j stensrude . . . w r i t e r

SUMMARY

A varied, stimulating and resourceful work life, beginning at the age of 10 as the neighborhood handyperson and babysitter, graduating to corporate employment at the age of 13 in the capacity of layaway wrapper in a local department store. In the private sector, 20+ years of management and administrative support in a variety of settings, resulting in bottom-to-top knowledge of every phase of conducting business. In the public sector, 8 years of administrative support in a university setting in accounting, demographic research, and medical research. Fifteen years as owner of a small business, providing a complete range of writing and business services to individuals and other small businesses, followed by four years as a creativity coach, guiding small classes of adults in writing exercises.

My varied work background has fostered proficiency in a rich diversity of writing and editing projects: academic papers, fiction, memoir, business proposals, research proposals, reports, letters, brochures, and articles for publication in the popular press and a peer-reviewed journal. Through my work with many different clients with diverse requirements, I have become a recognized specialist in the politically sensitive communication. Additionally, I have edited several privately published books, carrying two from first draft through printing, binding, and distribution. My several years as part-time copy editor for two inner-city monthly publications sharpened my eye for the fine details of punctuation and context.

My skills as academic editor were birthed during employments with The University of Texas's Population Research Center and Baylor College of Medicine's General Clinical Research Center. Operating a public typing service in close proximity to five institutions of higher learning added greatly to these skills. As a mature student, I was required to produce nine major academic papers and 48 book annotations in the APA format, all within an 18-month period and under the watchful eyes of experienced scholarly editors. This compact and intense experience brought to maturity my gift for detail that is essential to academic research. My work for others has included nearly 20 doctoral dissertations, a handful of master's theses, and countless undergraduate papers. My talent for (and love of) writing has penetrated my work life in nearly every position I've held, and it has gradually brought me to my present incarnation as a full-time writer/editor and writing creativity coach. Wrapped around this happy life of wordsmithing is a continuing exploration of new art forms that play muse to my words.

WORK EXPERIENCE

Writer/Editor. Self-Employed, World Wide Web, 2002–Present. Work as academic editor with graduate-student clients throughout the U.S. and in Australia, as well as copy editing activities for a traditional magazine and an ezine. Also serving a continuing clientele with business and personal writing requirements.

Writing Creativity Coach. Leisure Learning, Houston, Texas, 2012–2013. Patterned after the course developed for the Mount Lawley Neighbourhood Learning Centre in Australia, led small groups of adults who sought to develop their writing skills for both personal and professional reasons.

Writing Creativity Coach. Mount Lawley Neighbourhood Learning Centre, Perth, Western Australia, 2003–2006. In small groups of five to ten, guided aspiring writers through exercises that encouraged the emergence of their innate creativity. Students ranged in age from late teens to mid seventies. Participants included aspiring journalists and magazine writers, children's fiction writers, those seeking to pen their personal memoirs for publication or for their families, and some who desired to deepen their experiences as diarists and journal writers.

Owner. Village Secretarial Services, Houston, Texas, 1987–2002. Managed all facets of the business, as well as personally providing client services in writing, editing, desktop publishing, accounting and statistical presentation. Engaged as a consultant by a large, local CPA firm for their management-consulting contracts. (Hired a manager for this business during 1991-1992.)

Editor/Copy Editor. Up & Out Communications, Houston, Texas, 1988–1994. On a part-time basis, for two years served as editor of inner city health and wellness magazine with circulation of 30,000+, then copy editor for two magazines.

President. Personnel Services, Inc., Houston, Texas, 1991–1992. Reported to the board of directors of this staff-leasing company which ceased operations 14 months after employment, when changes in state law made services redundant. Wrote safety manual and directed safety and benefit programs for peak employment of 4,000 workers. Traveled throughout the state meeting with client companies and employees to institute training programs and policy standards for drugs in the workplace. Designed marketing pieces, marketing strategy, and marketing training materials for independent marketing specialists.

Business Manager. Bauencorp, Houston, Texas, 1985–1987. Designed accounting and job-costing system for this interior architecture firm. Prepared bids, proposals, and marketing pieces.

