By the time I was eleven, I'd read almost every book in the Juvenile section of my local library. I was out of reading material, but I wasn't allowed to branch out into YA yet, and my parents' book budget could only stretch so far. So one fateful day, I decided I'd just write my own book.
From the first day I put pen to paper, I fell in love. From the rush of stitching together a messy first draft, to the subtle technical magic of adjusting final comma placement, I find it all enthralling. Over the years, I've honed my skills by taking dozens of writing classes, seeking criticism from hundreds of peers and mentors, and contributing to or editing for 5 publications.
Today, I continue to submit work for publication while chipping away at my novel. For examples of my work, please continue reading. These examples are split into sections of Copy and Technical Writing, Academic Writing, and Original Fiction.
Copywriting includes any and all writing created with an eye toward marketing and uplifting a brand. This includes internal copy, such as the business plan linked below. Technical writing includes documentation for programming projects I've worked on. Pieces in this section exemplify my ability to write to a specified style and tone, resulting in readable copy that engages professionals and laymen alike.
As a volunteer and team member at the Kansas City Robotics Foundation, I wrote a new marketing strategy and composed dozens of tweets from 2016-2019, eventually growing our Twitter account from around 25 followers to nearly 1,000 when I left the organization. I also took accompanying photo and video footage, and edited promotional videos to embed on our social medias. Examples below.
Proud to announce we set an @FTCMO score record yesterday & took home the Inspire Award! Looks like we're Houston-bound ✌ pic.twitter.com/3RRpnoxjCM
— KC Astromechs (@KCAstromechs) March 10, 2019
Getting a little pre-State practice in, hosted by our friends @4964Ftc 🇺🇸👍 pic.twitter.com/Uo8G4j4ycD
— KC Astromechs (@KCAstromechs) March 9, 2019
Meet SlaHappy, our first robot of the season. We're excited to compete with him tomorrow in our first meet at St Teresa's Academy. #RoverRuckus #FTC pic.twitter.com/SS3oWP2t2G
— KC Astromechs (@KCAstromechs) November 30, 2018
Garet's proposed alignment grid accurately shows our feelings about different building materials. We're definitely chaotic good. 😉 pic.twitter.com/kLZlZ6BVZA
— KC Astromechs (@KCAstromechs) January 17, 2018
New system on a robot? High five! pic.twitter.com/bEJgJAYPwa
— KC Astromechs (@KCAstromechs) December 10, 2017
I wrote this business plan with an aim of increasing the visibility of both my robotics team (KC Astromechs) and our host organization (KCRF), with the hope of establishing potential for long-term brand and organizational growth.
Completed as a technical test for a past potential client, this piece was designed as copy for the website of a hypothetical medical spa that recently acquired an Exion machine. My challenge was to write something that could both attract new customers searching for Exion treatment, and educate existing clients about the treatment.
The Control Award is given to robotics teams that write advanced algorithms for their robot and complete a detailed application for the award, including documentation explaining each algorithm. As one of three programmers on my team, and the strongest writer in the bunch, I was responsible for this application and the associated documentation. This piece demonstrates my ability to translate highly technical information into phraseage a layperson can understand, while also providing satisfactory detail for a professional audience.
These are research papers written during the completion of my undergraduate degree. Pieces in this section demonstrate my research, analysis and synthesis skills, as well as my ability to translate complex topics into easily understood prose.
This essay, an exploration of literature, science, and philosophy, was written as a final paper for a senior-level honors English course designed to prepare students to write an undergraduate thesis. It earned an A.
This piece, a response to the Dobbs ruling focusing on its implications for American social policy, was written as a final paper for a senior-level Sociology course.
Fiction pieces are writings I have completed on my own time. This comprises the majority of my writing experience and taught me my rigorous attention to detail, command of diction and grammar, and sense of storytelling.
This piece of flash fiction was originally drafted in 2017 and ultimately published under a previous name by the undergraduate literary journal of the University of Missouri, EPIC. It's found on page 40 of the Fall 2020 edition and is also mentioned by the editor in the edition's foreword.
This short story was originally drafted in 2023, in the midst of a then-record-breaking heat wave, during which I also had to move between houses. I was scrambling to stay cool and make ends meet, and started thinking about an imagined figure who was much like me, but about 10% less lucky.