Writing Samples
Writing Samples
As a journalist, I've covered a range of topics and served in several different roles -- a news reporter, feature writer, restaurant reviewer, parenting columnist, arts editor, calendar compiler. I've managed website content, edited magazines, met deadlines, taken photos, brainstormed new ideas.
When it comes down to it, I'm a storyteller at heart, and I love the process of research, interviewing and crafting a message that will engage readers. Writing gives me the opportunity to learn about people and what matters to them. It's a dream job.
Here's a sample of some of my work...
TRAVEL
What's Up in Tappahannock
Virginia Living
Longstanding as a sleepy pass-through for summer people headed to Northern Neck points east along Rt. 360, Tappahannock is waking up to the possibility that we might want to stop and stay a while.
EVENT
Tea with Santa: Eight Kids A-sipping
Style Weekly
First the bad news: Tea with Santa at the Jefferson Hotel is sold out and has been since the day they started taking reservations. Now the good news: There's always next year. This is one of those traditions that, unless you've been introduced to it by invitation from a friend or relation, you could easily go through life knowing nothing about. The Jefferson does not promote it because there's no need. And it is truly a wonderful thing.
RESTAURANT REVIEW
Strawberry Street Cafe
Style Weekly
Walking through the doors of the Strawberry Street Café on a recent Saturday night I was filled with nostalgia. I remember so clearly when the restaurant opened in the late ‘70s and the excitement it generated – a place to eat on a quaintly-named Fan District street named Strawberry!
FEATURE
Island Girls: While the watermen are at sea, the women of Tangier do their part to ensure the survival of this windswept outpost.
Baysplash
Much has been said about the watermen of Tangier Island, that dot situated in the Chesapeake Bay. Many times, the crabbers who make their living catching blue crabs with chicken wire cages called pots have been followed and photographed by writers curious about their way of life. But what about the other half of the island’s population of 600? Who are the women who live in this remote village miles from shore and the nearest shopping mall?
BUSINESS PROFILE
A Tasty and Growing Business
Richmond Times-Dispatch
Any morning, except Monday, you can find a crowd of regulars seated at the counter of Country Style Donuts in eastern Henrico County. The mix of retired patrons and on-the-way-to-workers say, in between doughnuts and sips of hot coffee, that they wouldn't miss a morning.
FEATURE/NEWS
Moving House: A Mathews Beauty Finds a New Home
Baysplash
Sometimes what you’re seeking is right under your nose. And sometimes the right timing can make a dream come true. This is the story of a hunt for a house that presented itself to its new owners with both proximity and perfect clockwork. The fact that it had to be packed up and moved – all of it -- is just an incidental detail.
OBITUARY
Remembrance: John Maloney
Richmond Times-Dispatch
While he went on to a career as a financial adviser, for the first 10 years of his working life, John Maloney was a journalist. He joined our small newsroom at Style Weekly in 1993 and quickly delved into cultivating contacts and covering the city with an endearing combination of high energy, a bit of bluster and a deep sense of caring for telling stories that were accurate and compelling.