A flair for words

and a passion

for the Old West

About Me
Text Box: I began writing between my college classes as an obit writer in a small college town of Campbell, CA. The college was gradually moving to a large sprawling and lushly green campus at Saratoga with wooden foot bridges crossing a web of small creeks. Each building seemed to be planted on an island of emerald lawns. It was a great place to be inspired and indulge in creative expression. Several years honing my skills in writing and technical illustration helped me entwine the two disciplines. I would later see how these studies worked well together in web site content and design. But this was in the 70s and computers weren’t considered personal yet. They still filled large rooms. I consider myself a journalist from the “old school”. Reputation, clear-cut news reporting, and maintaining integrity in all divisions of journalism were essential to me. As I moved from community newspapers to technical writing, I brought those values with me. I found I could communicate well with ideas that had to be explained to laymen. I took a writing contract with Raytheon as a Lead Technical Writer. Working for Raytheon in corporate surroundings was extremely different than working for the non-profit industry. As I came onboard with Alternative Gifts International (AGI), we raised funds for 33 different humanitarian non-profit groups, so writing grants and defining advertising development took a lot of creative juggling to keep our message strong. During my four years there I helped redesign and maintain an online catalog system. Once the catalog began bringing in new donors, our donor numbers grew from 22% catalog use to an increase of 44% in catalog revenues that helped draw in new donors. Over the years, I’ve produced a community booklet with phone directory, enjoyed ghostwriting, writing poetry and winning a few regional contests, as well as producing and designing community brochures and advertising materials. Freelancing kept my skills flexible. After returning to news writing and page editing while maintaining a freelance writer status, I switched to writing radio commercials for El Dorado Broadcasters, Inc. (formerly Clear Channel Radio) for four years in Victorville/Barstow, California. KEY SKILLS: *Grant writer for non-profit organization (AGI) *Won a $5,000 personal achievement award for the Founder of AGI *Wrote user documentation for product application packages *Production assistant for print and online catalog *Wrote online field and content-sensitive help pages *Wrote and produced user manuals for military training modules at Ft. Irwin, CA *Graphic designer for international greeting cards used in AGI *Networking with programmers as well as customers to obtain technical information to complete an assignment MECHANICALS: *Newspaper layout, headline writing *Paste-up, copy editing and proofreading for newspapers *Darkroom technician *Cartographer apprentice, scribe and overlay artist for Barclay map company *Worked in pre-press for color separation brochures, office forms, business cards and envelopes for Mojave Copy & Printing PRODUCTION: *Reviewing and editing documentation and testing on-line structure *Improving, revising, documentation and materials layout for pre-press *Book development and galley sheet layout *Ghostwriter

Personal Skills

Self-starter

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Strong on initiative

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Accurate eye for detail

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Analytical approach to problem solving

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Excellent communication skills

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Interviewing

comes easy

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Conscientious

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Meticulous Researcher

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Journalistic nature

 
Rusty LaGrange