Technical Document | News Stories | Insurance Articles

Writing Samples

The links on this page lead to four categories of original writing samples, technical writing, news stories and articles written for an insurance web site.

The Technical Document page contains a representation of a user document that I wrote as a writing sample specifically for this site. Confidentially agreements concerning internal business documentation written for clients limits the amount of technical documentation that I could publish here. I will create and add more technical documents as time allows.

On a freelance basis I research and write a variety of cover stories for local Chicago area publications. My work on the News Stories page are original published works, both hard copy and online. The links on the News Stories page go directly to my client's "Journal and Topics" web site.

My news writing is unique because I take my stories further than most journalists do. I dig deeper by researching and adding important background information to hard news - rather than just reporting what happened at a late-night board meeting in some suburban town hall.

For example, when reporting a quote about the "O'Hare Noise Compatibility Commission" in a story, I take extra steps by learning more about the commission, and then efficiently explaining what the commission is and why it is important to the readers. If there are impending issues on a local municipal agenda I go out on site and meet the people most directly affected to get their perspective - on their turf where they are comfortable and more apt to share information.

Rather than making the mistaken assumption that most of my audience already knows something, I think it's important to educate people about relevant topics while reporting the news to the public - to show them with clear accounts, perspectives and illustrations. Not only do I strive to educate in an easy to understand format, I give my readers the satisfaction of knowing that their time was well spent - this keeps them coming back to my stories week after week.

The work on the Insurance Articles page is a series of consumer columns that I wrote for Robert Bland's "insure.com" web site. The audience is anyone who is interested in learning more about specific insurance related topics. I derive content for the articles by library and web research, news releases and interviews with subject matter experts. I plan on submitting more consumer business-related articles to other publications as well as Robert's, and adding links to this site as time permits.

I plan on adding more samples to this site as I get the time. I have thousands of original pages of technical, business, marketing and academic literature archived - some of which I am able to share - but am reluctant or unable to publish online at this time. Feel free to contact me at 847-226-4721 for more information.