Interviewed by Delora A. Buoy
What can you tell us about yourself personally and about your family life?
I’m married to Prince Charming, Tim, and we live with our spoiled dog in the boonies of Alabama. I’m the proud mother of two grown sons who live in Atlanta.
What are your interests and activities outside of your present freelancing?
I have several, and somehow they all seem to tie together. Photography, writing, reading, cooking, traveling, and fishing are my favorites. I also like growing vegetables but am still learning the growing season for south Alabama, so I haven’t been very successful these past two years.
Did you do any writing as a child or as a student?
I wrote letters by the hundreds to my best friend—pages and pages. It was better than a diary, because I usually got a reaction! I also wrote poetry but stopped after one of my poems made my dad cry. It was a poem about my friend, based on her feelings of loneliness, but my dad thought it was about me.
Please trace briefly your work history in the areas of writing, editing, computer expertise, and Web design.
I became a single parent when my boys were young, and I worked two jobs trying to make ends meet. One of those jobs was reporting for a newspaper. The editor assigned me to a story, and when I reported it as it happened, he said that wouldn’t be good for the town and suggested how I was to reword it, stretching the truth in such a way that the article became a piece of fiction. I refused to write it that way, and he refused to run my version. (You can imagine how sick I feel over all the lies rampant in the media today!)
After I lost that job, the store where I worked my second job closed down, so I was forced to go on public assistance for a time. I was so embarrassed. The social workers saw I was a bit different from the others on assistance and put me to work in their office, training me on computers. I was twenty-five, and that training changed my life. I became a geek!
Since then, I’ve owned a weekly newspaper, excelled at advertising sales, and managed a Christian bookstore, continuing to dabble with writing more as a hobby than a vocation.
In 2005, I became a full-time freelancer and worked part time for a major Internet company, writing Web content. I also joined two writing organizations and a critique group. Between the Web content, fiction, and magazine articles, I was writing about ten hours a day, and I realized the more you write, the more you learn. My critique partners taught me so much, and in 2007, they encouraged me to offer my editing services, along with my other freelancing, to the public.
How did newspaper work prepare you for the freelance work you do today?
As the owner of a weekly, I learned to juggle many tasks at once, all at the demands of the public. (If a story breaks, it has to be covered. In the case of a small town, even Ruthie’s granddaughter’s birthday party is a story.) I learned which tasks I enjoyed most (reporting, feature writing, and advertising—selling, design, and layout) and which tasks I hated (bookkeeping and janitorial).
I notice you offer a number of services. What is your underlying passion?
A few years ago, I was focused on me, me, me. I had to write a book, had to get an agent, had to build a career. But it left me feeling empty, and the Lord convicted me of focusing so much on me. After struggling for a few months, I asked Him for help. He showed me that I needed to give of myself to help others, quit worrying about myself, and let Him be in control. It was liberating to let that go. And since then, He’s taken me places I never expected and blessed me with wonderful new friends and experiences in the process.
Encouragement is one of my spiritual gifts and that seems to come into play with my edits, promotions, and designs for my clients. If I can help a client reach his or her dreams and goals, I am successful.
One project, my Pix-N-Pens blog, has opened many doors of opportunity, allowing me to help others. On that blog, we provide articles that will help writers, photographers, and editors grow in their craft, along with contests that build writing skills while giving exposure to writers and photographers. We also feature newly released books to promote authors.
In September, I received a package from one of my clients. It was her “baby”—the project we edited and polished together—now in published book format. It was Do You Trust Me? by Cheryl Cunnagin. I felt like a proud grandma!
Do you have a mission statement for your work?
No. For a couple of years, Tim and I have talked about creating one for my freelance ministry, but it seems to be ever-evolving.
What services do you offer at the present time?
I recently opened Write Integrity Editorial Services. We offer:
Manuscript editing—full substantive and content editing. I love working with new authors, polishing their manuscripts, getting them ready for agents or publishers. One of my clients has obtained an agent, and two more have had requests for full manuscripts, so it is very satisfying work.
Web design and hosting.
Marketing and promotion—we offer blog tour coordination, logo designs, and even an image-building package to help writers (and other types of businesses) build platforms.
Design work—one-sheet items for writers and speakers; brochures and business cards; some Web design work.
Writing services—I've published close to 100 magazine and newspaper articles. I write Web content, and even provide ghostwriting services.
How do you separate it all?
I don’t really compartmentalize, but I do prioritize. I tackle the paying projects and the ones with the tightest deadlines first. Then everything else falls into place.
How do you balance freelancing with other areas of your life?
Having an empty nest makes the balancing act much easier. I’m at home about ten hours a day by myself, and I do what needs to be done when it needs to be done. Tim likes routine (I usually run from it), so he keeps me balanced in knowing when we need to grocery shop, wash clothes, or go to town. (We limit our trips to once a week or less often when possible.) He’s helpful around the house, thankfully, and doesn’t expect, or even like, a spotless house, so we’re flexible. We both work together on household chores––much more fun than doing them by myself.
What is your most productive time-management tool?
I’m not a great time manager. I don’t even wear a watch. I know there are twenty-four hours in a day. On some days I try to cram as much as I can into each one until I collapse at the end. Other days, I take it easy, listen to the crickets and frogs, and watch the silly squirrels outside my window. My time belongs to God, so as long as I’m doing what He wants me to do, when He wants me to do it, who needs a watch?
