Electric Fishwrap has moved

Welcome to Electric Fishwrap, the home for my musings about the media industry.

About me
Growing up, my family moved me through six different school districts. It only made sense that whatever I chose as a profession had to be something that you could do anywhere.

No matter where I lived, I made the outdoors my home and I threw my passion and love of life into those activities. I spent my high school years in Alaska, fishing and playing fast pitch softball in summers, cross country skiing in the winters.

When I started college at Colorado State University, I thought wanted to be a forest ranger or a geologist. But then I started working for the Rocky Mountain Collegian and realized how much fun storytelling could be. I loved finding out the news before everyone else or delving into the motivations of my interview subject.

I married Eric Martin in 1997 and he joined the Navy. We spent six years on the East Coast. After I graduated from the College of Charleston, I freelanced sports stories to the Daily Press in Newport News and one story to the Washington Post.

Eric left the Navy and finished his undergraduate work in math and physics at Colorado State University. I worked at the Loveland Reporter-Herald for four years as a political and county reporter.

We uprooted our lives again and currently live in Washington State. I am the education reporter at the Skagit Valley Herald. Eric is studying graduate-level physics at the University of Washington.

To this day, I continue to research new media and alternative story forms in my spare time. Because of my innate curiosity and enthusiasm for the craft, I have learned no question is too silly or prodding if asked with sensitivity and compassion.
After all, the worst they can say is “no.”