My path to becoming a professional writer all started with books. I grew up in a home where books were everywhere and we were always visiting the library. Then, as a young high school student, I started writing poetry and fiction, and friends and teachers encouraged me to keep writing. At 16, I was hired as a student columnist at my hometown small-market newspaper, where I wrote weekly articles about events and issues at my high school while also getting a fascinating firsthand glimpse into life in a newsroom. I went on to earn a Bachelor of Arts degree in English and Writing from Indiana Wesleyan University, and I returned to my hometown to work full-time for that same newspaper.
I’ve done a few things since then, and at this point, I have 20 years of broad experience in various contexts as an editor and writer.
I’m the co-founder and co-owner of Paratus Publishing, LLC, with websites that include Aldi Reviewer, A Well Advised Life, and Dollar Store Reviewer. My current primary focus is writing product reviews, news, and features about the German-based grocer Aldi and its distant cousin, Trader Joe’s.
Previous roles include:
- Managing editor and content writer for the parenting blog Mumbling Mommy
- Proofreader for the career coaching company IMPACT Group
- Copy editor for the Christian Board of Publication
- Copy and design editor and faith editor for The Michigan City News-Dispatch, now the LaPorte County Herald-Dispatch.
My editorial projects have included educational press advisories, resumes and cover letters, news articles, creative nonfiction, and book-length fiction and nonfiction manuscripts.
I’ve also drafted a modern retelling of Jane Eyre, the classic 19th century novel by Charlotte Bronte, and I’m in the process of writing a second original gothic romance novel. We’ll see where those go.
When I’m not writing or editing, I’m traveling with my educator-author husband and our two daughters, attending live theater productions, cooking, gardening, collecting more house plants than I probably should, tending to our geriatric cat, or plotting how to raise chickens in our suburban back yard.