Story at Work

If you’ve been ’round this blog for any length of time, you know I am a storyteller: a writer/editor with an MFA in theatre performance. It would be easy to look at my resume and dismiss me as ‘lacking the proper qualifications’ for the corporate world.

Even for writing/editing jobs, my performing arts degrees can put me at a disadvantage. I studied Old English and Renaissance Literature for a semester abroad at the University of Oxford. Back home, I graduated Summa Cum Laude with Honors in Independent Studies in English. I have over a decade of experience writing, editing, coaching, and publishing in the book world. Yet I didn’t major in English. It’s easy for the automated application tracking systems to see ‘BA in Music/Theatre’ and ‘MFA in Acting’ and discard me as unqualified for a role that ‘requires’ an English degree. 

And for corporate jobs that focus on marketing, community outreach, stakeholder engagement, collaborative problem-solving, and communications, it’s even more difficult to see how I fit.

These responsibilities have been the theme of my career. One can look at my professional narrative and see a throughline of helping things GROW:

• At Manna Church, I helped launch communication initiatives in a growing organization.
• At The Capitol Encore Academy, I helped launch a new school, serving in both administrative and teaching capacities.
• At Heroic Story, I helped launch new SaaS tools and built an early-adopter community.
• At Potomac Stories, I helped launch multiple novels and built our social media presence from the ground up.

Yet my job titles at these organizations don’t necessarily reflect these accomplishments. I don’t have a degree in business communications. The job market is bursting with qualified candidates, and hiring systems are struggling to keep up. It’s easy to look at my education and experience, see a shocking lack of the appropriate keywords, and toss my application into the proverbial winds.

But take heart! This is not a whinging post. Quite the opposite. This is my rejection of the discouraging winds sweeping over the employment landscape, and a tale of how all of us can benefit from looking afresh at our professional storylines.  

This is my declaration of ENcouragement.

As I recently posted on LinkedIn: my education, training, and experience are in theatre, editing, and writing.

What is writing? Effective communication.

What is editing? Refining language to ensure clarity, accuracy, and maximum impact.

What is theatre? Active collaboration to ensure a story reaches its intended audience.

My business cards describe me as ‘Author, Poet, Story-Baker.’ ‘Story-Baker’ is my term for ‘Editor / Writing Coach’: someone who comes alongside authors in the story-kitchen and lends whatever aid is required to ensure the recipe’s successful completion. That has always been my mission. I love STORIES: writing them, reading them, and helping other authors get their stories into the hands of readers who need them. 

It was my passion for storytelling which led me to theatre.  I have always found my theatrical background to be an asset, rather than a detriment, to my book-focused efforts. My experiences as an actor/director and teacher have cultivated in me a nimble empathy: years of entering deeply into the minds of characters and students have made me more flexible, more open, and more able to attune quickly to the feelings of others. I learned to prepare deeply for a role, but to hold my own interpretation loosely in collaboration with my colleagues. I learned the art of active listening. And all of these experiences have made me a better writer. As Mary Kole of Good Story Company said in an interview with Chris Baty, founder of NaNoWriMo, “No time is ever wasted” when it is spent in the service of storytelling. 

Over the past two decades, I have worked in nearly every facet of the publishing industry. I signed my first author contract with a small press (OakTara Publishing) in 2007, publishing two novels with them over the next five years. In 2017, I regained the rights to those books and self-published them, along with the final book in the trilogy and other works. I then discovered a love of “story-baking” and started a freelance editing/coaching business that is still active. I have walked multiple authors through every stage of the publishing process, serving as the developmental editor, writing coach, line editor, proofreader, formatting expert, marketing advisor, and cheerleader. 

My story-baking projects have ranged from parenting guide to personal memoir (written by an author for whom English is a second language) to middle grade historical fiction and beyond. Regardless of the subject matter or the size of my role, my goal is always to empower the author—not to impose my voice upon their work, but to help them find their own voice. By delivering honest feedback with kindness, I have been able to work collaboratively with authors across revision cycles, maintaining constructive editorial relationships. My clients are repeat customers. One client described me as “essential” to their writing journey: “She knows the right questions to ask, causing my writing to be more efficient, breathing life, quality, and value into the story. She is the greatest writing coach and editor that I have encountered.”

My love of stories led me to work at two tech startups focused on innovation in the publishing industry. For the first, Heroic Story, I filled a variety of roles on a close-knit global remote team. The CEO/Co-founder said that I “expand like a balloon to meet a challenge.” One of our clients was so impressed by my editing work that he offered me a job at Potomac Stories as an editor/writer. At this entrepreneurial author studio, I became even more well-practiced in working independently and meeting multiple deadlines. I edited fifteen novels for immediate publication over a year and a half, while also writing four. The ‘editor’ role had a mentorship component attached. I collaborated with authors over the entire life cycle of their books, from brainstorming sessions to outlining to daily feedback on chapters to final proofreading rounds. Again, the goal was twofold: to help the author grow, and to ensure the story became the most coherent, cohesive version of itself – all while engaging with the needs and preferences of our intended audience.

As I’ve reexamined my professional status, I’ve begun to realize that my training and experience have made me an expert in these business essentials:

– Crafting the right story

– Understanding my audience

– Collaborating with others to translate that story to that audience, effectively and efficiently