There were household chores, dog walking, and paper routes, fast food, retail, switchboard operator, landscaper, secretary, pump jockey, co-op organizer, all before I was out of school. I studied sociology and political science because they were interesting. I was a good student if I showed up at all, an avid if slightly undisciplined athlete, and a trophy-winning member of the debate team. 

Post-undergrad first job, February 1987: A loosely-defined “quality control” position in a software development firm (Microsystems Engineering Corporation, Hoffman Estates, IL); nepotism was a factor. There’s an entire memoir about this company by the daughter of one of the founders; I’m even quoted. I was there till 92 when the company went into hospice. I lost my house but got hired by a known publishing house, albeit in Indianapolis.

June 1992: Que Publishing, Acquisitions Editor, responsible for launching of new titles by prospecting for and securing authoring talent. Handled 12-20 titles per year, and within a year was managing the Acquisitions Staff, with responsibility for the imprint’s whole roster of about 60 titles per year. This small group of people and its catalog was bought and sold repeatedly in the early nineties when the great media merger frenzy began, until it was at one point owned by MacMillan of Simon & Schuster of Paramount of Viacom. The division was consistently profitable throughout regular reorganizations.

After two years, I changed imprints, doing acquisitions and licensing during the launch of Brady Games, one of the first video game hint book publishers in the country; I negotiated with video game makers, film producers, celebrities and their agents, the NFL, NBA and others for intellectual property rights, working with a million-dollar budget and forging valuable new relationships.

I left Brady in 1995 and returned to Chicago to join my sister’s entrepreneurial effort, a computer training company targeting local small and mid-sized businesses in a thriving suburban county. I secured bank financing, managed a growing payroll, developed new marketing initiatives, prospected, closed new business and was active in the community, serving for a year on the local board of Main Street, and regularly participating in the efforts and events involving the local chamber of commerce. I also added a new area of expertise to my sister’s substantial offerings by mastering Quickbooks and providing training and consulting services to small businesses and their accountants.

In 1998, I took my technical and business writing skills and all that experience and started working for money as little as possible, so I could try some other stuff. I produced two full-length CDs of orginal music, formed a band, toured locally and regionally for a year, produced some projects collaboratively with other artists, put on a bunch of music and cause-related events and wrote for fun, all under one umbrella known as Steel Dog Productions.

I paid the bills with contract work as a technical and corporate collateral developer and writer. Projects included a new online help system for multiple products, workshops for employees in effective written communication. I developed a prototype for a system that would automate the process by which specifications were defined for custom product development projects, and wrote and edited white papers, client case studies, product specifications, and end-user documentation.

Sometime in 2005, I circled back to music, performing and recording and trying to hold my own on a couple days a week of bookkeeping work. 

In 2008, I left Chicago for the mid-Atlantic region and has since been lovingly tending an old farmhouse with a few acres of woods and horses. I am working on a writing project that might be a memoir or a film or a treatise on animal behavior or the meaning of words, and preparing some of my musical catalog for sale. I consider a paid writing, consulting or producing project from time to time.