Katie Thompson uses her wide range of professional skills and experiences to tackle complex writing projects.

Did I say “complex” topics? Try... impossible. Impenetrable. Fuzzy, messy, bewildering topics that only experts understand, but the public needs to know.

Example: Commodities trading, now a front-page news subject in business publications around the world. Several years ago, Katie partnered with a top commodities trader to help him explain commodities trading. Some of the results are two new annual publications: The Kluis Commodity Calendar and the Dutch Farmer’s Almanac.

Before this, Katie spent five years figuring out how to explain the impact of agroterrorism on the US economy. Result: the agroterrorism novel, Deadstock.

More recently, Katie made a partnership with a state non-profit agency to help describe the impact of domestic violence. Result: the interviews of the Iowa Voices Project, which were published in newspapers around Iowa in 2007, a book that will be released in October 2009, and an audiobook that will be released in October 2010.

Here’s just part of a typical week in the life of Katie Thompson:

• Monday: Talk to printer about wire binding on next year’s Calendar, edit op/ed piece on domestic violence in Iowa, look up names of towns with the word “corn” in them.
  
• Tuesday: Skype with organizer of grain trading conference in Cairo, set up interview with domestic violence survivor east of Des Moines, take five cases of Almanacs to PR coordinator in town, sketch layout for revised KT website.
  
• Wednesday: Meet with two Kluis Affiliates to review custom programming to track grain trades and inventory, call Des Moines to plan live trading events for Commodity Classic, pick up prints of shots from last photo tour to choose finalists for Calendar.
  
• Thursday: Find a detailed map of the Mississippi River between St. Paul and St. Louis to plan lock-and-dam road trip, discuss next year’s Calendar theme with Al Kluis, edit script for phone team, review notes from editor on Corn Palace manuscript, request bid for printing bookmarks, post Cairo meeting on events page of website.
  
• Friday...Saturday...Sunday...Monday...

Stay tuned for next week.