Feature Writing Samples

Wired Digital, San Francisco, California
Freelance Writer, 1995 to 2004

Strategizing With Contribute 2 | Webmonkey | 18 June 2004
Last year, I worked on several nonprofit websites. This meant great projects and exciting ideas, but small staffs and limited budgets. All the sites had the same goal: to improve their presence online with more professional-looking sites that they could manage in-house. Some had a part-time Web developer on hand, some had a person on staff who could handle some of the production. So, there was always a resource available who could take care of some of the heavier code lifting.

With these restrictions in mind, I started looking closely at Macromedia Contribute 2 as a way to solve most of their problems. I started strategizing on how to best take advantage of the program’s features so the nonprofits could manage their own navigation and universal elements, create new pages, add new images and keep their site structure intact with limited knowledge of Web production. More...

Wanna Be a Project Manager? | Webmonkey | 3 May 2001
I became obsessed with project management and 'process' after an incident a few years ago at HotWired. We were launching Cocktail, HotWired's modern-day speakeasy, after a lengthy but fairly smooth design and production schedule. It was our first experiment with framesets and we kept running into little bugs that delayed the launch that day from morning, to afternoon, to on into late evening.

I was in the production department and my job, in addition to managing the schedule, was to integrate content into the live site and check that the HTML and code actually worked. This generally was all the quality assurance testing we did -- and instead of weeks, we usually had hours. Not surprisingly, we ran into many unexpected problems with Cocktail and its frames, but all of us in production and engineering tried our best to fix the bugs so the site could still launch that night. More...

Enough UNIX for Your Resume | Webmonkey | 16 Jan 1997
On the résumé that convinced HotWired to hire me, I said that I knew enough about UNIX that it didn't scare me anymore. This wasn't exactly true. UNIX was still a chilling concept for me when I arrived at the San Francisco office armed with a copy of UNIX for Dummies. The managing editor steered me to my desk and instead of the Macintosh I was hoping for, there sat a purple SGI.

I realized then that I needed to learn a lot about UNIX fast. Initially I tried using SGI's graphical user interface, which mimics the Macintosh desktop fairly well, but soon realized that it was just too damn slow. So I stole some better UNIX books from the engineering staff and found a nice UNIX expert to help me. Soon I was cp-ing, mv-ing, and chmod-ing like lightning. More...

Gringa's in the Mist: Deadline Slave Turns Eco-cop in Ecuador's Cloud Forest | On the Road | 1 Dec 1995
Carlos woke me at dawn. I had agreed to join him and his Green Corps in investigating an illegal timber cut, and we had to hit the road early.

The Ecuadorian government had asked the Corps to inspect the suspected logging site - the first time the corrupt forestry department had made such a request. So after a quick breakfast, Carlos and I hiked to Santa Rosa, the nearest tiny village. Five members of the Corps - recruits from a local athletic club - were waiting for us in a red Ford pickup. Three sat hunched in front, laughing and talking. Carlos, the two other Corps members and I perched on the sides of the truck bed, alternately baking in sunlight and freezing in shadow as we drove down the curving mountain road. About 45 minutes later we reached our destination, but the owner of the land we were supposed to inspect - not surprisingly - hadn't shown up. One of his neighbors was more than happy to escort us up the steep mountainside. More...

Lucasfilm Ltd., Nicasio, California [www.starwars.com]
July 1997 to August 1999

Making of Star Wars Episode I | Lucasfilm | 1998
This 12 part documentary was culled from the 600 hours of footage gathered during the making of Star Wars: Episode I. Each segment presents a different glimpse behind the scenes of Episode I. Working with documentarian, John Shenk, I ghost wrote the text for Lynne Hale. Here are highlights from two of my favorite pieces. More...

Part 2: Thousands of Things
The walls of the Skywalker Ranch art department are papered with sketches and the tables are littered with sculptures of the objects and bizarre creatures that inhabit the worlds of Episode I. Concept Designer Doug Chiang heads up the team of artists given the task of interpreting George's artistic vision. The art department has created between three and four thousand pieces of artwork for Episode I. This work includes sketches, sculptures, costume designs, creature models and dozens of full-color production paintings. More...

Part 6: Prime of the Jedi
The lightsaber battles of Star Wars: Episode I are more than spectacle. As glowing blades flash and Jedi fighters combat the dark side of the Force, their each and every move is the result of careful planning by real-life Jedi Master Nick Gillard, Stunt Coordinator for Episode I. Much more than pure action, the lightsaber battles of this film are designed to advance the story and reveal the nature of the characters through physical movements in combat. More...

WetFeet, San Francisco, California [www.wetfeet.com]
Contract Editor, September to December 2002
Responsible for writing and editing company, industry and city profiles for career information web site:
University of Minnesota Company Profile
St. Jude Medical Company Profile
Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association Company Profile
Rochester, New York City Profile
Twin Cities Health Care Industry Profile

Tech Writing Experience

Kontiki, Sunnyvale, California [www.kontiki.com]
Contract Technical Writer, October 2001 to May 2003
Responsible for writing and editing guides for Kontiki's rich media delivery system.
Reviewed functional specifications and conducted extensive interviews with UI designers, product managers, and engineers to obtain the required technical information for documentation.
Authored HTML and produced graphics for online and print versions.
Developed screen copy and nomenclature for web applications.
Documented video and audio creation process and strategy guide for Kontiki clients.

Future Farmers / Swatch, San Francisco, California [www.futurefarmers.com]
Contract Project Manager, March 2000 to May 2001
Worked closely with visual and UI designers and Swatch's team of product managers to develop documentation for an online community web site.
Responsible for writing, editing, and organizing document and graphics.

ShopTok, San Francisco, California
Project Management Consultant, December 1999 to March 2000
Developed and documented a standardized process for application development company.
Conducted extensive interviews with staff members from management to production to determine an efficient production process for the company to follow.
Responsible for writing and editing process document and developing templates for functional specifications, meeting guidelines, client questionnaires, and design and production specifications.