ME, MYSELF, AND I
Thanks, Mrs. Matson . . .
Often in childhood or adolescence, there’s an
individual who has made such an impact on a person’s development that its effect has lasted into adulthood. My Grand Rapids, MN, high school English and Humanities teacher Helen Matson was such a person. She made me a writer. If she were here, she’d be grading me on my writer-for-hire business.
mary macdonell belisle – writerforhire . . .
began in 2007 in St. Cloud, MN, when I resigned from my job, and divided my time between caring for an ailing father and starting a freelance writing business.
Since Dad’s passing, it’s been an exciting challenge to offer my wording services to businesses and nonprofits, full time. This is also a huge paradigm shift from working the 8-to-5 in Communication and Creative Services for my previous employers – a merchant association, radio station, department store chain, financial services company, and human services agency. Now, I’ve become an advocate, sales associate, and driver of my own writing enterprise.
Who would have guessed my business would be almost as demanding as Mrs. Mattson’s four-hour “compare and contrast” essay-writing exam on
"The Brothers Karamazov"?
I’m just a hard-working Minnesota girl.
Someday I’ll write a memoir, or a children’s book series, but for now, it’s a bullet point.
• Youth on Pokegama Lake in northern Minnesota
• B.A. degree in Theatre Arts / Education
• Marriage and arrival of four variations-on-a-theme
• Play direction/touring to grade schools
• Move with husband to St. Cloud (kids, too!)
• Communications/creative services jobs for 25 years
• Empty nest . . . well, sort of . . .
• Self-employment as a writer-for-hire
"The time to begin writing an article is when you’ve finished it to your satisfaction. By that time you begin to clearly and logically perceive what it is you really want to say." – Mark Twain