Here’s a brief summary of my work history.

Ohio State University

I studied mathematics at The Ohio State University. In my senior year, I took a series of courses with the math department chairman. After that, he asked me to teach a class on linear algebra, which I did for several years. It didn’t pay very well, but it was the best job I’ve ever had.

Merrill Publishing Company

My first job after college was with the Charles E. Merrill Publishing Company, and that’s where I learned to be an editor. It’s also where I wrote my first program to get a computer to do an editor’s work (while the editor sat there, sipped coffee, and watched). I developed some educational software to accompany Merrill’s reading program, and I developed a course on computer programming for high school students.

Macmillan Publishing Company

After three years at Merrill, I moved back to New York; I was a senior editor for the school division of Macmillan Publishing Company. I developed educational software, a course on computer literacy, and I continued what I’d started at Merrill — developing print production software (software that gets a computer to do the most boring and mundane tasks required to produce a textbook).

This became all the more interesting when the Apple LaserWriter and the PostScript page-description language arrived, because then the demand for the sort of software I was developing skyrocketed.

Technical Publishing Services

There was such demand for some of the software I’d developed that I started my own business — Technical Publishing Services. 

The Dot-Com Era

I served as managing editor for two, short-lived ASPs (Collabria and Webprint) serving commercial and quick printers.

Freelance Writer/Editor

Since the dot-com boom went bust, I’ve been a freelance writer/editor. I still do work for high-tech firms, but my focus is on helping law firms and attorneys promote their practices — by helping them look good, both in print and on line.