Women We Love: Jennifer McDonald—aka Jen on the Edge

Jennifer McDonald—you may know her as Jen on the Edge—can swim. I don’t mean in the water, I mean in life. After working for nearly 20 years as a professional fundraiser she decided to take the plunge into the wide world of writing and editing—following the longtime advice of many family and friends.

“After four years in a fundraising job that I enjoyed, but which was quite stressful, I was burned out and decided to leave,” McDonald says. “I’ve been blogging voraciously (www.jenontheedge.com) for almost four years, which has led to some freelance writing and other opportunities.”

McDonald lives in downtown Charlottesville with her husband Pete, and their daughters, Grace, 12, and Ellie, 10. In addition to the change in vocation, McDonald added running to her daily routine.

“I took up running last year and it has been an amazing journey,” McDonald says. “I’ve pushed my body to do things I didn’t know I could do and I feel stronger than ever. When I started tweeting about running, I ended up meeting local bloggers and tweeps who run too and have made some new friends this year.”
McDonald credits running as one way she finds balance in her life.

“I don’t know if there is a key to [living a balanced life],” she notes. “I just figure things out as I go along. I do find that daily exercise, a healthy diet and a good night’s sleep go a long way in keeping me together and ready to face anything the day might bring.”

She is also very organized. “People come to me and ask me to help them get organized. I’ve been known to stage closet interventions via email for friends living far away.” Another way she keeps balance in her life is prioritizing her time. “Depending on what I’m working on and my looming deadlines, I’ll write off and on throughout the rest of the afternoon and into the evening, but mostly I try to keep the latter part of the day free so that I can focus on my family.”

Jen on the Edge isn’t McDonald’s only blog. She has a professional website, www.jennifermcdonald.net, where she discusses grammar and more.

“As for copy editing, I’m something of a grammar nerd and am always gnashing my teeth over some mistake or the other that I see in blogs or in print,” she notes. “I’m not sure why this is so difficult, but there are plenty of people out there who apparently don’t know the difference between it’s and its. It irritates me so much that my professional website includes blog posts in which I write about grammar, spelling and other errors I see regularly.”

Her biggest pet peeve: “When people mix up ‘their,’ ‘there’ and ‘they’re.’ It drives me nuts.”

In her professional career as a fundraiser, one of her most rewarding experiences was receiving funding on a grant proposal she worked on; “the resulting project impacted a far number of people and will continue to do so for years.” Recently, editing a master’s thesis for someone was very exciting. “While I can’t talk about it for confidentiality reasons, I can say that it was an absolutely fascinating document and I was utterly absorbed by it. Even better was my client’s delight in having someone else look over her project and offer objective critique that helped her put together an amazing document,” McDonald adds.

While she has had some success finding writing and editing work, McDonald notes “sales is not my thing, so I’m having to push myself to be more aggressive in seeking out new work.” But she doesn’t regret the change. “My mother, my aunt and a close friend have been encouraging me for years to become a writer and I’m glad that I finally listened to them and took the plunge.”

McDonald offers this advice to those considering such a career transition: “I think the best way to get started is to blog, which is a great way for you to hone your writing and build a portfolio to show prospective employers. For me, Twitter has been invaluable for meeting people and making connections, which has led to several writing jobs.”

8 Things You Might Not Know About Jennifer McDonald…

1. Who is your favorite author and why? Bill Bryson. Not only are his books erudite, but they’re also hilarious. There are sections of “A Walk in the Woods” that always have me laughing until I can’t breathe.

2.  Favorite thing about Charlottesville? This town has so much to offer—incredible local restaurants, the arts, friendly people, interesting architecture, and of course the natural beauty all around us.

3.  What is your favorite hobby/pastime? I love reading! I can’t even tell you how much I love it, except to say that I always have a huge stack of books and magazines waiting for me to dive into and that I love when Santa brings me books for Christmas.

4.  What is one of your hidden talents/skills? I can assemble just about anything Ikea can throw at me. I once assembled a loft bed alone in a single evening, which included dealing with some rather heavy parts by myself.

5.  What is your guilty pleasure? I’d say that it’s my monthly visits with Richard at Moxie Hair Salon, but I don’t feel one bit guilty about those. Instead, I’ll just say that at the end of a long week, I love going to the store and picking up a couple of magazines and then having a lazy evening on the sofa reading fluffy stuff, nibbling on good chocolate and just relaxing with my family.

6.  What is your favorite movie and why? No matter how many times I watch it, “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off” always makes me laugh. It’s the perfect pick-me-up, plus a lovely trip down Memory Lane to revisit my teenage years. (Note to my mother: I swear I never skipped school like Ferris did…)

7.  Where did you grow up? Just two hours down the road in Roanoke.

8.  What is the greatest invention of your lifetime and why? Given the fact that I am a blogger and writer, I’d have to say the internet and laptops, because I couldn’t do what I do without them.