Randi Kravitz

I’ve been working as a copy editor and proofreader for Akamai since 2017 (first as a contractor, then as an employee). They opened a spectacular new Cambridge headquarters building in late 2019, which has been mostly empty for the past year due to the pandemic. But I’ve worked almost exclusively from home since 2015, so things have been going well for me! Akamai essentially provides the backbone of the internet, and its network has helped to accommodate the sudden surge of people working remotely worldwide, as well as the global increase in streaming entertainment from home. I miss people and places. But I’m glad Akamai has helped to make distancing feel less distant.

Five years ago today, I launched this site. What monkey business am I up to now? For more than a year, I’ve been writing for a healthcare marketing company. My recent freelance work has included developing copy for a nonprofit health center website, copy editing fundraising materials for a university, and proofreading a national association magazine.

Quit Nits is now using the tagline “better than monkeys” in one of their marketing videos. It’s actually a great ad ... but I said it first, 4 years ago!
Check out the video here:

It’s been a busy year for me at EPS Communications. Since last March, I’ve had the opportunity to work with many great clients, including:
~ Bedford Cottage
~ Bronson Laboratories
~ Diabetes Care Club
~ Health Focus Media
~ MIT Sloan
~ Odysseys Unlimited
~ Taking Control of Your Diabetes
~ Telcare
That’s me on the left in the photo, “modeling” a Bedford Cottage wrap outside our offices. I assure you, the rest of my client work involved writing, editing, and proofreading.

Since I started at EPS Communications in 2008, I’ve written about 50 diabetes-related items, and helped to launch a comprehensive website featuring cooking and exercise videos shot in our production studio. My co-workers even wrote and photographed a story about Liberty Medical’s famous spokesperson, Wilford Brimley. Even if I never meet Wilford, I’ll always treasure the autographed photo of him that I received during my first week of work at EPS.

Where have I been hiding for the past six months? Since September, I’ve been rather busy enjoying my work as a content manager at a local marketing agency, where I’m the managing editor of a national magazine for people with diabetes. I also help to produce related projects (like cookbooks, videos, and websites). I’ve learned an incredible amount about diabetes, but even more about conscious eating and healthy living. It’s not easy to practice what I preach, especially when one is unnaturally obsessed with dark chocolate, but … everything in moderation.

This summer I enjoyed freelance writing for an athletic shoe company, a grantwriting company for nonprofits, and a startup record label. The gigs were as varied as Boston’s summer weather. Now it’s time to drag out the sweaters and corduroy for another New England autumn, with the glow of the computer monitor for added warmth.

The frozen custard shop of my childhood, Abbott’s, recently opened its first franchise in the Boston area. Nothing can compare to their fresh chocolate custard. It’s magic in a cup (or a cone, if that’s your preference). Now that I don’t have to travel all the way to upstate New York to have my favorite treat, the world seems a little brighter.

I walked into the store to get Billy Bragg, but I left with Teddy Thompson. Guess I was feeling more Back End of the Alphabet. Even though I changed my tune, I still went with the alliterative. Lyle Lovett would have been the perfect purchase if I couldn’t decide. But the Teddy Thompson CD is brilliant, in case you’re wondering.

In the 1960s, if you wanted a Pop-Tart, you ate a Pop-Tart:
If you want one in 2008, you must first get a degree from Pop-Tart University:

“It is not often that someone comes along who is a true friend and a good writer. Charlotte was both.” – the end of Charlotte’s Web by E.B. White

I adored the show Andy Richter Controls the Universe, partially because Andy played a technical manual writer at the same time I was working as that type of writer. Naturally, since I thought this sitcom was hysterical, it was promptly cancelled. Other shows I loved and lost: My So-Called Life (as a former teenager in Pittsburgh, I found this one oddly familiar), Relativity (I liked the cute lead actor ... from Pittsburgh), and Undeclared (I had been out of college long enough to appreciate the ridiculous fun of this one from a distance).

These signs, recently posted on an unassuming telephone pole in my town, follow the folksy rules of proper yard sale signage: bright colors, simple black lettering, date, time, place. However, neither seller bothered to check a calendar: Saturday was June 7th.

I’m immensely excited to be working with the talented folks at the Harvard Achievement Support Initiative (HASI) on a project for kids in Boston after-school programs. I’m punching up, simplifying, and standardizing the rules for nearly 100 games designed to help build math, reading, and writing skills. In addition to my game-related work for Hasbro and Atari, I have written and edited rules and packaging copy for Gamewright on a freelance basis for many years. Many thanks to Jason at Gamewright (a fantastic company that proves learning can be fun) for recommending me to the HASI team!

On madlibs.com, Mad Libs
co-creator Leonard Stern writes of bringing the idea to a book publisher in 1958: “These good souls didn’t think it was a book but honestly believed it might appeal to a game manufacturer. The game manufacturer in turn thought it was a book and sent us to another book publisher, who didn’t think it was a book!”

“I didn’t have time to write a short letter, so I wrote a long one instead.” – Blaise Pascal

“I suppose some editors are failed writers, but so are most writers.” – T.S. Eliot

“Editors are craftsmen, ghosts, psychiatrists, bullies, sparring partners, experts, enablers, ignoramuses, translators, writers, goalies, friends, foremen, wimps, ditch diggers, mind readers, coaches, bomb throwers, muses and spittoons — sometimes all while working on the same piece.” – Gary Kamiya, Salon.com

~ Took a sip of Irish coffee on the porch of the Red Lion Inn in Stockbridge and rejected it because it tasted poisonous (I thought it would have Irish cream, not Irish whiskey)

~ Ordered jasmine rice at Legal Sea Foods in Boston and wondered aloud why it didn’t have a jasmine scent

~ Ate a scallop (a food I do not like), thinking it was a piece of potato, at Ambrosia on Huntington in Boston … while chef/owner Anthony Ambrose was standing next to me

On all of these occasions, I was sitting with various work bosses. Luckily, each of these supervisors had a good sense of humor, and they all still speak to me today. I like to think I have become more knowledgeable about food since the mid-’90s, but I will never forget these moments!

