Kathy Widenhouse
AWAI Member Since: 2003
Age: 47
What’s your current occupation?
Freelance Development Writer and Consultant
What’s your former occupation?
Military Musician (now retired from the service)
What was the first project you landed?
Writing appeal letters and email marketing messages for a nonprofit organization.
What are your current projects?
Donor newsletters, appeal letters, website copy, brochures, strategic plans, promotional emails.
What has been your proudest copywriting moment?
A client needed a specific amount to keep his organization afloat – and my appeal letter put him over the top in less than two weeks.
What’s your favorite niche to write for?
What’s your writing routine?
I do most of my drafts and editing in the morning, when I’m freshest. I do follow-up work, interviews, business-related tasks, reading samples, and other business-development tasks in the afternoons.
Please give us an example of how your life has changed since becoming a copywriter.
I work very hard, but I have a tremendous amount of freedom knowing that my clients need my skills – and a deep sense of satisfaction that I’m helping them with their important work.
What success tip would you like to share with your fellow writers?
Read a lot. Ask clients a lot of questions. Make sure you have a grasp of what they do. Show them you care about their work. Go the extra mile.
When did you realize you were living the copywriter’s life?
When I did my income taxes last year.
