I’m Amanda Dickerson. I’m a writer, editor and experienced public servant. I’ve been a storyteller for as long as I can remember.
I’m a former naval officer, have a degree in writing and a masters in strategic communication (that’s the MSC after my name) and I once wandered around the back halls of Parliament House lost and almost in tears until a security guard came and rescued me.
I feel very strongly about putting good writing out into the world and not making things more complicated than they need to be. I have pre-prepared rants on this. I firmly believe that ‘because that’s the way we’ve always done it’ is the second-worst* reason for continuing to do something a certain way.
I love me an Oxford comma.
I ride horses, am a qualified advanced open water scuba diver and once jumped out of a plane with the (then) Army Parachuting School.
I started school in Fiji, went on student exchange to Reunion Island when I was 15 (I spoke much better French then than I do now), and twice volunteered on an archaeological survey in Turkey before I turned 21.
I have an irreverent sense of humour, am frequently sarcastic, and I overuse parentheses (these things). I also have trouble wrapping up lists like this.
*The worst reason is ‘because we don’t want to change even when we know we’re hurting someone’.