Don Armstrong

Alexandria, LA USA

33 Years Experience

Professional Experience

Attention to detail, impeccable grammar, strong narrative sense—that’s what you get with me. A production editor recently wrote, “You are one eagle-eyed dude.” I have worked for publications like Time and Rolling Stone and with many of the best writers in the business. I can make almost any story shine.

Expertise

Copy Editor 30 YearsEditor 33 YearsWriter 33 Years

Specialty

Lifestyle 30 YearsPolitics 32 YearsScience 25 Years

Industries

Magazine - Large Consumer/National magazines 30 YearsOnline/new media 15 YearsBook Publishing Consumer 10 Years

Media Client List (# assignments last 2 yrs)

Al Jazeera America (10+)
Time Inc. (10+)
Vanity Fair (10+)
Greenleaf Book Group (3-5)
Metropolis magazine (3-5)

Awards

Edited bronze award–winning feature (City & Regional Mag Assn) by Andre Dubus III for Boston magazine. Part of staff at Entertainment Weekly that won National Magazine Award for overall excellence, million+ circulation.

Other Work History

Currently editing book on adoption. Previously features editor, Boston magazine; senior editor, The Sporting News; content editor, NY Daily News; associate editor, Entertainment Weekly; copy editor, Rolling Stone, Sports Illustrated, Time, Essence, Village Voice.

Computer Skills

MS Word, InDesign, InCopy, Photoshop, Excel

General

Editing sample

(The Sporting News 2/19/2001)

This is from a feature story I edited by Luciana Chavez. It was the first time baseball superstar Vladimir Guerrero allowed a writer to visit him at home in the Dominican Republic, and she rose to the occasion. I think I played a role in that.

Writing/design/photography sample

(unpublished 7/15/2014)

This is something I created wholly on my own. It is included to demonstrate the breadth of my skills. I used an iPhone camera, desktop Macintosh, MS Word, Photoshop, InDesign and a Webster's dictionary.

Editing sample

(Boston magazine 11/1/2004)

This is from a feature I edited by National Book Award finalist Andre Dubus III. It was difficult persuading him to write for a local magazine, but the piece won an award from the City and Regional Magazine Association and he soon contributed a second.

Editing/excerpting sample

(Boston magazine 12/1/2004)

Stephen King and his agent were reluctant to sell first -reprint rights to his memoir of a Red Sox season to a Boston magazine; they no doubt hoped for someplace bigger. But I stayed after them and when it was all through King praised my excerpting.

Writing sample

(CountryStandardTime.com 3/1/2010)

I have written on sports, politics, real estate, film and, most often lately, country music.

Proofreading sample

(Time Books 11/11/2014)

These are my corrections for a chapter of a book about the great discoveries, published by Time. I am the final set of eyes on most of Time's book and my corrections typically cover syntax, grammar, factual accuracy, design consistency, technical interpretation and other issues.