When I was growing up in a factory town south of Chicago, I frequently considered what I wanted to do when I became an adult. Each week or month I found a new passion—a nurse, a fashion model, an educator. My dad was a teacher, as was his dad, and many aunts, uncles, and cousins worked in education. Would that be my path?

In college, I realized that an education career was not for me, but I was clueless about what would spark my interest. Then, I had to choose an academic major by the end of the first semester of my sophomore year at the University of Illinois in Urbana—all my friends told me to choose economics, so I did. But, macroeconomics was my downfall. However, the same semester I took Advertising 101, and I was hooked—finally. I joined the College of Communications, and I received my undergraduate degree in advertising a few years later.

My foray into publishing

I was married less than a month after graduating, and my husband and I landed in Northern Virginia, right outside Washington, DC. My first job was in our nation’s capital, working as an administrative assistant for a medical trade association. I worked in the department that was right next to the publishing department, and I became fascinated with the process. Because of my communications background, I eventually worked my way up to become a copyeditor for their medical journal. My publishing career had begun!

I am extremely compliant, so copyediting is perfect for my temperament. English grammar is about rules, which apply to all writing in every profession and industry, and I have copyedited for many—physical therapy, transportation engineering, hospital administration, economics, insurance (home, auto, and marine), and surgery. A couple of years ago, I began copyediting remotely for a veterinary publisher. The beauty of writing and editing is that we can do our work anywhere, but soon everyone learned about working from home, because COVID-19 took over our world. 

My foray into blogs

The stars aligned for me in April 2022, when my former veterinary publishing manager told me about a remote copyediting opportunity at Rumpus Writing and Editing. I had never edited blogs, but Rumpus Editor Paulette Senior recognizes that an experienced copyeditor can edit any topic or writing style. I Zoomed with Paulette, and we immediately clicked as respectful colleagues and new friends. After talking with Rumpus owner and CEO Sarah Rumple and COO Angela Beal, I accepted their invitation to join the Rumpus Writing and Editing team as a freelance remote copyeditor.

My husband and I have always been animal lovers. He is the guy who stops to move a turtle who has wandered to the middle of the road from a nearby pond or stream. We have been parents to several cats during our 40-year marriage. Our two young adult children are continuing the tradition and are cat parents, too.

My foray into the big city?

Since beginning our careers in Washington, DC, my husband and I have lived in St. Louis and in Sioux City, Iowa, where our daughter was born a few days before our 15th wedding anniversary. We now live in New Jersey, where our son was born two years after our daughter, in a sleepy, rural town that is a popular Garden State weekend agritourism spot. We enjoy picking apples and trekking the corn maze during the fall. Fresh-picked fruits and vegetables are available May through November from the many local farm stands. Our state is the wrong end of many jokes, but we love it. We have ocean beaches, mountains, and nature preserves, all within driving distance, and the world’s most bustling center—New York City. Although I enjoy my town’s solitude, the city’s bright lights call to me, and my dream is to live there one day.

The path to Rumpus

I am grateful my copyediting career now includes a subject so near and dear to my heart—pets. I work with the most professional and kind group of colleagues, and extremely talented writers. I love being a member of the Rumpus team, because we help our veterinary clients by writing blogs for their practice, giving them some extra time to focus on their pet patients and, ultimately, attracting additional clients. 

The path to this sweet spot has been circuitous, but I am thrilled I have finally arrived.