Writing Portfolio

I’ve worked as a business writer, freelance magazine writer, and consultant for over 20 years. I have a LOT of writing samples. The vast majority of my business writing samples are proprietary, so unfortunately I can’t share most them online. For example, in the last ten years, my writing projects have included:

Job aids, Lock Out/Tag Out (LOTO) instructions, training materials, user guides, audit reports, and other technical documentation for a four-story metal powder furnace and all the associated equipment and technology at Carpenter Technology’s Athens, AL plant.
Government Requests for Information (RFI) responses, responses to data calls from partner companies, and Requests for Proposal (RPF) responses for federal contract bids for work at the CDC, Department of the Army, Department of the Interior, and lots of other agencies.
User manuals and user guides for real estate management software the US Army Corps of Engineers uses to track their property, over 25 self-paced online courses for real estate specialists learning how to use the software, and materials for live training classes.

Nope, can’t share any of that. Which is too bad, the metal powder plant is truly an engineering marvel and was fun to write about.

Technical and business writing

Technical documentation: I have several technical writing samples on a Google drive that can be shared. The samples include several user manuals, a quick start guide, and a reference guide. The types of materials I have experience creating, writing, editing, and producing include:

Reference guides
User guides
Training guides
Database installation and maintenance instructions
Standard operating procedures
Quick start guides
Installation instructions (hardware and software)
Lock-out Tag-out (LOTO) instructions
Technical reports
Software specifications
Corporate handbooks
… and more

Marketing materials: I’ve written all sorts of marketing materials for various companies and nonprofits. I have some samples on this Google drive, including a white paper, corporate marketing flyer, an annual report, nonprofit press release, fundraising letters, nonprofit marketing flyers, a grant proposal (that got funded), and a print newsletter.

The types of marketing materials I’ve written and edited for companies and nonprofits include:

One-page fliers and brochures
White paper
Case studies
Websites (including building sites in WordPress, writing materials, adding graphics/video, and editing content)
Trade show booth materials
Website content marketing
Direct marketing
Grant proposals
B2B text for websites and brochures
Crowdfunding pages
… and more

Here are a few press releases available online:

Book developmental editing, design, layout, and proofreading

I ran a business for about 8 years helping clients write their memoirs or family histories, then I assisted with editing, book design, layout, and getting the books printed. I have also edited several fiction and nonfiction books over the years.

Books

I’ve written one book. It’s a nonfiction book about the exploration history of a significant cave in Alabama. I set up crowdfunding on Indiegogo to raise over $5,000 for editing and printing costs. The book got rave reviews, one reader said she caught her husband reading the book in the middle of the night because he wanted to see what happened next. I’m currently working on the design and layout of a second book about caves and have several more rolling around in my head.

Magazine writing

Writing for magazines is so much fun. I used to write for magazines that you can find at the grocery store, such as Fine Gardening, but I also wrote for niche business magazines called trade journals. I was a frequent contributor to Pet Age, a magazine for pet store owners, until the magazine was sold. A few samples are posted on my Google drive.