why i write

To me, writing is like a crossword puzzle for business. I love figuring out which words fit together to solve each client’s marketing challenge.

When I was a freshman in high school my father had me take a standardized test designed to predict career compatibility. The test showed strong aptitude for writing and public relations. So much for my future as a veterinarian!In college, English and psychology quickly emerged as my dual passions. English already was my best subject (reading novels hardly qualified as “studying.”) Psych 101 opened my eyes to the fascination of the mind. I selected psychology as my second major, thus setting the stage for a future of marketing and persuasive writing.

After graduation I was faced with two divergent paths. Should I pursue my literary side and perhaps go into publishing? Or delve more deeply into the workings of the human psyche? Luckily, I hit on a brilliant compromise: Advertising!

Over the next several years I gained experience in the various facets of advertising. I then broadened my skills to include corporate communications, proposal writing, media outreach, community relations and marketing management.

Eventually I landed a fabulous job as marketing director for a law firm, riding the crest of the emergent legal marketing wave. This job incorporated everything I had learned and taught me much more.

WORK THAT FEEDS MY SOUL

Then one day I had one of those epiphanies. I realized I was expending so much energy “herding cats” (that’s law-marketing speak for getting lawyers to engage in marketing activities), that I’d strayed far from my true love: writing.

So I took a leap of faith and launched my own business in 2002.

And I’ve never looked back. (Well, maybe once or twice, when my health insurance premium comes due.)

UNCLE KEVIN WOULD BE PROUD

Kevin Cash, my mom’s brother, was my hero. A hard-charging career newspaper man, Uncle Kevin worked at papers up and down the Eastern seaboard. The capstone of his career was writing an exposé about the publisher of the Manchester NH Union Leader called “Who the Hell is William Loeb?” It brought him more than a modicum of notoriety. Uncle Kevin died in 1985, too soon to see his protégé niece fulfill his legacy as a chronicler of other people’s businesses. But I believe his spirit, like my mother’s, guides my pen.

Mighty Pen Writing & Editing

This website is dedicated to my mother, Eileen Cash Reid, who did The New York Times crossword puzzle daily in ink. She is the inspiration behind the name Mighty Pen.