October 2021

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As a linguist, I’m always fascinated by how people in other countries use completely different words to effectively say the same thing. For this week’s blog post, I’ve therefore rounded up the many versions of Merry Christmas, Happy Christmas or…

Whether you’re after stocking fillers for teenage students, a Secret Santa present for an office colleague or something special for a full-time writer, you can find loads of gorgeous gift ideas for writers, readers and literature fans online. Here are a few…

Following hot on the heels of National Freelancers’ Day here in the UK, this week’s post aims to dispel a few common myths about freelancing and the freelance lifestyle… Myth #1: Working from home is so easy As anyone who works from…

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As writers we’re often encouraged to keep things short and to the point. After all, “Brevity is the soul of wit”.[1] Many of the abbreviations we rely on in everyday English have Latin origins. In fact, the word abbreviation derives…

One of the many differences between British English and American English that’s always intrigued me is autumn vs. fall. We use winter, spring and summer on both sides of the pond. Yet we can’t seem to agree what to call this time of…

Posted in Language Tagged with: AmE, autumn, BrE, fall, terms

As a self-confessed word nerd, I love learning new words. Whether it’s something I read online or a sneaky (some might say lucky) move by one of my opponents on Words With Friends, I get a buzz from expanding my vocabulary…

Posted in Language, Names Tagged with: words

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TED began in 1984 as a conference where Technology, Entertainment and Design converged. Today it covers a diverse range of topics in more than 100 languages. Not only are TED Talks videos entertaining, informative and thought provoking, but they’re also…

Today is International Left-Handers Day, which was first celebrated in 1992 to promote awareness of left-handedness. From scissors and cooking utensils to musical instruments and computer mice, left-handed people are disadvantaged as they constantly adapt to a right-handed world. And…

As someone who loves social media and cakes, I enjoyed this recent article on PR Daily featuring four fabulous social network-inspired creations. And it got me thinking: what word or writing-related edibles are out there? The answer is loads. Here’s…

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Unless you’ve been hiding under a rock, you’ve probably noticed that The X Factor is back on our screens for its 12th series. Love it or hate it – I’m a fan but not an addict – the show still…

After much deliberation and soul-searching (well, procrastination followed by a much-needed nudge) I finally joined Twitter back in January 2015. Here’s what I’ve discovered during my first 6 months… It’s all in the open The most important thing to remember…

To coincide with the latest series of I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here, I thought it would be fun to compare life as a copywriter to that of a participant on this popular reality TV show. Drawing on my 18…

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To coincide with the latest series of I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here, I thought it would be fun to compare life as a copywriter to that of a participant on this popular reality TV show. Drawing on my 18…

Out of the blue, the thought occurred to me the other day that it’s been 18 years – give or take a couple of weeks – since I set up my stall as a freelancer after working in-house for several…

You might not realise it, but the work of copywriters infiltrates every facet of our daily lives – from TV adverts and promotional flyers through the door to website content and instruction booklets. Yet many people still don’t really know what…

Back in the ‘old days’ it was simple. If you wanted to speak to a friend, you picked up the phone and dialed their number. On a landline. But these days you have to choose from an overwhelming array of…

Go on any marketing for small businesses course and you’ll no doubt be told that building up an email list is an essential step to growing your business. So why have I recently deleted my blog subscribers from my website…

Losing the hammer. Blanking an end. Staying in the house. What on earth does it all mean? It can only be one thing… curling lingo. If, like me, you’ve been enjoying watching the British curling teams in action at the…

Home › Posts tagged freelancer › Page 3

Following hot on the heels of National Freelancers’ Day here in the UK, this week’s post aims to dispel a few common myths about freelancing and the freelance lifestyle… Myth #1: Working from home is so easy As anyone who works from…

Out of the blue, the thought occurred to me the other day that it’s been 18 years – give or take a couple of weeks – since I set up my stall as a freelancer after working in-house for several…

You might not realise it, but the work of copywriters infiltrates every facet of our daily lives – from TV adverts and promotional flyers through the door to website content and instruction booklets. Yet many people still don’t really know what…

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Than or then? These two words might look – and even sound – quite similar, but every day I see people mix them up. Not only is this a grammatical howler, but it can also give a totally different meaning to their sentence.…

Posted in Grammar, Tips Tagged with: than, then, words

This week’s blog post was inspired by an email I received from a work contact. After recently leaving an in-house position, she’s now dipping her toes into the world of freelancing. So she asked if I had any advice for people starting out or…

At this time of year, many people automatically recycle their Christmas tree, greetings cards and wrapping paper. Some even repurpose cards into gift tags to use next year (I did it once, but keep forgetting to use them!). But have you thought…

Have you ever met someone whose surname was a perfect fit for the job they do? Or, indeed, an unfortunate pairing such as a goalkeeper called Dropsy*? I’ve been pondering writing about this subject for a while, inspired by Mr Macro –…

Most people are familiar with acronyms, homonyms, pseudonyms and synonyms. But there are several other words with the suffix –onym that I’ve only recently discovered. As a linguist and bit of a word nerd, my natural instinct is to investigate further…

Home › Posts tagged copywriting › Page 3

You might not realise it, but the work of copywriters infiltrates every facet of our daily lives – from TV adverts and promotional flyers through the door to website content and instruction booklets. Yet many people still don’t really know what…

Following on from Part 1 last week, which looked at changes to the type of work I do and my client base, this post explores the major impact that technology has had on my freelance copywriting services – mostly for the better…

The world of freelance copywriting has undergone huge changes since I began back in October 1996 (was it really that long ago?). It didn’t happen overnight though; it’s been a gradual process over many years. Overall, the changes have been…