INTRO: OUR MAN IN KIEV In December 2009, I heard from Dmitry Duda, an entrepreneur in Ukraine who'd seen one of my ads on craigslist. He...

INTRO: MARY-MARGARET NETWORK BLOG POST # 7 To the best of my knowledge, this seventh post in my series was never published. And the ride ended here. I have absolutely no memory about what I would have said in blog # 8, "Envisioning Your Ideal Project." Photo from Flikr KNOW YOUR LIMITS Recently in this space, I revisited some humiliating lessons about interactive writing and client management from early in my career. Thinking about them made me cringe even though I'm older an

INTRO: MARY-MARGARET NETWORK BLOG POST # 6 This sixth post in my series was published 3/18/10. See the intro to post # 1 for the what and why of this whole naive memoir. Photo by Clem Onojeghuo on Unsplash INTERACTIVE WRITING: MY FINEST HOURS My previous few posts were about awkward learning experiences in the interactive and gaming industries. Now let's offset those nightmares with happy stories of what I'd call dream projects. I was hired to do something I love, worked with

INTRO: MARY-MARGARET NETWORK BLOG POST # 5 This fifth post in my series was published 12/17/09. See the intro to post # 1 for the what and why of this whole naive memoir. Photo by Ryan Johns on Unsplash LEARNING THE HARD WAY The freelance business model has a big trial and error factor. Even if you always do the same thing, doing it for a new client introduces surprising variables. So let's talk trials and errors. As a self-styled writer for interactive games, I went out to s

INTRO: MARY-MARGARET NETWORK BLOG POST # 4 This fourth post in my series was published 10/7/09. See the intro to post # 1 for the what and why of this whole naive memoir. Photo by Makarios Tang on Unsplash THE AUDITION Performers open doors with headshots, demo reels or press clippings, but eventually they must audition for the gig. And writer auditions? Strange as that sounds, people are sometimes uncomfortable hiring a writer without a skills test. Or so they say. Maybe the

INTRO: MARY-MARGARET NETWORK BLOG POST # 3 This third post in my series was published 9/4/09. See the intro to post # 1 for the what and why of this whole naive memoir. Photo by Tobias van Schneider on Unsplash FREELANCE = PERPETUAL JOB SEARCH & TRAINING As a teenager, I learned some useful basics about finding work. My mom told me, "Treat looking for a job as if it were your job." She also said, "Knock on every door and introduce yourself, even if there's no Help Wanted sign

INTRO: MARY-MARGARET NETWORK BLOG POST # 2 This second post in my series was published 6/30/09. See the intro to post # 1 for the what and why of this whole naive memoir. Photo by Gage Walker on Unsplash RUBBER MEETS ROAD: THE GAMING-TO-DOTCOM SHIFT After spending a few too many years operating someone else's small business, I was hungry for a change. Having established that I could manage many details while keeping multiple balls in the air, I now sought a fulfilling profess

INTRO: BLOGGING FOR MARY-MARGARET NETWORK In March 2009, when I was a struggling writer intent on breaking into the gaming industry, recruiting guru Mary-Margaret Walker generously comped me into GDC09 in San Francisco. Once I'd toured the convention and found her booth, she was happy to answer many of my questions about the industry. She also suggested that I might return the favor by writing a series of blogs for Mary-Margaret Network, which was eager to add lots of quality