Category Archives: Freelancing

Final Proof

Posted on February 28, 2013 | Leave a comment

Sometimes I forget how good it feels to work—to be in an office, talk to people and actually use critical thinking. Not that I don’t enjoy having dance parties and drinking imaginary juice with my toddler—I love it! But, it’s also nice to have adult interaction. And, after our daycare disasters and a couple rounds of pinkeye that meant we were confined to the house, I was starting to crave it a little. Anyway, that’s my way of saying that it was very nice to drop of the two-year-old and head up to Truckee this past Tuesday. I got to have a lunch date with some friends before heading into the office for a final proof of Mountain Home. The issue looks different—some style changes and, as I noted before, some big changes in the masthead—but overall it’s coming together really well! Copies will be available around Lake Tahoe in the coming weeks, or subscribe here.

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Posted in Architecture & Design, Freelancing

Back in the Edit Saddle

Posted on February 20, 2013 | Leave a comment

Last week, I went up to Truckee to proofread the first copy of the Mountain Home issue of Tahoe Quarterly. I love the Mountain Home issue—it’s full of incredible architecture, beautiful designs and interesting people. That said, I was a little nervous going into it because of all the change-ups at the magazine: TQ co-founding editor Chaco Mohler left to be replaced by Kyle Magin (who originally came onboard to replace me a year ago in the fall), Jared Swanson of Western Art & Architecture is taking over as publisher, and Anna Whose-Last-Name-I-Don’t-Know is taking over as graphic designer for Allison Monroe. Anna is based in Montana, so right now, Kyle is communicating long distance and she’s emailing proofs that we mark-up and FedEx back. It’s not the best system, but she should be moving this way at some point. Anyway, the magazine definitely looks a little different, but it’s coming together really well. I’ve got one more proof next week and then I’ll be very excited to get my copy in the mail!

On a side note, as a thank-you for coming in, Kyle gave me two gift certificates to Wolfdale’s. I can’t overstate how much I love journalism perks!

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Posted in Freelancing, Journalism Perks

Proofing Day

Posted on December 11, 2012 | Leave a comment

Got to pick up the red pen yesterday and spend some time proofreading at the Tahoe Quarterly office! Since Audrey’s been born, I’ve done some light freelance work, but yesterday was my first “real” work day. Audrey tagged along as my office buddy—after sleeping all day the day before, she decided to stay awake most of yesterday, go figure. Regardless, proofed the entire magazine with baby in tow! It’s going to be a great issue—the feature article explores the relationship between bears and residents in Lake Tahoe (following the shooting of a Homewood bear this past summer) and other articles include a very interesting piece on snowflakes, a look at the Truckee Community Farm (which grows high-elevation produce year-round in a geodesic dome), an Outdoors piece on winter water sports and my Arts interview with Truckee-based painter Annie Hooker, among other stories. And, as always, beautiful photography as well! Explore past articles here.

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Posted in Freelancing, Writing

TQ Home Awards 2013

Posted on October 3, 2012 | Leave a comment

Last week, I went into the TQ office to proof the Ski & Ride issue, which will be out in the next few weeks. While I was there, I was able to sit in on a meeting to choose the contestants for this year’s Home Awards. The Mountain Home issue, as I’m sure I’ve said before, is my absolute favorite issue of the year. We get to tour these outrageous properties, talk to the region’s most renowned architects and designers, and learn the inside scoops on some really incredible homes. This year’s finalists promise to be as good as ever: The majority of the home’s are located in Martis Camp, which, with looser design guidelines than many private communities, spawns some incredibly unique architecture. We’ve got a couple of lakefront estates, some very impressive commercial buildings and, my personal favorite from the applications, a home with floating glass stairs and an open, glassed-in wine cellar.

If baby lets me, I’m hoping to be able to attend the tours in the next few weeks. If baby decides to arrive a little early, I suppose I can make my peace with that!

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Posted in Architecture & Design, Freelancing

Summer TQ

Posted on August 22, 2012 | Leave a comment

I recently got my Summer issue of Tahoe Quarterly in the mail! As you can see, my story “Painting with Picasso,” for which I interviewed artist Dave Russo, even made the cover lines, which I’m pretty proud of! This was a fun issue for me because I finally got back in the editing loop: For the first time about eight months, I found myself at the TQ office, red pen in hand, going line by line through the magazine. Editing was always one of my favorite duties at the magazine (besides writing itself), so it was nice to be back in my element. It’s a great issue, and I think Allison did an amazing job with the cover, so be sure to pick up a copy or subscribe online!

