A Creative Writing Blog
If creative writing is your thing, then you’ve come to the right place – this is a creative writing blog. But we’ve got the mechanics here too, with grammar tips and writing exercises that help writers hone their skills, master the craft, and shine brightly in all that they write.
Mission
The Writing Forward mission is to share helpful, supportive, and inspiring writing resources and ideas to benefit the greater writing community.
Creative Writing Services
Writing Forward also offers services for writers who need help honing fiction, poetry, and creative nonfiction. Services include proofreading and editing as well as professional writing critiques. These services are ideal if you’ve completed a project that needs polishing or are looking for feedback on your work. For writers who want consistent feedback, mentoring in the mechanics of good writing, and help setting and achieving goals, I also offer a writing coach program.
To learn more, please visit my creative writing services page. There, you’ll find details about the services I offer as well as rates. Below, you can check out my credentials and experience.
Who’s in Charge Around Here?
My name is Melissa Donovan. I was born and raised in California’s beautiful Bay Area. I inherited a love of literature from my mom, who taught me how to read by the time I was four years old.
At age thirteen, I started writing poetry and song lyrics. Shortly thereafter, I began journaling, and a writer was born. I studied creative writing at Sonoma State University, where I earned a BA in English with a concentration in creative writing. Since then, I’ve been a technical writer, a business and sales writer, and a blogger.
I am a self-employed website designer and copywriter. You can learn more about the website services I offer by visiting scribizzy.com. I’ve got a blog there too, and if you need tips for doing business online, you might want to check it out.
Blogging has become one of my writing passions, along with fiction and poetry. In 2008, as a NaNoWriMo participant, I wrote my first novel. The working title is Wolves at the Door. Not coincidentally, I am especially interested in using my writing skills as an advocate for animal welfare, with a focus on the No Kill movement, which seeks to end the practice of killing homeless animals in shelters. If you need a writer for an animal welfare project, please feel free to get in touch with me. I’d love to work with you!
Oh, and I love to dance. I also love cheese and chocolate (but not together) and I have a penchant for superhero movies. If I’m not blogging or building websites, I’m probably playing my guitar or watching Lost.
Experience
Writing has been a huge part of every position I’ve held, from shift manager at a video store to technical writer at a web services start-up company. Managers asked me to draft communications to customers, and executives requested that I review documents, checking for errors. Teammates asked me to provide written step-by-step guides for work processes, and I obliged.
As the in-house English major, I was consistently tapped for my writing expertise and developed a habit of careful, concise proofreading. I started keeping writing references handy at all times and became extremely familiar with the dictionary, thesaurus, and The Chicago Manual of Style, tools that also helped me get through college as an English major.
Since I started working as a freelance copywriter in 2007, about a third of the work I’ve been hired to do has involved helping other creative writers, either by checking their work for grammatical accuracy or reviewing it for flow and readability.
Education
- Sonoma State University, Bachelor of Arts, English, with a concentration in creative writing
- San Francisco State University Multimedia Studies
How I Work
Although writing comes quite naturally to me, I consistently work at expanding my knowledge because I believe the best writing is born of a marriage between inherent talent and learned skill. My working style can be summed up easily:
- Methodical and creative
- Professional and friendly
- Flexible and diversified
I’d love to learn about your creative writing project so please contact me and let’s work together!
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