Charles Dickens inspired me to write

The journey began in a library checking out young adult mysteries like Mystery in the Apple Orchard by Helen Fuller Orton. From there, Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys became part of my regular reading.

Given an assignment to read the first three chapters of Charles Dickens' Great Expectations in junior high school, my first reaction was, "Ick! Homework!"

But from the first page, I was hooked.  Next day it was off to the library to check out the unabridged version.

On my 13th birthday, my parents bought me a complete Dickens library that I still have today.

Barnaby Rudge, Bleak House, David Copperfield, A Tale of Two Cities, Oliver Twist, and my favorite - the hilarious misadventures of Samuel Pickwick and his loveable, bumbling gentlemen of the Pickwick Club.

There is no forgetting the tragic man-hating Miss Havisham. Shut up in her dark parlor still wearing the torn and yellowed wedding dress from the day she was jilted at the alter; a rotting wedding cake still on the table in front of her. 

Who can forget the brutality of Nancy's murder by the loathsome Bill Sikes; or a perspiring Mr. Pickwick trying to apologize his way out of the wrong room at the inn by a lady in yellow curl papers threatening his masculinity?  

It wasn't just Dickens' colorful characters and compelling storylines. It was his long and vividly descriptive sentences! Unafraid to paint a picture in words, he put the reader in the moment like no other writer then and now!

In high school and college, I tried my version of Dickens' endlessly descriptive style in written assignments. I was summarily shot down by professors who chopped up my long sentences with multiple periods.

My literary wings were clipped. One professor said my style was old fashioned and no one writes like that anymore.

Of course it was old fashioned! It was stylized after Charles Dickens!

"Well, Dickens you are not!" one instructor informed me.

McMann & Tate

Now fully immersed in literary psychosis, I found my outlet for "short and concise" sentences by way of Darren Stevens. His 'bewitchingly' whimsical advertising campaigns tickled my creative side. What ad agency wouldn't snatch me up?

I wrote a mock classroom ad campaign for Levi jeans depicting several pairs of Levis with wings attached at the waistband, floating in a perfectly heavenly sky with a headline - It's the Levis Place.

I received an A and graduated from Alabama with a BA in Communications with a focus on advertising. I have a double minor in Marketing and World Literature.

Roll Tide!

In Through the Backdoor

After interviewing with dozens of ad agencies after graduation, I met fierce rejection.

They said I "was not sophisticated enough" for ad agency work. Perhaps I should consider advertising sales for the media where I would become more polished and make more money.  

I landed at a radio station in Biloxi, Mississippi selling $7 radio spots but they let me write my own commercials.

One night after a rock concert in Biloxi, my date and I grabbed some burgers from a late night burger chain.

When I opened the wrappings, the burger patty wasn't visible. Removing the top bun, there in the center was a small beef patty, barely larger than the pickle slices.

"One day I am going to write an ad campaign for a fast-food joint asking 'Where is the meat?'" I told my date.

Less than a year later, Wendy's launched their granny campaign asking "Where's the Beef?"

I knew I did not want to sell advertising all my life, so what to do? I struggled with how to get my cleverness in front of someone who would notice. I even went to New York and stayed with family friends to interview for a media buyers job. But I discovered I couldn't afford to have a car and it would take rooming with 3 people to rent even the tiniest apartment. I had enough of roomies in college.

"You will always have to sell yourself or your skills, no matter what business you pursue," my first boss in radio told me when he saw I was getting antsy for something else. "If you paint, you have to sell your paintings, if you fix cars, you will have to sell yourself above the competition. Embrace that ability and experience."

I didn't get it then but it sure would come in handy later! Selling my services by phone and knocking on doors has followed me all my life.

After a couple of years, I put out feelers in New Orleans, thinking if I was stuck in sales, at least I could try to make more money in a larger market selling $100 radio spots.

By the time I was offered a position, my family had moved to Miami and I decided to join them there and start over.

I briefly considered a job as a blackjack dealer on a cruise ship, but instead, joined an ad agency in Ft. Lauderdale replacing their Media Buyer writing little more than a weekly media plan.

I didn't realize the real journey was about to begin!

No Quite McMann & Tate But Getting Closer

Joining a small but busy ad agency in Coral Gables as an account manager, I moonlighted as a production assistant on the 6 p.m., 6:30 p.m. and 11 p.m. news at the Miami ABC affiliate WPLG.

