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Here are some
answers to frequently asked questions about me and my project. Have a
question that isn't answered here? Go
ahead, contact me. And if you quote something from here, please be sure
to provide a proper citation/attribution.
Thanks!
- What's
new in your writing world?
A.
Right now, I'm focusing on my non-fiction writing and freelance editing. After having worked on theWAHMmagazine,
(the only digital magazine for work-at-home parents) through both
successes and some serious growing pains, it's time to re-examine it
and restructure it. But, since our family is also adjusting to
legislative life (thanks to my husband's successful 2008 campaign) and
the arrival of a new baby, that project (along with hosting the Cyber
Savvy Show at PIVTR) is on temporary hiatus. The first quarter of
2009 started with some new writing, as I am a contributing author of Green Cleaning (another Publications Int'l production) and a contributor to Adams Media's latest in their best selling Cup of Comfort series, A Cup of Comfort for New Mothers. As is the life of a work-at-home professional, I continue to query and blog, and I'm still with World Energy Magazine and World
Energy
Monthly Review.
There are also two non-fiction works in progress, that will hopefully
be finished before nursing and diapers become part of daily life again.
- Do
you have a mailing list?
A.
Yes. Interested
parties can subscribe to my mailing list by visiting the contact page.
- Are
you available for interviews/speaking engagements?
A.
Yes. I am
available for e-mail and
telephone interviews. I only tend to do local (Metro Detroit area
speaking engagements or those within a five-hour driving radius, and
depending upon deadlines. It's best to book me far in advance for
speaking engagements. (See contact page or press room for information.)
- Can I
hire
you as an editor?
A.
Yes. Please visit
the editing
page for details.
- Can I
hire
you as a writer?
A.
Yes. For
freelance non
book-length projects you can hire me directly. Publishers and others
with book-length projects need to go through my agent, Robert
Diforio/D4EO Literary Agency. (See contact page for details.)
- Are you
represented by an agent?
A.
Yes. I am
represented by Robert Diforio/D4EO Literary Agency. (See contact page
for details.)
- What's
a
"WAHM"?
A.
"WAHM" stands for
work-at-home
mom--a term that I've grown to dislike. I prefer work-at-home professional.
- What's
that
stuff in the background?
A.
Lorem ipsum,
which is the
"fake" text that page designers use to designate where text should go
but keeps you from getting distracted from reading words that have an
actual meaning. Unfortunately, the drawback of lorem ipsum is that
people who are familiar with Latin and the romance languages tend to
find themselves trying to decipher it.
- What's
theWAHMmagazine?
A.
TheWAHMmagazine
was a subsidiary
publication of Red Pencil Editing Services. It is currently on hiatus
during its restructuring phase. It started as a bi-monthly digital
magazine for parents who work at home to address all of the
challenges and aspects of work-at-home parenting life. It was inspired
from a combination watching the struggle my husband faced when he
wanted to initiate telecommuting and because of the broad range and
quality of resources available for work-at-home parents. "See a need,
fill a need," to quote the Pixar movie Robots.
It
just made sense to do it. Now, it makes sense to let it evolve into
something more meaningful, while also being something that is easier to
manage and maintain as a work-at-home professional with other projects
and responsibilities besides the magazine.
- How did you get
started writing
and editing?
A.
I guess that you could say that I've always been writing, but aside
from my master's thesis, my first professional writing job while
working as Muriel G.S. Lewis Fellow in the Dept. of the Art of Europe
at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston after graduate school.
Unfortunately, it was from a tragic event that I ended benefiting,
when the curator who was supposed to co-author the exhibition catalogue
for the North American tour of Monet, Renoir
and the Impressionist
Landscape. I had already been working on the exhibition,
doing
provenance research, fact checking and other curatorial tasks assigned
to fellows, so I was very familiar with the content. I asked Dr.
Shackelford, the Chair of the European Dept., if I could take on the
task, and he said that I could, and also agreed when I asked for a
by-line. I contributed ten essays for the exhibition catalogue. I
started editing during graduate school, working at ADPG, a small
publisher in Cambridge, Mass. From there, editing came naturally to me,
and I started freelancing more throughout graduate school and well into
my professional life as an art historian.
- From
where is your writing inspiration derived?
A.
Everywhere and
everything -- my mind is always working. But, now that I am a mom, a
lot
of my inspiration comes from my
son and watching him discover his world.
- As an editor, what is your
biggest pet peeve?
A. Writers.
- As
a writer, what is your biggest pet peeve?
A. Editors.
- Really?
A.
No. I just thought that it would be funny to put a bit of
self-deprecating humor here since I'm both a writer and an
editor.
I think that both writers and editors will get the joke. I hope. I
don't have a ton of looming, niggling pet peeves, but to read what my
peeve-of-the-moment it's probably best to read my blog, Musings from the Mitten.
- What
else do you do besides writing and editing?
A.
I have a lot of
interests but I regularly do hatha
yoga, read (of course), dance and knit. I also love
to cook and spend time with my family; and I play a lot of soccer and
baseball with
my son. I am also a trained classical violinist and have been playing
for
over 30 years. I'm also politically active in local politics, which
kind of goes with the territory when your spouse is a community
leader.
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Copyright
© 2007-2009 Erika-Marie S. Geiss. All Rights
Reserved.
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