Wordsmith Background
 

At Vital Wordplay, I am a certified editor with decades of experience and a big picture vision. I draw on skills learned as an award-winning writer to ensure content is engaging and accessible. I have edited and proofread books on self-help, health topics and more for publishers such as W. W. Norton,  MIT and Counterpoint presses. I have also assisted self-published authors of memoir, self-help, and spirituality, university magazines, a national lab, an engineering institute, and non-profits focused on mental health, diversity, or conservation.

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My word nerd tendency was fostered by growing up in the Midwest among rambunctious brothers. I interned at newspapers early on, and have freelanced since on topics such as public health challenges and climate change (see publication and other CV details below). I have won national and state awards, with my writing interests often at the intersection of science with aspects of healthy living. My approach is informed by a public relations career until 2016 of assisting faculty at a top-ranking medical school and an R1 research university communicate their work. 

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My passions include a mindfulness-related martial art (Aikido) that I am developing a book proposal on, therapeutic horsemanship, spiritual development, and traveling to Japan and elsewhere to broaden horizons.

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I look forward to helping authors express their intelligence, passion, and personality on the page, whether using my organized, thorough approach to developmental edit, copy edit, or ghostwrite blogs, books, or other materials (see CV and below for more details). 

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Barbra Rodriguez 

The CV Skinny

Specializing in: Developmental and copy editing of nonfiction for adults, including narrative and historical nonfiction, books of journalism, memoir, psychology, self-help, spirituality, health/wellness, nature, sustainability and landscape design; literary and historical fiction. Ghostwriting books and other long-form content. See details on Services page.  

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Editorial areas since 2016:

• Books for MIT Press, Counterpoint Press, Greenleaf Book Groups, Sacred Stories Publishing 

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• Conservation and life science reports, marketing collateral, features, etc., for clients such as The Nature Conservancy, the Ecosystem Sciences Division of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, and Intermountain West Joint Venture

• Magazines for Deep Foundations Institute (part-time exec. editor from 2020 - Feb. 2022, including editing 70+ features), and for the UT Austin Jackson School of Geosciences; previous editing of UT Austin’s College of Natural Sciences magazine (2 years), and a newsletter of the Siteman Cancer Center, Wash. U. School of Medicine (2 years)

• Educational material for W.W. Norton (life science books and web modules), and a medical profession website of Texas Health and Human Services

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Training highlights: Aced UC, San Diego Copyediting Certificate Program (120+ hours); Certificate in Science Communication, UC, Santa Cruz; 12+ added courses on developmental editing, the publishing process, and more

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Writings: Internships at the Dallas Morning-News and Kansas City Star; developing press releases, newsletters, and features for faculty and staff for 10+ years at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, and at Univ. of Texas at Austin colleges (natural sciences and engineering)

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Freelance features on environmental challenges, diversity, the value of English degrees, and more in Nature, Science, Texas Co-op Power, several university magazines, and websites such as delltechnology.com; developing 3,000-word conference reports for DiverseScholar, and The Steve Fund (on mental health needs of students of color)

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Honors: Diversity Travel Fellowship, World Conference of Science Journalists, and Journalist Travel Grant, Ecological Society of America Conference; nonfiction book competition judge for National Association of Science Writers  and Writer’s League of Texas; Austin Creative Nonfiction Meetup director; Best of Texas Feature Writing Merit Award, Texas Public Relations Association, and National Mature Media, National Health Information awards (for AARP Segunda Juventud feature)
 

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