Innovation is part of who I am, yet is reserved for where innovation feels needed.
I became an “accidental” technical writer because I would encounter instructions in computer textbooks that made no sense. Instead of assuming I couldn’t learn it or was dumb, I would tear it down, figure it all out, then rewrite the instructions in a way that made sense. I then would put my technical rewrites in a file labeled, “Cheat Sheets.” Before long, computer professionals who heard about my cheat sheet file would check with me when they had a question concerning confusing textbook information.

When I see a need, I find a way.
Another company I worked for kept rejecting our computer coding designs. Our progress stalled as their rejections were based on unwritten rules that changed from manager to manager – and sometimes from day to day. So, I solicited and received permission to write a coding standards-manual. It worked. Programmers stopped getting their code rejected by management, and a system design was written that was so uniformly and well-documented that we received a commendation letter from a major government client. Not everything should be standardized, but that which benefits from standardization should be. 

The best design is intuitive, unbreakable, and efficient, thereby needing no end-user documentation.
At a growing bank-holding company I worked for, chronic problems existed in keeping customer relationships and name-and-address-change data consistent from bank to bank, product to product, and department to department across a tristate area. The Customer Information System, purchased to solve those problems, often made them worse. So, I designed an integrated, central name and address change system. It not only worked without fail across all banks and all bank systems, but I never needed to teach any employee how to use it, no training manual was needed, and the system never broke or crashed under my supervision. It did, however, alert the FBI to an organized theft ring working out of two of the three credit bureaus!

​Relationship quality is something few people spend the time to understand, and yet it is perhaps the most important aspect of life. I would even be so bold to suggest that nothing exists except how we choose to relate to every person, place, or thing.

Background
Thomas W. Findley, MD, of The World Fascia Congress asked me to create a 1,000 word summary of a surgeon's 50 year-career, to be published as a chapter in a first-of-its kind book on fascia. To me, this was a gift as well as an intense challenge. I studied the many translated-from-French surgical research papers of the brilliant plastic surgeon, Jean Claude Guimberteau. There was a mind-bending struggle to understand and communicate the deeply important connections being made that are changing the face of the future of medicine. I knew the joy of success when these replies were received:

Handspring is a young publishing company devoted to helping expand bodywork science and education, something I care a great deal about. So, I was thrilled when the founder invited me to be the language editor for this brilliant and novel research book by J. C. Guimberteau and Colin Armstrong. This is groundbreaking research that is changing the future face of medicine for the better.
With every job, I pay attention to the professionals and learn as much as I can. What I learned from Handspring Publishing is that I'd love to be in the publishing field! It was a privilege and a pleasure being a member of their team for this project. 

CafeMom started out as ClubMom, a site where moms are in support of and in service to each other.
An acute thumb injury, obtained from sharp canines whilst removing my Maine Coon from a visiting Pit Bull's throat, halted my bodywork practice for a while, but allowed me to take on an editing job. I'd no experience or education, but the editors took a leap of faith and brought me on board. They needed a whole lotta content, fast.
Within that short editing marathon, I was quickly promoted. I took that as encouragement that I was doing a professional job for an amateur. Mostly, I enjoyed helping to get all the health and child-rearing tips edited and ready for prime time for a site that's all about moms supporting moms.