Charles Hodgkins

I'm a writer.

Hi there. My name's Charles Hodgkins. I'm pretty good at parallel parking, and I even ate pizza on Francis Coppola's couch once. But more on that another time. We're here to discuss work.

I've spent much of the last decade-plus writing and editing content on a variety of topics, from travel and food to music and urban environment. I've also written speeches here and marketing copy there.

My editorial versatility fills needs well.

I'm an editor.

Although I've certainly had my work published in print — most notably by Rough Guides, the respected, U.K.-based series of international travel guides — the core of my editorial experience revolves around bringing Web content to life.

From my earliest editorial position as Staff Writer, Associate Editor, and finally Senior Editor with pioneering music Web site Listen.com (now Rhapsody America), through my current role as championship-caliber Editorial Consultant for a small handful of clients in San Francisco and far beyond, I'm a highly respected manager, colleague, and foot soldier.

But don't just take my word for it — see what others have said about my work.

I'm a Swiss army writer and editor.

These days, I keep busy in a number of editorial roles.

As an Author/Contributor for Rough Guides, I tour around my hometown — and sometimes range as far afield as the Rockies and Great Plains — researching updates to ongoing editions of The Rough Guide to San Francisco and the Bay Area and The Rough Guide to the USA. It's as fun as it sounds.

I also write product descriptions for food-judging site ChefsBest, detailing in consumer-friendly terms the dimensions and basic tastes found in everyday grocery foods such as packaged iceberg salad, microwaveable chicken pot pies, and fish sticks. It's actually more fun than it sounds.

And, I keep my editing and content production skills sharp as an Assistant Managing Editor with iVillage, where I manage the work of over 15 freelancers while editing and producing reams of content every week.

I'm efficient with my time.

I'm a patron saint.

Finally, I eat burritos. Then, I write reviews of these burritos. But the real punchline? Many people read these reviews.

Burritoeater.com, which I founded, author, research, and produce, provides me with a highly visible platform for writing about its namesake item and San Francisco's favorite homegrown econo-food: the burrito. I've been labeled an "authority," I've been called "slabulous," and I've even had the "patron saint of San Francisco taquerias" tag famously slapped on me by DailyCandy. Seriously good times.

See a slew of additional press shout-outs here, including my punditry in The New York Times and a full-page piece in San Francisco Chronicle Magazine.

I also clean blinds.

In writing for print or the Web, I inject the ordinary with a sharp dose of vitality. Early evidence appeared as early as my junior year of high school, when my essay My Least Favorite Pastime: Cleaning Venetian Blinds garnered critical raves from my English teacher, the late Bob Morrish.

Kindly peruse samples of my published writing. You're bound to learn something valuable about hiking in Yosemite, what makes a great cake mix, the best roads to drive in Southwest Colorado, or...how to clean Venetian blinds.