I have “stickies” on my computer that come from a program (freeware offered by Zhorn Software) to help me remember things. The program is easy to install and use. I just click a button, type a memo to myself, and keep moving.
Describe your most favorable work environment for optimal results.
My house, when peaceful and quiet, is the perfect work environment for me. When we moved here, Tim bought me an executive-sized desk and a special massage chair for my office. But the desk and chair don’t fit well together. The desk sits high, so the chair has to be raised, but then the arms don’t fit under the desk to get me close enough, and my short legs don’t reach the ground. Before long, the combination puts my shoulders out of commission, and I move to my recliner for relief. In the past couple of weeks I have decided that the recliner doesn’t allow me to be the most productive, so we have decided to sell my desk and purchase more two-drawer file cabinets and laminated countertops instead. After we get them, we’ll decide if the chair works with that setup, and, if not, we’ll change chair too.
What are your secrets for keeping all your work components flowing?
Prioritize and take breathers. I also try to take every Sunday off—completely away from the computer. I read only for fun on Sundays—books I want to read, not have to read. It takes me a while to finish books this way, but at least I have time for fun reading.
Do you have a typical workday? Do you structure or plan work by the day, week, month, or quarter?
As a freelancer, I can’t plan too far in advance because I never know when a new project will hit my inbox. But I always start the day with coffee, e-mails, and then devotional time. Some people may say that’s out of order, but I can savor the devotions more after my eyes are not so sleepy and the junk mail is deleted. Then I start my editing and usually work about four hours straight before I need a break. After that I do e-mails and start on other projects, like design or writing. I write my blogs at night, while the TV is on, for future posting. Much of my marketing is done at night too.
I’ve recently put my fiction on the back burner. Before I did, I learned that I needed to do fiction first—before editing—because the creative process was hindered if I was in “edit” mode.
I notice that you have two novels pending with a publisher. How did you find time to write a novel?
I’ve completed two novels and I’m working on two more, but they are no longer with publishers. A few weeks ago, the Lord told me to put them on hold. Not sure why, and I didn’t ask. Since I’ve done so, He’s opened up other doors for me.
As for time to write, when I get into a novel, I focus so much and so hard that I write fast. Total writing time for each of my novels (both around 60,000 words) was less than thirty days. That doesn’t include research or percolating time (when I’m fleshing out characters, plot, setting, etc.).
But I cannot write without a real deadline. I can’t convince my brain of a deadline unless it comes from someone “official.” My critique partners have tried to impose deadlines on me, but it doesn’t work for me. I think that’s the newspaper ink flowing through my veins.
What can you tell us about how your faith meets your work?
I let the Lord lead me on bidding for projects. I pray as I edit and ask my clients to pray as they read my edits. I also pray regularly for my clients—for them personally and for their projects. Most of my projects are either from Christians or for Christians, so I pray that God will use them to further His kingdom and that they will be used to give Him glory.
Is there a particular Bible verse or passage that especially motivates you?
When I’m writing, I return to 2 Corinthians 8:10–20 and to Galatians 6:1—especially in The Message, where the Galatians verse reads, “Live creatively, friends.”
I love Psalm 103, and right now I’m studying all the promises of God. There are so many! I’m sharing my journey with readers on my PeaceandQuiet blog.
What has been your greatest or most meaningful intrinsic reward from your work?
The feedback I receive from my clients means so much. Knowing that the skills I’ve learned haphazardly over the years are paying off to help someone else accomplish his or her goals and dreams is a tremendous satisfaction.
How have you seen God use your writing and editing in honoring Him?
When I struggle and struggle to find jobs to make a living, I feel like I’m that proverbial hamster on a wheel—spinning and spinning but going nowhere. When I finally realize that God is in control of all this and that He will provide, I step off that wheel and give everything to Him. That’s when the projects start rolling in. But to be honest, I keep getting back on that wheel, thinking I have to do it myself. So I’m still very much a work in progress. He ain’t done with me yet!
What is it about freelancing that you prefer over in-house editing?
Setting my own hours. If I need a day off, I can usually fit it in; if I’m energized and want or need to keep working, I can.
I also enjoy working in my jammies and not punching a time clock. And I like the variety freelancing offers.
Do you have any advice for those just starting out in a freelance writing/editing/proofreading career? And for the more seasoned freelancer?
Never stop learning. The publishing business is an ever-evolving one, and writers and editors never “arrive.” It’s a never-ending journey.
What goals do you have for writing/editing/proofreading, Web design, blogging, etc.?
I’m slowly building my editing business. I completed a successful mailing campaign directed to authors this summer, and for the fall, I’m working on another type of campaign. I’ve listed my services in the 2009 edition of Sally Stuart’s Christian Writers’ Market Guide, so I hope that will further build my clientele.
I’m working on a nonfiction book proposal and two e-books, and I hope to eventually finish the two novels still in progress and continue tweaking the two I’ve completed.
Why did you join The Christian PEN?
When I got into the editing business, TCP was an obvious choice for networking. Kathy’s reputation is stellar, and being associated with this group is an honor. I learn so much from all of you and hope to return the favor at some point.
Visit Tracy on the Web.
