About
Hi, my name is Rachel Burkot. I’m a young professional freelance writer and editor looking to gain more exposure and publicity while also constantly on the watch for that full-time job. I graduated from Westminster College in December 2008 with a Bachelor of Arts in English and Writing/Speech Communication minors. Most people spend their high school and college years trying to decide what they want to do with their lives, and once they decide, they follow the appropriate course and land a job in that field after getting a degree. For me, it was the opposite. I never made a conscious decision to become a writer. I've always been one. My problem is finding employment among the throes of this fine nation's creative industry.
I've been editing manuscripts for Dorrance Publishing Company in Pittsburgh as a freelance editor since March, and I love it! Since I went through childhood with my head buried in books and adolescence correcting anyone who used improper grammar, I believe I'm destined for a career in the world of literature. In my opinion, one of the most understated joys in life is to curl up on a couch with a good book. I’d love to be either the next Charles Dickens or J.K. Rowling. My ideal life would be to write best-sellers in my spare time while holding down a day job as an editor for a publishing company, surrounded by tomorrow’s classics and corresponding with soon-to-be Faulkners and Hemingways. Heck, maybe someday I'll even get an MBA and start my own publishing company!
The only problem is that publishing is VERY difficult to get into, especially when you’re looking for entry-level positions . . . they are few and far between, and it seems like you have to know someone just to get a janitorial job at a publishing company! Also, I’m finding that there aren’t many opportunities in publishing in the Pittsburgh area (I think I’m employed as a freelance editor by one of the city’s only publishing companies), but I am willing to move anywhere for the right job. And while I’d love to get into publishing as soon as possible, I’m looking at any and all writing or editing jobs for now to serve as a stepping stone to where I’d eventually like to end up. I'll take freelance work, temporary work, internships - whatever it takes to build up a portfolio, sharpen my writing and editing skills and land that dream job in publishing.
Sometimes I feel like my life is a winding road, the kind that's really dangerous to drive on at night or during a thunderstorm. I don't know what's coming next, and I can't see more than a few feet in front of me. But in this time of uncertainty, I know one thing for sure, and that's enough to sustain me through whatever lies ahead: I will always be a writer.
