Shifting from the full-time corporate world to one of freelance affords me the opportunity to refocus on my passion, writing. Having more time to write, as well as an incentive to continue developing my writing skills forced me to look at my own writing process and really discover I can produce my best work. After having gotten so much advice over the years about writing, the most important bit I can pass along is to practice. Ignore whatever else people tell you to do to be a good writer....

I think it started early on, before spelling words correctly was something I was concerned about. I caught the writing bug. We had this assignment in school where we had to write and illustrate a book. I wrote about my cat running away (we found her a few days later.) I still have the book because it had a profound effect on me. I’m still writing to this day.

Personal narratives are the best place to start

Being a writer requires so much practice, so before you sit down to write the next...

You might not think it glancing around my office at the piles that have amassed recently, but I’m a highly organized person. In fact, I thrive in an environment filled with to-do lists, digital calendars, and reminders. Being detail-oriented has been one of my most useful skills throughout my career because it works for me regardless of what I’m doing. Even personally, with so much to manage, being cognizant of all the details of everyone in my family’s lives, makes things way more...

I took my very first journalism class, with actual article assignments, my second semester of Freshman year in college. I had moved from California to Boston only four months before and still couldn’t figure out how to get from campus to the Boston Common (I have no sense of direction.) Being in a newish city, being new to journalism, and not being a sports fan, I had a challenging experience writing an article about the Boston Red Sox. I believe the assignment was to go out and talk to five...

Multitasking is becoming one of those essential skills employers look for on a resume, but it’s a misleading term. While technically, it means doing more than one thing at the same time, what you’re really saying when you list multitasking as a skill is that you’re organized enough to keep track of more than one thing at the same time.

Nobody can really do two things at the exact same time and give each thing enough attention to do a superior job, but if you’re organized, you can manage more...