw the word “Lotus” and assumed it had something to do with Lotus 1, 2, 3.
  • 1999: At a friend’s encouragement, creatively massaged resume to shift away from retail work, and emphasize editorial work. Interviewed with a local tech writing placement agency and got my first paying writing contract as a jr. editor for Encarta at Microsoft. Was excused from the position three weeks later and escorted in tears from the building. My only clue as to why was that my boss said once that I “used too many gerunds.” I had to look “gerund” up in the dictionary, which suggests he may have been right.
  • 1999: Interviewed with a different tech writing agency, got a three-month contract as a technical editor at Microsoft. Kicked ass. And the gig paid more, too! Suck it, gerunds!
  • 2000: Interviewed with yet another placement agency, and got a gig as a contractor writing product reviews for Amazon.com’s nascent Lawn & Patio department. Was paid by the review and dazzled editors by cranking out dozens and dozens of reviews a day. Reviewed stuff like squirrel-deflecting birdfeeders and windchimes and eventually went on to freelance for the Electronics and Kitchen departments as well over the course of five years or so.
  • 2000: Decided to start pitching more magazines in an effort to be more of a “real” journalist. Wrote article on-spec for Nerve.com. Was rejected because article “was not prurient enough.” I’ve sucked at pitching articles ever since.
  • 2001: Attended Columbia Publishing Course at Columbia Graduate School of Journalism. Learned very little, met lots of amazing people who are still friends, and totally 100% did not get a publishing industry job.
  • 2002: Went through an agency (again! noticing a trend here?) and got a contract as copywriter for The Seattle Times creative marketing department. Learned some print copywriting skills to go with my web copywriting skills.
  • 2003: Worked as an editor at a web hosting company. Was in the Web Dev department, despite the fact that marketing wanted to steal me.
  • 2004: Back to The Seattle Times to do more marketing writing before bailing to go to Movies.com and do more editorial work for a year and a half. Being back in editorial was truly awesome, but those daily deadlines were a cruel master, so then it was…
  • 2006: …back to working in a web dev department as an editor at Jobster. This was the first job where I realized that I refused to do technical writing. I explained that I could do marketing and PR, and editorial, but that I could not (would not?) do technical writing.
  • 2007: First book published. I focus most of my marketing efforts on web/social media arenas, because that’s the area I know. Judging by offbeatbride.com’s traffic growth, I’m doing something right.
  • 2007: Laid off from Jobster and despite plans to go back to freelancing/consulting, was snapped up within a couple months by Microsoft. I would say I only write about half the time at MSFT, and the rest of the time I’m scheming, researching, project managing, doing presentations, etc. Meanwhile, I still do copywriting/consulting gigs on the side here and there.

Ok, so that was long and rambly. What was the question again?

Next up: actual advice!