Paula Toth (PDToth)

Paula Toth has always loved and studied writing most of her life. Completing graduate and undergraduate coursework in advanced composition, literature, creative writing, poetry, business, and legal writing, she was a government environmental planner, policy analyst, and grant writer for a large part of her career. She completed literary coursework at the renowned Writer's Digest University online school for the following classes: Advanced Personal Essay, Writing Short Articles for Publication, Marketing Magazine Articles, and Writing Children's Literature. Other studies include online coursework in News Reporting and Writing offered by the University of Massachusetts and Legal Research and Writing at the Harrisburg Area Community College, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. She is currently studying blogging and writing fiction. Her present practiced genres are literary and personal essay, memoir, and poetry and haiku.

Paula has been employed for nearly five years as a Professional Writing Tutor. She has worked extensively with nontraditional and ESL students of all ages tutoring English, Business Law and Legal Writing and various legal coursework, and specializes in Business Writing. She has conducted academic workshops on many subjects like critical thinking, reading textbooks, taking essay and multiple choice exams, math anxiety, test taking strategies, procrastination, MLA, APA, and legal citations, and many others. She has also conducted special one-on-one grammar workshops, and facilitated conversational groups with students from all over the world. Her work with private clients varies according to their personal needs. Previously, she was employed as a staff writer for local, state, and national news stories and editorials for the Dallas Post of Greenstreet News Company in Dallas, Pennsylvania. She currently writes for the Sierra Club Gifford Pinchot Group. Her poetry has been published in Beauty for Ashes Poetry Review.

She holds a Masters in Public Administration and a Bachelor of Social Work and Gerontology. She recently graduated with a Paralegal Certificate from Harrisburg Community College in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Further graduate studies include Administration and Community Organization at Fordham University in Manhattan, New York and San Jose State University in San Jose, California where she served as Chairperson of the University's graduate and undergraduate School of Social Work Student Association. While there, she was actively involved in multicultural social and political activities, particularly with Hispanic immigrants and Vietnamese refugees from the Viet Nam War. She was employed by De Anza College Multicultural Department in Cupertino, California where her work focused on educational opportunities for underserved populations, especially women and single mothers.

She is a member of the International Women's Leadership Association, the Central Pennsylvania Paralegal Association, the Sierra Club, and the Audubon Society. She is the beloved mistress to four felines and two budgies. She also backpacks, kayaks, cross country skies, gardens, experiments with ethnic recipes, sews, enjoys serious craft making, and interior decorating. Her primary reading deals with military history and World War I and II periods. Her newest venture is Japanese ink drawing. She has lived in Alaska, California, New Hampshire, Vermont, and Pennsylvania. For the past six years, she has lived in the Village of Linglestown in south central Pennsylvania.