Vancouver based Freelance writer

I could say I started writing when I was in high school. I had a Business Admin teacher who told me I had a gift for marketing slogans. I didn’t believe her at the time, as teenagers are prone to do, nor did I believe my English teacher who told me I had a gift for creative writing. I don’t know what happened to the English teacher, but the Business Admin teacher retired soon after. I heard she had a nervous breakdown.  I guess teaching in Saskatchewan was a bit more difficult than one would think.

Once I finished high school, I lived in Atlanta, Georgia for 3 years as a nanny. I spent a lot of time there typing away on a first generation PC. No email and no Internet meant unlimited writing time. I wrote a detailed travelogue of my trips around the Southern states amongst other things.

Then I moved back, bummed around working retail in series of crazy mall jobs, and ended up back in University purely for the escape of working full time. It took just one semester and I was hooked.

My Qualifications

I graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology from the University of British Columbia. Since that time, I have taken numerous courses in creative writing, and the odd one on Screenplays. I’ve also attended countless seminars.

I have a background in web development, including a website that I created and grew to thousands of users (and this was before Facebook and Twitter made it easy to connect with people). You can see the media attention I garnered for myself here. At its most popular, I was invited to pitch for funding on CBC’s Dragon’s Den. The footage is buried somewhere, happily, in the annals of the CBC.

Because of my history with e commerce, I am extremely knowledgeable with regard to all things software and web-oriented and can write on a variety of topics with authority. I’m an avid follower of technology, and am sure I have almost every gadget Apple has produced. I’d say that I need them to test apps, but I’m not fooling anyone.

What I write

I specialize in what I like to call “Mom Tech.” This means I promote electronics, apps, and web sites that I feel would improve a parents lifestyle or just lighten their load for the day. I do most of my creative writing and nonfiction pieces at Survive Parenthood Magazine, an online magazine I launched in 2011.

Professional Associations

Member of PWAC (Professional Writer’s Association of Canada)

Member of the Federation of BC Writers

Testimonials

What my clients have said about me:

Great work, very professional and quick. Worked with us until the final product was perfect.  Highly recommend.

Shelly is awesome. Will definitely use her again.

Excellent – recommend without hesitation.

Shelly is truly a gifted writer. She has amazing writing and
editing skills. Shelly really took the words right out of my mouth.
She captured all of the points I wanted to address, with
professionalism, and created something amazing for me.
I am grateful for your help, and want to say thank you so very much
for everything you have done for me. I know I will be recommending you
to all of my friends who need a brilliant writer, and I look forward
to working with you again.” Cathy Empey, Photographer