Writing and Editing Professional Identity Essay

Tylor Andrus

University of Illinois Chicago

Writing and Editing Personal Mission Statement

As a professional writer and editor, I will do my best to use my unique voice in order to help businesses convey their messages in an engaging, creative, and passionate way. I will do my best to utilize all of my training and skills as an editor to help others bring forth the fullest potential of their individual works.

Professional Identity Statement

I have been an avid reader since childhood. Drawn to the fantasy genre, I consumed the likes of Harry Potter, Eragon, and The Wheel of Time series. At first it was the magic, the dragons, and the adventures that captured my imagination. As I grew older, I began to draw connections between these fantasy worlds and the world around me. My insatiable curiosity drove me to investigate new concepts and ideas as I came across them, which then instilled a passion for research.

As anyone who enjoys reading will attest, countless hours poring over words instills a kind of intrinsic eye for errors, whether it’s the syntax, grammar, organization, etc. I admit that most of the readers I know find errors to be a brief annoyance, breaking the flow of their reading. I always found errors to be small treasures. I had found something that was missed by the actual author, the peak of professional creative writing in my mind. As I learned more about the publication process, such as what an editor was, these tiny treasures became even more precious to me.

As I entered college, I never felt truly settled on what I wanted to do with my life. Sure, I loved reading and writing, but I hadn’t yet been taught what I could do with those, in a professional sense. I thought an English degree would mean I had to become an English teacher, an idea I have never relished. And so I started my collegiate career as a psychology major. A few years in, I joined the US Air Force. I knew psychology wasn’t truly what I wanted to do, but I needed more time to figure out what to do next. Once the opportunity to resume classes was available, after joining the military, I switched to software engineering. I thought I needed something that would provide a lucrative career after my time in the service. I should have known better, as math has never been my strong suit. Perhaps that’s just my Florida education showing, though.

After eight years in the military, I received my first associate degree in Aviation Maintenance Technology, before being medically retired. I received credits for both my collegiate and professional course work, however, not all those credits transferred when I moved to Chicago and enrolled in the local community colleges. It was there, at Wilbur Wright City College of Chicago, where I rediscovered my deep love of writing, researching, editing, and literature.

Dr. Michael Petersen led a Shakespeare based literature course, where we read and critically analyzed Hamlet, Macbeth, and Othello. As I was researching for my final project, an in-depth look at how PTSD and trauma were represented by the characters in these world-renowned plays, I realized, without any doubts, that this was my calling. To understand the world from as many different perspectives as I could, to critically analyze the content that bombards at nearly every moment of every day, and finally, find a way to combine my life-long love of languages, cultures, adventure, and unique personal experiences into cohesive and captivating works.

After graduating from Wilbur Wright with my second associate degree, this time with Honors, I enrolled at the University of Illinois, Chicago as an English major with a concentration in professional writing and publishing. It’s at UIC that I began to learn about the professional side of writing. From learning the basics of how to write a resume, press-release, and profile feature, to the more difficult courses like advanced writing of nonfiction prose, I have exulted in the chance to expand my writing capabilities. Every critique and piece of feedback has only left me feeling more inspired to master each new technique and I can proudly say I have never received below an A on a final draft.

I joined UIC’s only independent, student-run news outlet, Bonfire News, as a content writer before moving up to managing editor. Through them, I have published a journalistic article, helped as the lead editor for many others, and most recently created a new, interactive newsletter for Bonfire. Even as an unpaid position, each project is a labor of love and an opportunity to sharpen my skills and talents.

As a senior at UIC, I was personally selected to work as an editor, along with two other undergraduates, for a grant-funded publication, the Linguistic Justice Journal. Furthering my budding eagerness for design work, especially after creating the newsletter for Bonfire, I took on the challenge of designing an entire new website for our journal. By pulling from my military training of having a keen eye for attention to detail, my long academic history of a wide array of subjects to draw from, and my longstanding, ever present, unwavering devotion to writing and editing, I have never felt more certain that I am doing exactly what I was meant to.