Writing, and reading, have always been a core part of who I am.
I recently spent over a decade in the adult literacy field. Helping people transform their lives for the better was incredibly rewarding, but for me, writing the quarterly newsletters was always one my favourite responsibilities.
When I needed a change, becoming a full-time writer was the obvious choice.
I Started Writing Early.
My history as a writer and word nerd goes way back. It all started in grade 2, when I co-founded The Fortnightly, a school newspaper. We did the writing, layout and illustrations by hand, copying it on school equipment. Throughout grade school, I worked on short stories, and had a poem published in Owl, a children’s magazine. I even started writing a novel.
Then, in junior high, I became the youngest student to be picked to join The Dream Class, a creative writing group for gifted high school students run by playwright David Young. I was exposed to a new level of writing. Guest speakers included Margaret Atwood and Michael Ondaatje.
In High School, The Art of Persuasion Fascinated Me.
I bought a copy of the book Subliminal Seduction. Reading about how advertisers hide carefully placed secret messages about sex in advertisements, I was hooked. I read David Ogilvie’s classic memoir, Confessions of an Advertising Man. I read about advertising, about public relations.
Learning about spin, about how to communicate, how to sell and using my understanding to decipher the world around me became a long-lived passion. My other passion was music.
My first job out of high school was managing a tiny record store. I moved on to be a clerk at Sam the Records Man’s flagship store in downtown Toronto. I became a student at the University of Toronto, working on my off days to pay my way. I worked as a clerk in the audio visual department of a small library.
I wrote reviews for The Varsity, U of T’s student newspaper. Eventually, this lead to bigger and better things.
I Honed My Copywriting Skills Selling Music.
At this point, my passions for music and communication merged in a big “you got chocolate in my peanut butter” way when I became a copywriter at Columbia House Canada. I worked my way up to senior copywriter.
I learned that it’s more important to write clearly than to be clever, and of the need to keep things simple to reach a wide audience. I honed my writing to reach very different audiences, from heavy metal fans to classical aficionados.
From there, I moved to the digital world, when I became the online store and content manager at an online music retail startup called LOUDtunes. After the dot.com bubble burst, I kept collecting music. I began writing about other things, too.
If you need someone to write about the new John Hiatt album, I can help you with that. If you need someone to communicate your business message clearly, I can help you with that, too.
To learn more about how I can help your business, click here.