Even though I was warned I would make a better living as a waiter than a writer, I accepted the risk and picked up my pen. (Yeah, back in the day when there was no Internet and people actually went to the library.)

Fresh out of university, I started my career at OWL, a popular science and nature magazine for children. It was great fun. Who among my friends could boast encyclopedic knowledge of the three-toed sloth or success at building Dr. Zed’s bug-sucker?

After three years, I decided a change was in order and moved to Ontario Craft magazine. I was thrust into a sophisticated world and suddenly needed a grown-up wardrobe and a grown-up attitude to attend exhibitions and write about them with authority.

When I took a job as a senior writer at Toronto-based software company InContext Systems, I jumped on the information superhighway and learned some basic principles about writing for the web that some people never grasp–namely that no one wants to read a novel online and especially not in every font and colour imaginable.

I applied what I learned about the Internet in my next position as producer of Canadian Living Online. I revamped the magazine’s web site, overseeing its development from a site that changed monthly to one that changed daily, satiating readers’ appetites for regular new content.

Then I got to indulge my inner rock star when I landed a gig as music editor for the Chapters.ca web site. (Okay, I’ll fess up. I’m not sure I really have an inner rock star, but I sure can play a mean air-guitar.) I developed and managed the content of the music area, and wrote articles for it. I also got to act blasé when telling friends I had to interview Christina Aguilera and cover a Radiohead concert in the same week. They really felt for me.

From Chapters.ca, I took a contract at Sympatico.ca, the largest portal site in Canada, and worked as the homepage editor and online newsletter editor, before leaping into the freelance world.

Now I spend my days writing for newspapers, magazines and corporate clients. If you’d like to discuss an assignment, please contact me at deenawaisberg@rogers.com.

View a list of my editorial clients. Read more about the corporate communications I have created.