About Me

What is MadeByMark.com?

MadeByMark.com (launched in November of 2000) is where I “share what works” — the apps I love, the gadgets and gear that I depend on daily, the services that deliver on their promises, and even the diet tricks that get results. In general, posts made here spotlight discoveries that delighted me — and that I think might help or delight you, too.

By far, the most popular posts that draw people here are my fix for LCD monitor ghosting and the series of posts I wrote about a personal experiment with Topomax for weight loss several years ago.

If you like my travel and dining stories, you should definitely check out MillionMileMark.com, where I write about global travel an life-changing meals. If you’re here because you like the books I’ve written on Tarot, you’ll probably prefer TarotTools.com. I’ve just started building a professional site focused on creativity and storytelling over at MarkMcElroy.com.

The “Mark” in MadeByMark.com

I live in Atlanta, GA, with Clyde (my husband of 25 years) and our two dogs, Windy Day and Sunny Day. I’m grateful every day for the sweet, quiet life we lead together.

I’m passionate about great food and global travel, and have logged over a million Delta SkyMiles traveling to more than 40 countries around the globe. (That’s not business travel. That’s a million miles of travel just for the fun of it — and that figure doesn’t count miles logged in cars or on cruise ships. If you’re curious, I write about this topic over at MillionMileMark.com.

I wrestle a lot with spirituality. By nature, I’m a skeptic. I have a lot of impatience with people who want to force their faith on others. I’m angry when religion is used as a blanket excuse for intolerance and ignorance. That said: I’ve always been drawn to a kind of practical mysticism. So, in the end, I’m a sort of eclectic neo-Buddist Gnostic Christian mystic.

What I Do

I wrote a lot of books from 2004 – 2008, on topics from Apple computers to reading Tarot cards. I scripted and designed a dozen or so Tarot decks during those same years.

Having gone the commercial publishing route (and after watching traditional publishers skim a lot of cash off my earnings), I’m curious about self-publishing. My first foray into that, a simple text called A Guide to Tarot Card Meanings, has been remarkably successful. The companion book, A Guide to Tarot Card Reading, manages to be both comprehensive and concise — and is also selling very well.

My passion has always been storytelling. I come from a long line of Scotch/Irish storytellers — people with an innate sense of how to spin a tale that comes to life for the listener. Whether writing books or leading teams, I use the power of story to give my material meaning and help people apply it to their lives and work. I’ll be writing about these topics over at my professional interests site, MarkMcElroy.com.

Today, I work as a creative director for an organization that gets twitchy when employees mention its name on their personal web sites. In addition to defining the strategy that guides the work of our multimedia and graphics teams, I brainstorm media solutions with clients; write scripts, speeches, and presentations; churn out graphic designs and visuals; produce and direct award-winning corporate videos; and generally help people make messages more engaging by applying the power of story.

It’s a great job — and the best thing about it is being managed by smart people who “get it” (not a lot of creatives can say that) and managing a small group of the smartest, most creative professionals I’ve ever worked with. I grease the gears, but my small team of six graphic designers, animators, photographers, videographers, editors, and technicians do most of the hard work of building the things we dream up together.

My dream job is pretty much the job I have — done as a remote employee, though, who can work from anywhere on the planet, as long as the work gets done.