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Degree and Year: BJ '94 (Magazine) Title: Freelance Writer and Editor City and State: Shanghai, China What do you do? On the writing side, I contribute stories to various magazines. I have some "regulars" - National Geographic Kids, Pages, Family Circle - that either call me with assignments or give my proposals fast-track treatment. For all other magazines, it's like sales cold-calling. You find out the right editor's name, then email or mail a one-page query letter selling your idea and yourself. On the editing side, I copy-edit each month for that's Shanghai, a monthly English-language city magazine. Many of the writers are Chinese using English as a second language, so my work is much more rewriting than strictly copy-editing. How did you get your job? By losing another one! I was working for St. Louis Life Magazine, a privately owned monthly city magazine. It was small, there were only four of us on staff. When the magazine folded, I wanted to find an outlet that gave me the same flexibility and creativity I'd had at St. Louis Life. Freelancing was the answer. Best professional lesson learned at the J-School? Don Ranly's "Seven Cs" have stuck with me. With every piece I write, I ask myself: Is it clear? Creative? Concise? What are you working on currently? I have two assignments for Pages magazine (the magazine for people who love books): a 1,000-word profile of author Joanne Harris (author of "Chocolat") and a 1,000-word profile of author Anchee Min ("Red Azalea"). I'm preparing to write two hotel reviews for Shanghai Voyage, a monthly travel magazine. I'm writing an essay on spec for consideration at Family Circle. I am copy-editing some stories for that's Shanghai, a monthly English-language city magazine. I'm also in the process of querying literary agents for a book proposal I've written. What do you consider to be your greatest professional achievement? This past December, Family Circle ran an essay of mine called "The Family That Cooks Together." I'd photographed and written about my Polish family's Pierogi Day, which is as important a part of our holiday activities as Christmas Eve. This was my first essay ever for a national publication. The magazine received dozens of letters from readers praising the story and how they could relate it to their own family traditions. The story proved to be one of the magazine's most popular stories of 2002, and the magazine chose the essay to be one of its nominees for the National Journalism Writing Award. What makes you good at your job? I'm disciplined, which is a must for freelancing. No one else is cracking the whip over me; I alone need to make sure I get all my work done well and on time. I'm a thorough researcher, which enables me to be well prepared before I enter any interview. And I'm a good listener once I enter the interview; it's not my voice, but my subject's voice, that needs to come through. What did you want to be as a kid? I clearly remember telling my grandmother when I was eight or nine, "I want to be a celebrity." Her reply was, "It's very tough to become a star, and not as good of a life as you'd think." I answered, "Then I'll be a writer, so I can interview the celebrities and ask them how their life is." I haven't interviewed too many celebrities, but I've been very happy with my life as a writer. What is one thing you wished you had done? I wish I had studied abroad during college. I had seriously considered a one-semester program in Russia (I have a minor in Russian) but I decided against it since it would mean graduating a semester late. Now that I'm living abroad in China, I realize what an opportunity I missed. 
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| Revised: 20 April 2007. Copyright © 2008 The Curators of the University of Missouri | Contact the J-School | |