At the agency, we contracted with a married copywriting team, so there was little opportunity to write, but I discovered a lot of agencies, big and small, farm out work like PR, copywriting and graphics.

That knowledge would come in handy!

A couple of years on the job, the copywriting team was out for 2-weeks on vacation. We had a last minute opportunity to run an ad in a national Bridal magazine for half price.

The client, an all-inclusive couples resort in Negril, Jamaica needed ad copy quick!

I knew the campaign inside and out so I wrote some content and dropped it into the layout.

Sent the final proof, the client called me and said, "Boy Tom is good, isn't he? This is great and on short notice too!"

I probably should have let it go, but I was proud.

"Actually, Tom didn't write that," I said. "I did."

There was silence on the other end of the line. Then, "Maybe we should wait until Tom gets back?"

I didn't bother to tell him I was a writer by trade. I knew I was good and he did too, but I was his account manager, not his copywriter. 

Moonlighting... in TV

Until I began traveling in and out of Jamaica every six weeks to meet with our hotel client, I enjoyed hanging around the WPLG newsroom at night, power napping behind the news set in between shows, crawling along the catwalks lighting sets and did I mention it paid very well?

TV had interested me for a long time but I was not on-air talent material. I hate cameras.

But that limited experience with how a newsroom worked would lead to my first successful writing and marketing service offering many years later.

Then in 1993, for family reasons, I moved to Huntsville, AL where I worked as a commercial producer, writing and producing commercials and PSAs for WAAY.

Corporate Marketing

Most honest people will tell you local television work is not as glamorous as it sounds.

When my 2-year contract expired in Huntsville, I was anxious to get back to Florida. I moved to St. Petersburg where I worked in several marketing positions, writing marketing video scripts for a company that was franchising sales offices and a product sales video for another company. I ran a corporate marketing department for a window film manufacturer, writing all their sales support literature.

One of our divisions was automotive window film. We advertised in two industry trade publications. Receiving the first copy, I discovered multiple typos on the cover.

After contacting the publisher, he hired me without seeing any of my work to write cover stories about successful detailing and automotive technology businesses.

That "gig" would last 15 years, long after I left St. Pete and moved back to Huntsville.

Never Miss a Deadline!

My first news byline was in the Tampa Bay Business Journal. 

I never looked back! I now had a portfolio for the first time in my career and since then I found plenty of business, technology and news writing work. It was enough to take a leap of faith and step out on my own.

Freelance writers are notorious for missing deadlines, so I made it my mantra - I never miss a deadline - and I don't!

Press Releases & Media Distribution

Moving back to Huntsville when my mother was diagnosed with cancer in 2006, I leveraged my experience working in TV newsrooms to start a Press Release business. I targeted local market media and trade industry media, and now, I also help ad agencies and marketing departments navigate the complicated process of sending national press releases down the wire services..

For 12 years, I was the official PR representative for the nationwide Air Force One Detailing Team and Detail Mafia at Seattle's Museum of Flight. Today, I still manage PR for ad agencies and small businesses.

For the past 15 years, I have built a reputation as a news and business journalist, ghostwriter, blogger, social media and website content writer.

Ghostwriting Books & Stories

In just the past two years, I began ghostwriting books. One of them is a fictional love story based on a true event. The other is a biography for a recovered alcoholic.

That is one of my favorite projects today - ghostwriting private book projects about drug and alcohol recovery, finding faith, business, and biographical books. I am always looking for more of that work!

I joined the staff at Huntsville Independent Press and I can help you get a book published if you are looking for help doing that.

My portfolio reflects my career, some going back to before there were PDFs and digitized copies.

I wrote several stories for the 50th Anniversary tabletop book for the Von Braun Center. My stories focus on major events held at the VBC in the past 50 years including Elvis' concerts, Big Spring Jam, and more.

In my portfolio, you will find articles I did for the Huntsville-Madison County Chamber of Commerce’s Annual Guides and Initiatives, the Huntsville Times’ R&D Report, Excursions (Huntsville), Huntsville Faces, Pulse published by Crestwood Hospital, EVENT Huntsville, Auto Laundry News/carwashmag.com, and many others. 

Best known for my versatility, I can write a book, a news story, press release, ad copy, brochures, websites, newsletters and blogs.

Give me a shout at Kimberly@KimberlyWritesCreative.com or (256) 653-4003.