Highlights of Current Clientele & Projects
- I am a top rated (5 star) writer on Zerys.com, a website that pairs writers with agencies and individuals needing a wide variety of work — everything from web content to press releases to e-books. I also have a profile on Upwork.com which lists many of the writing-related skills I have passed tests over. (I don’t link these sites here because, well, if you hire me through them, we both have to pay borderline expensive surcharges for the referral. While I do owe most of my clientele to these sites, I’d rather just do business with you directly, without involving these middle-people.)
- I am an occasional freelance contributor to several publications in my local area, including the Bay City Sentinel. I cover sports and government, and I write an occasional feature and investigative piece. Clips are coming soon to this site, and I’ll send them to you now upon request.
- I maintain a steady stream of clients who come to me with all sorts of projects, ranging from designing websites, writing press releases, and even coaching graduate students through their masters degree thesis. Because clients do unpredictable things with the writing work I submit to them, I am squeamish about linking to examples here, but I do offer this “about” page content of FrioHydration.com as an example of copy I wrote for one of my clients.
- Finally, there’s the work I do for myself (and all by myself). For a very thorough idea of what I can do for you, I offer all the blog articles on this site and the non-profit, volunteer-run community newspaper I am building, The West Brazos Herald. .
A Summary of My Skills
I am thoroughly familiar with many word processing and page design software. I also have a working knowledge of major photo editing software. Spreadsheets and database programs generally do not intimidate me, though I profess no particular expertise in using them. For web design work, I typically use WordPress, but am familiar with the growing number of “wysiwyg” programs. I can hold my own with Facebook and other social media software, and I have developed some expertise at optimizing these platforms for marketing purposes. It is important for all prospective clients to know that, when it comes to modern communication software, I am a jack-of-all-trades-master-of-none. I have little formal training in anything except writing itself. But I am competent in using all this writing-related stuff, nevertheless.
Previous Newspaper Writing, Editing and Publishing
I was a staff writer, editor and even publisher for several Texas newspapers from 1989 – 2000. Much of the work I did during that time is not available in electronic form, unfortunately, but I have managed to salvage a few examples.
- Click here to see the pilot edition of a newspaper I proposed to begin in my hometown of Corpus Christi. This publication shows my journalistic philosophy in action. It also is a good indicator of my writing, editing, and page design skills. (I was particularly excited by what I was able to do with the design even after I realized my very small printing budget would not allow for even spot color.)
- Click here to see a collection of articles published in the various newspapers for which I worked. The first two demonstrate my handling of journalisticly tricky cases, and the last two are a couple of features that I hope are as fun and interesting to read as they were to write.
- Click here to see two more articles I wrote for a suburban Austin newspaper. The first is an example of my source cultivation and news gathering skills. (It was not an easy story to get!) And the second is the kind of article that I wish more news organizations would do to encourage civic participation.
Other Writing
I have kept few copyrights for any of the writing and print design work I have done for hire since 2005, so showing examples is often a legally tricky business (and even mentioning clients names is an ethically tricky business). Fortunately, the following projects I’ve done for my church (which has no copyright or business concern over my posting them here) offer some good sample of my skills.