General Manager. United Receivable Management Systems, Houston, Texas,1985. Relocated to Houston by this medical-collections venture as a twelfth-hour attempt to improve profitability. Called on clients to solicit business and to maintain goodwill. Improved employee morale through training sessions and input meetings. Reorganized procedures and redesigned all documents. Doubled income each of the three months of employment, prior to the business being closed under pressure from business creditors.

Secretary. Ellett Brothers, Chapin, South Carolina, 1981–1985. Heavy typing, primarily machine transcription. Greeted all visitors and acted as executive secretary to the president of this $60-million-a-year sporting goods wholesaler, as well as providing primary office support to 14 departmental managers. Streamlined work load from two full-time positions to one full-time position able to take on additional duties. Wrote company history and officer biographies. Proofed and edited important documents and a 1,100-page catalog that was published annually.

Chapin Business Services. Self-Employed, Chapin, South Carolina, 1980–1981. Provided business services, including public stenography, bookkeeping, and income-tax preparation. Contracts included developing a software marketing program for a small business, design of forms for summarizing income-tax information for a tax-consulting group, and internal systems and library system for a CPA firm.

Bookkeeper. Joe W. Hiller, Architect, Inc., Greenville, South Carolina, 1979–1980. Full-charge bookkeeping for four corporate entities, including P&L, financial statements, and job cost for residential building operation. Selected a new CPA firm, including an interview process. Established systems, requiring retroactive bookkeeping for previous year. Reviewed seven different types of insurance coverages required for the businesses and took bids from agencies.

Accountant. Capital Erection Co., Inc., West Columbia, South Carolina, 1978–1979. All functions for computerized payroll, including reporting for federal government, six states and approximately 40 labor unions, for this steel-company subsidiary created to complete a series of building projects. Kept hand-posted books for another small subsidiary.

Sales Agent. Carolina Realty, Columbia, South Carolina, 1976–1978. Residential Sales. Management of small rental account.

Homemaker, Houston, Texas, 1969–1976

Accountant. The Methodist Hospital, Houston, Texas, 1969–1976. After serving four months on the full-time executive staff of this (then) 800-bed hospital, with a primary responsibility of reviewing applications for federal research grants which were to utilize hospital facilities, continued on a periodic contract basis for special accounting projects: followup system for insurance collections, analysis of 10 years of accounting records to identify assets for the purposes of instituting a physical inventory system, system to reduce errors in patient accounts, audit of 4,000 personnel files to establish anniversary dates and eligibility for benefits.

Administrative Assistant. Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas, 1966–1969. All administrative and secretarial functions for General Clinical Research Center, including all budgets, projections, reports, purchasing, bookkeeping, grant applications, and liaison with hospital administration. Interacted daily with physicians, nurses, patients and hospital employees. Planned and supervised move of 8-bed research unit, special diet kitchen and metabolic laboratory from one hospital to another. Worked with architect in planning, furnishing and decorating new facility.

Accounting Secretary. Keystone Valve Corp., Houston, Texas, 1965–1966. Corporate stock transfers, accounts payable, miscellaneous secretarial duties.

Administrative Secretary. Population Research Center, The University of Texas, Austin, Texas, 1961–1965. Secretarial duties, purchasing, departmental accounts, budgets and reports (state, federal, and private funding), statistical analyses. Supervised part-time student clerical workers, maintained population library and developed cataloging system, edited and typed manuscripts. Composed a proposal to National Science Foundation resulting in support of a three-year project to locate and microfilm international population census reports. Some opportunity for original research. Authored one published article and six-volume bibliography of international census reports.

Accounting Clerk. Office of the Auditor, The University of Texas, Austin, Texas, 1960–1961. Processed accounts-payable voucher forms for presentation to State of Texas for payment. Wrote job procedure for this group of clerical positions.

Other Summer, Temporary and Part-time Activities. Grading and filing for accounting professor, billing clerk and secretary for baking company, department-store sales, nursery-school aide, office manager and buyer for educational toy store, original needlepoint design, weekend houseplant and gift business, Yoga instructor for community center, 85-mile rural newspaper route delivering to 200 customers, astrological consultant.

EDUCATION

Vermont College of Norwich University, B.A. Liberal Studies, 1997
The University of Texas at Austin, Plan II (honors program), 59 semester hours
Numerous seminars on business, cultural, and personal-interest topics


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