Our first freelance writer spotlight of 2018 honors Wendy Little, who’s just beginning her 5th year with Verblio.
When Wendy Little first came to Verblio in 2013, she says that she was quite nervous about submitting her first few posts. Five years later, she has submitted over 450 pieces of content and maintains an average rating of 4.7 out of 5 stars. In fact, 95% of her rated posts have received a 4- or 5-star rating!
Wendy has found something of a surprising niche here at Verblio—she is a master at taking a topic that’s been written about many times and creating something that’s fun, fresh, and personalized. Trying to break into the competitive world of advice for new moms? Fitness apps? Pet care? You’re certain to come up against some heavy competition, so your content and your brand need to truly stand out.
Wendy says her main goal is not just to write facts about what she knows, but to, “always, to the best of my ability, give the clients what they’re looking for”.
And Her Reviews Speak for Themselves:
Only you understand exactly the content and style we need in these reviews! -Fitness Tracking Industry, Content Manager
This is absolutely wonderful!!! I have no edits to request. The tone is “expert”, yet fun and you go into great depth in a very interesting way. I felt like it was what I would say, but better…-Dog Walking Service, Owner
Wendy Little
Life at Verblio for Wendy Little
Here are some of the types of topics that Wendy has brought to life:
“Gear Up for a Healthier You with the Newest Samsung Fitness Devices”
“Messaging Apps That Teens Love (And Parents Should Be Aware Of)”
“The Best New Smart Home Technology of 2017”
“The Simple, Quick Way to Replace Your Vacuum Cleaner Belt”
“5 Great Celebrities Who Made Terrible Superheroes”
Superheroes, you say?
Well, it turns out that with 3,000+ writers, we have experts on just about everything. And just about every writer has some surprising expertise. In addition to being a skilled writer, Wendy is also a movie buff who loves superhero, sci-fi, and fantasy films. Her favorite superheroes are Superman, Captain America, The Flash, Thor, and Supergirl. She’s also an unabashed Star Wars and Star Trek geek.
Other Areas of Expertise
Beyond the entertainment industry, Wendy also happens to have some personal experience and expertise in topics related to visual impairment and accessibility. She was born with visual impairment and congenital cataracts and later diagnosed with congenital glaucoma.
Wendy has overcome some pretty serious hurdles to become a professional freelance writer, including seven eye surgeries in the last 10 years or so. She’s brought a great deal of sensitivity and understanding from her own experiences to content that helps other people overcome their own hurdles, writing posts about assistance for injured veterans and service animals for conditions like diabetes and epilepsy. As an adult, Wendy learned to read and write uncontracted braille through The Hadley School for the Blind “just for the fun of it”.
Outside of Verblio
Outside of Verblio, Wendy spends a lot of time reading, hanging out with her two precious kitties, and watching movies with her husband, whose smoked culinary creations are apparently to die for. She’s currently 10 books into Terry Goodkind’s 17-book series, The Sword of Truth. I asked her for a brief review in case anyone was in need of some new reading material:
It’s a 17-book sci-fi/fantasy series that has everything you could possibly want: wizards, witches, magic, love stories, battles, good, evil, mythical creatures, Mord Siths….”Wait, what’s a Mord Sith?” you ask. I can’t tell you, it’s a secret; a secret that can only be revealed if you read the books. I haven’t finished listening to the series yet, but what I’ve read so far is fantastic and I highly recommend it—it has something for everyone.
Her Writing Life
Wendy discovered her love of writing as a young girl, when other kids were doing their best to avoid their English homework. She took a correspondence writing course in high school to learn about writing short stories for children. After some discouraging rejections, Wendy took a hiatus from personal writing projects—the writing world can be quite brutal for a young person.
However, Wendy continued to write professionally. After struggling to find work due to discrimination related to her visual impairment, Wendy found a position and excelled as a Desktop Publishing Officer, or DPO, proofreading, finalizing, and designing graphics for tech manuals for GE and the U.S. Air Force. Most people might be intimidated by that type of technical material, but Wendy enjoyed it immensely: “It could be complicated with all those paragraph, sub-paragraph, and sub-sub-paragraph numbers,” she said, “but it was a lot of fun!”
After she was married in 2000, Wendy began to submit her poetry to some online publications, where she finally began to have some success. She found Verblio and, with some “prodding” (as she puts it) from another writer, began to submit short posts on our site. Since then Wendy has become a core member of our community, and has gained a reputation for her incredibly positive presence on our forum, where she continues to encourage and support new writers as they begin their freelancing journeys.
Here’s advice from Wendy Little for new members of the Verblio community:
For writers: Never give up… always proofread your work. Oh, and don’t forget to have fun writing!
For customers: Be cordial… You will catch more flies with honey. [And] be specific in what you want us to write; the more details you provide, the better your post will be.
Thanks so much to Wendy Little for years of hard work and dedication. We couldn’t be happier to have you as part of our community, and we hope to work with you for many years to come!
