Leo's written just about everything at one point or another, but what he really prefers (and is definitely best at) is solid content-marketing material. White papers, blog posts, brand journalism - substantive, often longer-form, copy.
Leo's hobbies include reading, documentaries, fiction and long-distance running.
His reading tastes are pretty broad - fiction and non-fiction, the non-fiction consisting of books from all over the spectrum but probably more history than anything else. Likewise, his taste in film leans toward serious documentaries about whatever... new information is *inherently* interesting.
Writing novels began as pure recreation, but that changed when the first one became an accidental bestseller. Ten more have since followed.
Other hobbies include long-distance running (plan is to someday run the Boston Marathon), live theater and cheering for the Boston Red Sox.
Attended classes full-time at Harvard Extension School, a department of Harvard University.
Tertiary qualification in information science, the field that (by my understanding) US academia refers to as "computer science".
Courses included:
Web design (HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, as well as best practices for application);
Fundamentals of programming, networking, and database engineering;
Information systems design and architecture;
Fundamentals of marketing;
Principles of business management.
Between employers, freelance clients and agency work, Leo's handled just about every type of marketing writing you could name. Except media scripts; he's never been hired to write scripts.
Leo began his career as a journalist, first working his way up to assistant editor of Boston's citywide 'alternative' paper, Editorial Humor.
He went on to successfully start a local newspaper, the Allston-Brighton Voice, which he ran as editor/publisher (covering many stories personally, assigning reporters to others and editing their work; mentoring new one) for about 2.25 years.
Years after the Voice, as a freelancer, he began editing books - proofing, copy-editing and line-editing manuscripts from Twilight Times Press, Perseid Publishing, Baen Books and various individual (self-published) authors.
He's also published three novels of his own, with a fourth on the way.
Case studies, marketing support materials, press releases; essentially all written communications for a second-stage tech company.
Editing and rewriting individual clients' resumes. This work ranged from basic proofing, to full rewrite of the resume in order to clarify information, make the material clearer, better-organized and more readable, and provide search-relevant keyword strings.
At times, a client would be applying for multiple types of jobs, or work in multiple industries. In that case the resume would be 'forked' in order to provide better-customized information for specific intended recipients.
Created and ran a book publisher's blog for a while as part of their online marketing strategy. Posts consisted of book snippets and announcements as well as original posts about fiction, the book industry or current issues.
These posts were generally credited to the head of the publishing house or to a senior editor, but in fact written by Leo. He also coordinated guest-post exchanges (with authors and book bloggers, for promotional purposes) and managed the comments community.
Leo's written quite a few white papers on various topics, mostly ghostwritten on behalf of various agency clients.
They're definitely his favorite style of writing - it's extremely satisfying to produce readable, informative long-form work.
Short story in Perseid Publishing's 'Lawyers in Hell', the latest volume in a very successful series.
Three novels so far: 'Legion', 'The Shark Boats', and 'Her Majesty's Western Service', with a fourth, 'Highway West' about to be released through Henchman Press.
Have written direct mail for clients including Colorado Springs advertising agency Sandia.