Name: Lisa Eldred
Title: Editorial Assistant; Freelance Editor
Website: http://wasabijane.com
Location: Lansing, MI
Tell us about your educational/professional background.
I have a B.A. in English from Grand Valley State University and recently completed an M.A. in Digital Rhetoric and Professional Writing at Michigan State University, with a certificate in Serious Game Design.
Work-wise, I have been at MSU Outreach and Engagement since October 2004, though only recently as a full-time employee. I also do freelance editing for Joe Darden, Professor of Geography at MSU, and helped develop the Beginning Farmers website for Taylor Reid in Community, Agriculture, Recreation, and Resource Studies.
Tell us about your current job.
Outreach and Engagement’s mission is to promote and support outreach work and scholarship across the entire university. My unit works mostly on content development and distribution–so reports, websites, brochures, conference support, ad infinitum. I help maintain three websites, write stories for our annual magazine, and, most frequently, design and edit scholarly reports. Thus far, my freelance work has been of a similar nature.
What does a typical day look like for you?
I get to work at about 8:00 and spend the first few minutes settling in (checking email, getting coffee from the coffee shop upstairs, etc.). Then I start tackling my to-do list, which today includes editing two stories for our magazine and switching out photos for a manual I designed. Whenever I have freelance work, I pick away at it for an hour or two in the evening, or for a few hours on Sunday afternoons (unless the deadline is incredibly tight, I give myself Saturdays as a day of rest).
What kinds of documents do you produce?
Most of my projects are scholarly publications. Joe Darden, for example, researches racial inequality in Detroit, and he’ll send me, on average, a journal article, book chapter, or presentation once a month. At Outreach, the work is a bit more varied–the manual I’ve just finished, for example, is based on scholarship but is intended for parents of young children. It required quite a bit of graphic design work.
What communication skills are needed for your job?
A strong knowledge of grammar is an obvious necessity. Outreach is a highly collaborative organization, so good interpersonal skills are also helpful.
How did you prepare for your job?
When I started at Outreach, I didn’t do much to prepare. When I was in grad school, though, one of the more important things I did was to connect what I was learning directly with my work. When I was studying Web 2.0, for example, I focused my research and final project on an analysis of how Outreach could incorporate some of the tools and trends into our general workflow and end products. Such applied learning improved both my coursework and my work there.
List three of your favorite professional resources/references/tools and tell us why they’re your favorite.
PSDTuts and VectorTuts – If there’s ever a slow period at work, I pull up a tutorial and start picking away at it. It’s a great way of learning and practicing Photoshop and Illustrator.
Google Scholar – It’s a great way of verifying references for scholarly publications.
A good pair of earphones – One of the problems with a highly collaborative environment is that there’s always someone walking through my office suite, frequently to talk to someone else. It’s a lot easier to focus with music right in my ears. If I’m ever at an office that bans Internet radio or audio CDs on work computers, I’m investing in an iPod.
How do you stay up-to-date in your field?
I read or skim a lot of blogs and follow a few people strategically on Twitter. My boss is also good at keeping us up-to-date on new trends and software.
How would you define professional writing?
The short answer is that it involves writing nonfiction pieces for diverse audiences with a common need (aka consumers). Of course, professional writers have a much more complex role than that; we write and edit, yes, but we also do consumer research and design work. The actual written portion may only be 10% of the work done on any given project.
Do you have any tips to share with other professional designers/writers/editors?
If there’s ever any down time at work, never let it go to waste. Use it to learn a new skill (for me, that’s Photoshop and Illustrator) or read up on your field. Additionally, carefully craft an online presence through your blog and through social networking, and Google your name periodically to make sure you’re happy with what comes up. Potential future employers certainly will.
Tags: In the Workplace