writer’s bio
Just when I thought I was safe from asbestos, the e-mail arrives.
This is my first ongoing freelance writing job, for those of you who missed the intro; I’ve been turning out thousands of words on asbestos and asbestos-related diseases for a new website. So far there is only a title page visible, but I’m sure the rest will follow shortly. The guy who pays me produces web content, from cheap and admittedly crappy filler to better stuff to highly specialized researched articles. I was working towards the higher end, fortunately, and it paid well enough, but I’ve become quite bored with asbestos fibers and their histories. The medical part was much more to my taste. I thought we were done, but the e-mail says that the client is happy with our stuff, and they want more. And they’re even going to credit us with writers’ bios.
This is a step up from pure ghostwriting, and it gives me something to point to when I’m looking for more work. This is good. Right? It’s good if the rest of the writing is good. If it’s all worse than mine, not so good. But the title page is impressive enough; better than if I had written it.
So…how do I write a bio? I don’t want it to sound braggy. I don’t want it to sound lame and grasping at straws, which is more likely than bragging in my case, let’s face it.
My writing history is certainly not impressive. It’s not bad for somebody who hasn’t tried very hard, but I don’t want to spin my wheels long enough to explain all that. My main work experience is in medical transcription. I happen to know it’s tough to do superlatively well the way I do it, but most people assume it’s just a woman’s typing job. There was a movement a while back among MTs to start calling ourselves “medical language specialists” but that sounds to me like code for somebody trying desperately to change her image. Which is what we were trying to do. I gave it up and decided to just keep on laughing quietly all the way to the bank.
I guess I’ll fall back on my old business card. Professional speller, it says. That’s me.
Freelance writer: that should cover a multitude of sins.
Working on my first novel? Second? Third? Do you have to count false starts? Do you have to count first completed project that now embarrasses you, for which you thank the gods at least once a month that it didn’t get published?
I’ve been trying to follow a public policy of not bragging, not letting on how much I know, remaining silent and being thought a fool, even—it’s eventually highly gratifying if you’re not one. But then how to write a promotional bio?
This is a thorny problem, due tomorrow. Thank goodness for deadlines.
