About Elizabeth Weiss McGolerick
A Freelance Writer with Experience
According to my high school yearbook, I wanted to be a writer when I grew up. I didn’t know what that meant. I just knew I loved books, which was why I chose to major in English, and I liked to talk, which was why communications also seemed to be a wise choice of major.
Well, 15 or so years later, I am a writer, making my living by writing things for other people. The original idea was probably more along the lines of a “great American novel” type of dream with an attic room and a thinking cap, a la Jo March. But I ultimately realized that I like reading novels more than trying to write them. That didn’t stop me from pursuing an MFA though – except it was in poetry, not fiction.
My trusting parents only asked me once about my choice of a higher degree: “What will you do with it?” Heck if I knew. But by the end of those three years of intensive writing and learning about verse and modern poets and ancients and having more near-death experiences than one ever cares to in a lifetime, I came to develop some sense of self. And this self knew that she liked the idea of self-employment in a job that truly makes me happy.
It would take me a few years to actually get there though. I started out working in a book publishing house as a publicist. Not a shocker for people who know my tendency for verbosity… and yet I now spend my days working alone in my house surrounded by all of my favorite books rather than sharing cubicle space with cursing coworkers and phones that ring off the hook. Who knew that could provide contentment and a livelihood? But it has.
So I spent a few years hobnobbing with not-quite-famous authors, landing them on talk shows and in major newspapers. My next career move had me writing anything and everything for an event promoter of fine arts festivals. And then someone paid me to eat chocolate. Nirvana. What I actually did was market the super-fine goodies of a gourmet food distributor. A place that employs me and feeds me the fruit of the cacao tree on a daily basis – what more could a woman ask for?
As it turns out, I discovered that this woman could ask for a lot more. I still wanted to write and only write, with maybe a little editing thrown in for good measure. It took some strategic planning, an unbelievably supportive husband, and a huge leap of faith to finally launch my own business, Weiss Words.
Custom Writing Services
Now people pay me to write for them. And I’m good at it because I love it. You can excel at something you don’t love, but you can’t truly give something life if you don’t love it… and every piece of writing I do, every project that has my mark gets equal attention and heart, even behind-the-scenes editing or online writing that’ll never get a byline.
But I do love my bylines, and I’ve shown up in a lot of places including AOL, WalletPop, MSN, Yahoo! HotJobs, SheKnows, iVillage, and a pile of other online and print publications. I write about a lot of different things too. I’ve dunked myself into articles about education and credit scores, relationships and weddings, health and beauty, fashion and fine arts, parenting and pregnancy, senior care and retirement, pop culture and reality television. Truly, no topic is out of the question – I’ve chilled with a tattoo artist in his studio, smelled the blood of a plastic surgery patient, and hoofed it around Swiss chocolate factories wearing doctor’s scrubs, all in the name of writing. There is no subject too obscure, no assignment too big or small.
The stats: an MFA in creative writing from George Mason University, a BA in English and communications from Saint Francis University, and I even took myself to jolly old England for a semester and studied at Cambridge University. Overall, I have more than a decade of professional writing, editing, and marketing experience. I’m versatile. Confident. Creative. Abstract. Thorough. From SEO article writing to social networking, creative writing to business writing services, blog writing to web content development, I’m what you might call a chameleon. My personal nickname for myself is Jane-of-all-trades. Bottom line: I work tirelessly until every project is completed to the highest standards.