Finding the ‘Write’ Fit

Utica Community
Utica Stories
Finding the ‘Write’ Fit

Jennifer Blanchard ('05) thought she scored her dream job when she was hired as a writer for a business-to-business magazine headquartered in California. But she soon realized that the strict corporate culture wasn’t the right fit — or as she puts it: “I was sitting behind a desk eight hours a day, working for someone else, and feeling like a piece of my soul was dying.”

Blanchard, a public relations and journalism alum who studied creative writing and poetry at UC, dreamed of writing novels. By 2008, she decided to begin her first book in whatever spare time she could find outside of the office. She also started a blog to document her journey and the struggles aspiring writers face in turning creative ideas into published work.

“I started the blog as a way of motivating myself, because while so many people saw me as a high-achiever, I had a hard time getting motivated when it came to chasing my big dreams,” she says.

The plan worked. Within a year, she not only drafted her first novel, but her blog had gained a steady following. Through paid memberships and newsletters, Blanchard’s online presence became a reliable source of income, and by 2012, she quit her corporate job to blog and write full-time.

Today, and more than 10 self-published books later, Blanchard works from her new home in Austin, Texas, and helps aspiring writers through workshops, one-on-one coaching, and blog articles with practical advice.

In early 2017, her blog was named one of the year’s Best Blogs for Writers by PositiveWriter.com. She hopes her career journey can inspire others feeling trapped by unfulfilling jobs.

Says Blanchard: “I’m on a mission to empower writers, authors and creators to go after their writing dreams and live the life they’ve always imagined.”