I am skilled in producing a wide variety of business and technical writing documents, including instruction manuals, policy and procedure manuals, user documentation, employee benefit pamphlets, marketing collateral, responses to RFPs, press releases and other publicity materials, resumes, dissertations, and reports. I also edit existing client documents for grammar, punctuation, style, clarity, and readability.

I am conversant with the editing styles and manuals used for various types of publications, including: the Gregg Reference Manual and the Handbook of Technical Writing, which are preferred by many businesses, the Chicago Manual of Style, which is used primarily for book length publications and articles, and the American Psychological Association (APA) and Modern Language Association (MLA) style manuals, both of which are used for scholarly, academic, and/or scientific publications and research papers.

Examples of past business writing and/or editing projects include:

Intranet Manual Rewrote, edited, and formatted 32 sections of an on-line Intranet policy and procedure manual for a national health organization. The directive for the project was to take a manual that had been written by several sources within the company and simplify the language, eliminate redundancies, reduce the reading level, and reformat it according to a new style guide, making the manual more uniform and reader-friendly.

Response to RFP for "Comprehensive Travel Services" This project involved documenting the procedures of the client travel agency and putting the information into the state-required format. The submission of the document resulted in a "preferred vendor" contract worth $10,000,000 in bookings annually.

Demonstration Report Wrote the report "Evaluation of the Smart Card EBT (Electronic Benefit Transfer) Demonstration in Wyoming." This document was prepared for the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Food and Consumer Service. It explained the operation of smart cards and smart card technology as applied to the Food Stamp Program (FSP) and the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC), and provided an evaluation of the pilot project.

Publicity/Press Kit Designed and wrote the press kit for an organization of 100+ fiction writers. Edited a quarterly bulletin sent to booksellers and libraries highlighting current and upcoming books by member authors. Wrote and distributed press releases for author releases, book signings, and organization events, such as workshops and meetings, which resulted in feature articles in trade journals and area newspapers, as well as several author appearances on local television.

Employee Benefits Manual Working with the head of HR of a manufacturing plant, wrote an employee benefits pamphlet detailing the procedure, documentation, and forms needed to file health insurance claims. Also edited the company's existing Employee Handbook for grammar, style, and punctuation. The audience for both these documents was largely blue-collar workers, many with limited English proficiency.

Year-End Report Researched and wrote a report summarizing the activities, conclusions, and recommendations of a state-sponsored collaborative leadership committee made up of local educators and business leaders. The directive for this project was to reduce a year's worth of meeting minutes into five pages that clearly conveyed the "bottom line" and "next steps."

Manuscript Editing Edited the manuscript for The Advanced Card Report: Smart Card Primer and the Smart Card Seminar Workbook by Joseph Schuler and Kenneth Ayer, Ph.D., for style, grammar, and readability.

User Documentation Wrote the documentation for a turnkey computer system for public television stations, which included modules for non-profit accounting, auction management, membership fulfillment, and airtime scheduling.