Hello, there!

I am a freelance writer, editor and blogger based in central Pennsylvania. I'm also the mother of a 3-year-old and a professor of journalism. As you can imagine, I drink a lot of coffee (see photograph below).

I started writing professionally in 1996, and since then, it has been a constant in my life. Some days I may write little more than a to-do list, but I'm always reading stories, listening to stories, and thinking about stories.

There was a lighHave I mentioned the coffee? tning-bolt moment for me as a undergraduate in an introductory magazine-writing class when I realized that telling stories about real people, real places and real things was what I wanted to do: I read Susan Orlean's "The American Man at Age 10." (If you haven't read it, you must.)

It never occurred to me that I could write about everyday people doing inspiring, challenging or just downright weird things and get paid for it. And when I did learn, there was no turning back.

My writing is varied and versatile. My very first freelance magazine assignment was a feature story about the Fresh Air Fund, which turned into a bit of a fiasco. (Ask me about it, and I'll tell you the whole story.)

Since then, I have spent the day at a carnie convention with rattlesnake wranglers and Elvis impersonators, helped a fish vendor gut the catch of the day, spent a weekend camping out with children who'd lost a parent or other loved one and researched the history and continuing legacy of a Native-American boarding school.

I have heard and recounted the stories of dozens and dozens of people — chefs, 9/11 search-and-rescue workers, artists, musicians, filmmakers, dieticians, breast-cancer survivors — who, as Ms. Orlean said, are extraordinary in their ordinariness.

In 2007, I published two cookbooks, Killer Pies and Killer Chili (as Stephanie Anderson, my maiden name). In support of the books, I've been an invited guest on Martha Stewart's Sirius "Morning Living Live" radio program and on a Comcast OnDemand cooking show, where I baked five pies in the span of a few hours. Phew. I've been interviewed about the books by CNN.com, the Baltimore Sun, the Hartford Courant, and several other publications.

I can write it, I can edit it, I can proofread it, I can fact-check it—whatever the "it" is.

I'm always looking for new writing and editing projects, so please contact me: stephanieawitmer AT gmail DOT com.

Thank you for visiting!