By Robin Zachary

Writing was never easy for me. In fact I was always scared to death of it.

I spent three years designing ads at Pipe Dream while watching my friends chase the news. I considered my fellow Pipe Dreamers gifted in their ability to craft a perfect sentence, formulate an angle and articulate it so well.

While they wrote and edited, I explored the fundamentals of design and typesetting on the Compugraphic machine. This was the early 1980s, the pre-Mac era, so X-Acto knives, layout boards and wax were my tools. Later as ad manager I learned about sales and the power of repeat advertising. These skills carried me from college into the magazine world, where I started off doing paste-ups for anyone who’d hire me.

Fast forward 15 years in the magazine industry’during which time I was instrumental in launches and art direction of health, teen and women’s magazines’and I landed my dream job: creative director of Bridal Guide, a national mag covering wedding fashion, beauty, flowers, receptions, travel and home design.

What more could I ask for?

On any given day I could be art directing a shoot in one of New York City’s top hotels or on a Caribbean beach, casting models or managing an art department. I was constantly working with creative people and surrounded by wedding gowns and beautiful flowers. After nine fulfilling years, I left in 2007 for the flexible life of a freelancer and to spend more time with my son.

Just as I admired my fellow Pipe Dreamers’ abilities to scope out a good news story, I felt the same way about my Bridal Guide colleagues, editors who observed and reported on the best of the wedding industry. They spent their days looking at new fashion and product lines and pitched great story ideas for me to bring to life on the page through photography and design. I had the same discerning eye for the new and noteworthy, but the editor’s job seemed more intriguing to me, if not more exciting. It was time for me to reinvent myself as an editor.

With years of involvement in the bridal industry, one could say I’ve attained ‘expert’ status. I can distinguish a great wedding idea from a bad one, name every gown silhouette and spot the next big thing a mile away. Three years ago, through a string of serendipitous connections (interestingly a PD connection), I met the editor of the Newsday Bridal Planner, who happened to be looking for someone well-versed in bridal fashion to write a column. I was assigned an ‘Ideas’ column a year later. Now I attend bridal fashion shows and industry events during the twice-yearly bridal market week and cruise the Web for interesting products to feature. Writing is still a challenge, but I’ve overcome my fear. I’m finding my place as a writer at the intersection of a subject I thoroughly know and a burning desire to share my opinions. It might be pass√É© for some, but it’s a blast for me to see my byline in print and online.

I think of this new chapter in my career as an expansion of my repetoire. My visual side is still active as I freelance as a photostylist for magazines and teach at the Fashion Institute of Technology. A multi-faceted skill set is essential during these economic times, as I’ve watched my colleagues lose their full-time jobs overnight or have their salaries cut. They say print will never recover, but when the dust settles I’ll be a more well-rounded journalist. When someone asks me what I do, it’s hard to explain in just a few words. I have labeled myself art director, designer, stylist, teacher and now I’m adding writer and blogger. Who knows what’s next?

I’m writing this on the Sunday morning of publication day, and I’m rushing out to grab some copies of Newsday Bridal Planner before they sell out.