Lorna Collier's Bio





I'm a writer and editor living near Rockford, Ill., which is 80 miles west of Chicago. Prior to starting my freelance career in 1992, I worked as a daily newspaper reporter for the Rockford Register Star, a medium-sized Gannett daily; as a magazine editor and writer for the now-defunct Rockford Magazine, also owned by Gannett; and as a television news producer/assistant assignment editor for WTVO-TV, the NBC affiliate in Rockford, Ill.

I hold a bachelor's degree, magna cum laude, from Northern Illinois University, DeKalb, where I majored in English and minored in journalism.

My freelance work in recent years has been for newspapers, magazines, and websites, including Smithsonian magazine, Bottom Line/Health, MSN.com, ATT.net, ClassesUSA.com, Smart Computing magazine, PC Novice magazine, and others. I've written numerous education articles for the National Council of Teachers of English's member magazine, The Council Chronicles, and have written a variety of business stories for Crain's Chicago Business magazine. As a member of the Public Access Journalism team, I wrote a childhood obesity package for Knight-Ridder Tribune, which was funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and which was picked up by many national newspapers and websites, ranging from the Miami Herald to the Philadelphia Inquirer to the San Jose Mercury News. I've also written extensively for the Chicago Tribune, including numerous full-length cover features for the now-defunct Health & Family section, and also have contributed lengthy features to the Womanews and Tempo sections. An article I wrote about adoption for the Chicago Tribune was picked up for reprint in the Contemporary Issues Companion series called Adoption, published by Thomson Gale in 2006.

Please see the Articles section of this website for samples of my writing.

Additionally, I've written a successful grant application for a private school, brochure copy for the Rockford Golden Apple Foundation, and newsletter copy for the Rockford Chamber of Commerce, plus I recently edited a 144-page book for the Boone County Historical Society.

Several years ago, I wrote a book called "Tilli's Story: My Thoughts Are Free," about the life of Tilli Schulze, who grew up in a small East German farming village during World War II and the subsequent Russian occupation.
The book was selected by iUniverse for its exclusive Star imprint in 2005 and recently won an honorable mention in the memoir category from the Independent Publishers Association. In support of this book, I have been speaking, along with Tilli Schulze, to many different kinds of groups throughout Illinois and Wisconsin, ranging from teacher associations to schools to book clubs. I also am available to speak about the craft of memoir-writing and the ins and outs of self-publishing through print on demand.

To download my full resume in Word format, click here.

I look forward to hearing from you!

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