About

Welcome to The Jump – I’m WriterJax, I’ll be your blogger today.

A few bits about me:

* I love vintage clothes, antique books, The Police (the band, not the institution), popping wine corks, cooking, baking, photography, running, kayaking, and dancing badly (because I can’t dance well).

* I have a BA in English and an MS in organization development (so now, not only can I quote Shakespeare, but also balance my checkbook. Nearly all of the time).

* I’ve played the violin for 30 years — really? — and have been singing, either for cash or at least in front of crowds, for 15. Back in the day, my former band Singer Bad Dancer appeared on Mtv (once, for 30 seconds, and it was audio only) and contributed a tune to the independent film Nowheresville. If you search for the band on YouTube, you can find clippage. Today, I largely supply background tracks and background noise at the odd event here and there.

* I can’t cook Indian food. It is beyond me.

* I live to write and I write to live — most specifically, as a writer and publicist covering business, travel, culture, healthcare, and the arts. Currently, I am the director of public relations for a Creative agency based in the Berkshires of Massachusetts, driving the new and social media campaigns for clients and the agency itself. I also freelance write for a number of publications and websites, and provide copywriting services for all types of people and organizations. I’ll shamelessly make you look at my recent work; to quote Arlo Guthrie, I’m not proud, or tired.

* As soon as the sentence ‘I believe in Twitter’ escaped my lips, I’ve been hooked on social media and its endless potential. I founded Thirty-something Bloggers in 2007, an online community that is currently in transition to a new format. In 2008, I helped launch PCWM, a regional PodCamp, along with Morriss Partee and Tish Grier. In 2010, we were among the first organizations in the U.S. to introduce QR-code technology to our participants, printing the codes on t-shirts and directing attendees to an ever-evolving, real-time updated wiki.

* This blog is a collection of things I see and hear while on the beat, as well as news bits and musings on all things I find relevant or just neat-o. Over the years, this blog has morphed from personal journal to essays to strictly professional to a mix of all of the above. As I continue to find my voice, it’s still changing and growing.

* My freelance work (photography and writing) has appeared in Lucent magazine, New York Resident Magazine, GoNomad.com, The Wedding Sourcebook, Portfolio magazine, The Women’s Times, JohnnyJet.com, The Rainbow Times, The Valley Advocate, The Hartford Advocate, All About Town, U.S. College Hockey Magazine, the Commercial and Industrial Photographers of New England Journal, The Union News, Studio Monthly, Magazine 625, Our Berkshire Green, Elms magazine, and the Cape Cod Chronicle, among other outlets.

You can find me through twitter @writerjax.

My logo was designed by Merrilee Aurora Hale.