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Posted in Freelancing, Published Work

Playing with Words

Posted on July 26, 2012 | Leave a comment

I’ve been busy lately working on website copy for a company that has created a platform for mobile publishing. It’s interesting for a million reasons, including the fact that it is one of those near invisible operations that, as a consumer, you don’t ever think about. That’s what I love about freelance writing: I learn so much about so many subjects that I’ve never even considered before. Just in the past couple of months, I’ve researched topics ranging from online casinos to the fluctuations in the timeshare industry to cutting-edge healthcare technology. I get to look at trends in the beauty industry, interview artists and analyze what makes a consumer chose one limo company over another. Of course, it goes beyond just the topic to finding a way to communicate that topic that is expressive and unique. Gotta love playing with words!

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Posted in Freelancing

DCA Website

Posted on July 13, 2012 | Leave a comment

Designing timeless architecture—a nod to the past, an eye to the present.

The Dale Cox Architects site is live! I love the photo layout that April used and I think the entire site looks so crisp and refreshed. I love architecture so it was really a treat to write up the firm’s philosophy and sustainability practices as well as the descriptions of some pretty amazing building projects. The detailing and craftsmanship of some of these places is just beyond-belief gorgeous. Now, to see if any of the owners are interested in a home swap…

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Posted in Architecture & Design, Freelancing

Proofing & Projects

Posted on July 5, 2012 | Leave a comment

It’s been a busy week (was there really a holiday in there?) with two days of editing and a new project on the horizon! I spent Tuesday in the Tahoe Quarterly office, where I haven’t been for a long time, proofing the Summer 2012 issue of the magazine. I gotta say, it felt pretty good to take my red pen to paper again! However, I realized that the one thing I miss since getting out on my own is the camaraderie of being in an office: How we all collaborate on headlines or captions or images, and how everyone puts their heads together to problem solve when something comes up last-minute and a chunk of an article needs to be rewritten. Well, the camaraderie, and it’s always nice to have someone to gossip with over lunch, so huge thanks to TQ graphic designer Allison Monroe for entertaining me!

Anyway, I just now finished up the last of the proofing and now need to hop immediately over to another project that I’m collaborating on with the brilliant April Marriner, so back to work!

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Posted in Freelancing

Editing on the Go

Posted on June 18, 2012 | Leave a comment

I have finally joined the modern world; I have an iPad! We’re doing a lot of traveling this summer, so it’s nice to not bring my bulky laptop with me everywhere I go. However, with the iPad’s keypad, it seems much more conducive to editing than to writing, though I’m having a difficult time finding apps geared to editing. The first problem is that I’m cheap; while I have no problem paying for a good app, I first want to be certain it will work the way I want. Secondly, I wanted something like a basic version of Microsoft Word, which doesn’t seem to exist. I considered Pages, which seems to be the ultimate writing app, but has more bells and whistles than I would ever need. So, after some unsuccessful attempts with apps like PlainText and Documents Free, I’m currently using Nocs for editing and synchronizing it to my laptop with Dropbox. It’s not love, but like they say, you have to kiss a lot of frogs before you find your editing app prince!

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Posted in Freelancing, Writing

TM Inspiration

Posted on July 28, 2011 | Leave a comment

I recently wrote an article for California’s Adventure Sports Journal about the Tough Mudder event that will be held at Squaw Valley in September. Even as I was writing the piece, I didn’t understand why someone would want to compete: It involves trekking through icy lakes, mud, fire and electrical fields. Then I stumbled across the TM Hall of Fame. It’s pretty inspiring—people like Lindsey Hoffner, who discovered she had a rare heart condition and would never be able to exercise strenuously again; Eric Ritchson, who broke both legs in a motorcycle accident that occurred when he swerved to avoiding a friend; Carrie Richey, who ran to commemorate her husband, a police officer who was killed responding to a domestic violence call. I suppose these people—veterans, cancer survivors, people who have suffered losses and accidents—race because they’ve already conquered so many hardships that it’s nice to be able to take something tangible like Tough Mudder and say that even though it was difficult, they came out all right on the other side.