Back in 2000, I thoroughly enjoyed my job writing for a dot-com. Most people recognized the name of the company at the time, primarily due to the brilliant ad campaign featuring a hapless and hysterical spokescharacter, “The Giver” (for which I unfortunately can claim no credit). I loved the people, the technology, the site, the office, the short commute, the start-up environment ... and the free gourmet goodies. When Send.com suddenly imploded in 2001, its assets were sold — including the domain name, of course. So please don’t think I wrote for the site that currently lives at www.send.com, which is absolutely nothing like where I worked before the dot-com crash. My conscience thanks you.

There are others with my first and last name, spelled exactly the same way. I had guessed there were, but Google confirmed it years ago. So if you’re wondering if I’m Randi Kravitz Haber, or or one of the other Randi Kravitzes, I’m not. Nor am I the Randi Kravitz who went to high school in New York, camped in New Jersey, joined a reunion site, taught dance, sold insurance, or helped anyone with financial planning. But if you’re one of those Randi Kravitzes, I hope you’ll contact me! Not only would it be fun to meet you (even virtually), I could refer people looking for you. I could even link to your website if you have one. For the record: I went to high school in Pennsylvania, camped in upstate New York, never went to my school reunion, took dance classes as a kid, bought insurance, and have a financial planner. Oh, and I’m not related to Lenny. Or Zoe. Or the nosy neighbor on Bewitched.

I can help sell your thing even if I’ve never tried it (such as when I wrote about cigars, tangerines, and manual transmission cars). I can make your product or service sparkle even if I tried it, but didn’t like it (such as when I sang the praises of red meat, wine, and gold jewelry). Naturally, the words flow more easily from brain to keyboard when they’re about a subject I hold dear. But I also take pride in wrestling with a topic that holds little interest for me, gasping and sweating as I finally pin it to the mat. Did I mention I’m not a sports fan?

“Only the hand that erases can write the true thing.”
– Meister Eckhart, 13th-century mystic

“Wherever there is an enforced orthodoxy — or even two orthodoxies, as often happens — good writing stops.”
– George Orwell

“We would that words become shooting stars, like gods, that they would rise up from the dead page into living forms of light and dark, into fountains of color.”
– William Shakespeare

“Don’t get sidetracked by all the glitz and glamour of the bee. Spelling well is its own reward.”
– Niles Crane (David Hyde Pierce), Frasier

“Writing well is the best revenge.”
– Dorothy Parker

“No passion in the world is equal to the passion to alter someone else’s draft.”
– H.G. Wells

“Everyone and everything needs editing. I edit compulsively in my head — movies I see, stories I read, reporters I hear on the radio. I enjoy the editing process, which comes after the hard work of writing is done. Editing is when you get to play with someone else in the sandbox of language.”
— Joe Morgenstern, film critic for The Wall Street Journal

This holiday season, millions of donuts across Massachusetts will be forgotten. While pumpkin pies, candy canes, and sugarplums fill the mouths and bellies of treat-seeking, celebratory gluttons across the state, thousands of trays of Boston Creams, honey-dips, and crullers will get stale waiting for a home. Think of those lonely little donut holes, all huddled together for warmth. Won’t you help the homeless donuts this year?

To the person whose book I’m looking forward to reading whether or not she chooses me as her editor:

As a skilled content and copy editor with nearly 15 years of experience, I believe I am an ideal match for the book editor position. I was thrilled to find an opportunity that reflects both my career background and obsession with the 1980s!

I have extensive experience writing and editing for a pop culture-savvy audience, primarily through two years working at Hasbro (including proofreading hundreds of Trivial Pursuit cards) and four years at Atari (including work on the PC game manuals for Ms. Pac-Man, Dig Dug, and My Little Pony).

I will painstakingly chart your novel’s plot, characters, themes, and settings for complete continuity. My well-trained eagle eyes will catch grammar and punctuation errors faster than Schoolhouse Rocky. I will examine the structure and flow of your novel while ensuring you maintain a consistent voice throughout. As I do this thorough content edit, I will be sure to answer the important questions, such as:
» Who’s that girl?
» Do you come from the land down under?
» How am I supposed to live without you?
» What did you think I would do at this moment?
» Don’t you want me, baby?
» Where do broken hearts go?
» Do you really want to hurt me?

Please let me know if you would like a list of references who would be happy to attest to my editing skills and impeccable work ethic. All will recommend me as a detail-oriented professional who is diligent about quality.

My resume is attached. Please contact me for further proof that I am the best candidate for your editing needs.

I’m going to go cuddle with my prized Dynamite magazines as I await your reply.

Randi

If you’d like, check out my LinkedIn page at linkedin.com/in/randikravitz to see if anyone connects me to you. I’m amazed at how many people are fewer than three degrees away from me. So ... who’s up for a round of the Kevin Bacon game?

Many thanks to Jim and Catherine Infantino of SLABmedia for helping me to create this site to showcase some of my work! If you need a site, I recommend them. If you need a writer, editor, or proofreader, I recommend me.