Age: 35

Location: Albany, NY

What's the latest thing you've worked on?
Lately, I've been working on really launching my freelance career - as in, leaving the day job behind! So that has meant a lot of brainstorming, researching, pitching, local networking and that sort of thing. I've been trying to build on the clips I already have and also expand my "repertoire" with more narrative writing. The projects that have come out of those efforts most recently are a bridal book, which matches my background in bridal writing, and a magazine piece on a local ski resort, which I'm excited to say will be written in a narrative style.

What has been your most difficult project and how did you deal with its challenges? The most difficult projects I've worked on took place at a full time job at a newspaper, where I was a writer, not in the newsroom, but more closely tied to the advertising department. In that role, the work of writing the required articles was quite easy, but I was very frustrated by the attitude I sensed within the department - that my writing didn't need to be great or even good, so long as it filled the spaces between ads. I was also working with very little direction and often felt at loose ends throughout the writing process. What I did, in the end, was I made the most of the job. I turned that complacent attitude around to my advantage and took more chances in my writing. For example, I started writing in the first person, something I'd always wanted to do more, and proposed a rotating essay column in one of our quarterly publications, just so I'd have the chance to write an essay.

What's the best or most helpful thing that you've learned about writing, editing or publishing? One lesson I really enjoyed learning was that editors in New York City are just regular people, people I don't have to fear! Before I worked at a magazine in NYC, I sort of put them on a pedestal and worried that there was just no way they'd take me, an upstate girl, seriously. Now I know that your writing really speaks for itself, no matter where that writing is produced. And while plenty of talented editors and writers work in NYC, they aren't all better than you simply by virtue of being there.

What's the worst writing or editing advice you've ever received? As a kid, I was always told to write "longer." Maybe those teachers meant I should expand on a topic or idea, but the impression they gave was that length and weight counted more than tight writing. I always felt that if I could say it in one sentence, there was no reason to go on and on about it. Luckily, my approach seems to work in the real world, if not in the sixth grade classroom. And I do see the wisdom of expanding ideas and exploring topics in-depth, so if that's what those teachers wanted, perhaps there was something to this advice after all!

What's the best writing or editing advice you've ever received? My first editor, at a small newspaper in upstate New York, once told me I should never write anything I didn't understand. It was great advice because at the time, I was reporting on all sorts of things I didn't understand! He pushed me to become a better reporter, write around the holes, and produce articles that were worth reading because they clearly communicated real information.