EDITING
"You did an incredible job on my manuscript, and I only wish I had engaged you sooner. Your insights and careful, thoughtful analysis made all the difference, and I am grateful."
-- Dr. Christopher Choukalas, author, Even the Darkest Night (Penguin Random House, 2026)
I call myself TextElevate for a reason: My clients’ quest to ascend to the perfect words for an unforgettable impact inspires me to do what I do.
As an editor I bring forth exactly what you intend to say with precision, punch, and audience awareness — whether you’re an entrepreneur, author, or content producer. If you enjoy the elegant lifestyle reporting of the Nob Hill Gazette, you’re seeing my work as a proofreader. If you were moved by the 2026 Penguin Random House memoir Even the Darkest Night, you’ve seen my work as a highly praised manuscript analyst.
My copywriting draws on my deep roots in literary writing, connecting with readers and prospects through meticulous research, vivid description, and nimble empathy.
A 2024 technical writing certificate from Cal State University – Dominguez Hills has boosted my structured-writing, visual-communication, and collaborative know-how. As volunteer co-chair of marketing for Editcetera, the Bay Area’s longest-standing editorial talent association, I coin taglines and conceptualize graphic campaigns in a team setting. I’m also Canva-savvy and have created several brand kits for myself and my clients.
Please enjoy my portfolio pieces below. Reach out to me for feature, newsletter, and blog writing, or editing jobs from proofreading to developmental editing. I give lifestyle, travel, design, architecture, and related topics top priority.
My initial 30-minute consultation, during which we can talk about rates, is free of charge. I look forward to hearing from you!
Contact:
You can direct-message me from my LinkedIn profile page (see the LI symbol below) or email me at my DBA name at Gmail.
EDITING
I was brought in as manuscript analyst early in the publishing cycle of this doctor's memoir exploring paternal depression, now available from Penguin Random House's Harmony Rodale imprint. (See testimonial at the top of my intro.)
The Nob Hill Gazette is known as the publication-of-record for the social, cultural, and philanthropic life of San Francisco. I proofread, fact-check, and sometimes copyedit the galleys for this high-profile print and online monthly newspaper.
I'm currently developmentally editing a memoir on bearing witness to the destruction of the Balkan Wars and founding an NGO to rebuild Bosnia.
COPYWRITING
Authoring colorful subheadings, photo captions, added copy, and rewrites comes with the territory as I proofread and fact-check San Francisco's Nob Hill Gazette.
Reflections on a long winter weekend in Quebec's Old City, taking in charms from the Château Frontenac to the national dish, pouding chômeur, at a charming auberge.
In the midst of a possible eviction crisis for San Francisco's beloved La Mediterranée restaurant, I interviewed the owners and wrote this feature on why there was more at stake than just a bistro.
LITERARY MILESTONES
Set in the early days of the COVID-19 lockdowns in Europe, Jen Burke Anderson's "Shelter: A Photo Gallery" captures a particular--unique--feeling of isolation and confusion. The second-person narration and narrative structure-a series of time-stamped snapshots-are perfectly paired to encapsulate the sense of displacement of the moment.
The Fabulist Editions print of my novella, The Constantly Unfolding Horrors of Vasily Nikoleyevich, was summarized thus: There lived in San Francisco a certain Vasily Nikoleyevich, whose horror regarding the state of the world was well known and much discussed in the bars, cafés and music halls of Mission Prospekt. Now, on the brink of the 2008 financial crisis, we find the young man unwashed, unemployed, alone except for the company of his increasingly unhinged father-and the visitations of...
I turned my critic's pen on Akashic Books' Zagreb Noir, a collection of short stories mining the dark side of a rapidly changing Balkan city.