A self-confessed word nerd and grammar geek, I’ve been fascinated by words and language for as long as I can remember. Add being half German into the mix, and a Modern Languages degree was an obvious choice. This led to a short conversion course in Export Marketing. But after graduating I didn’t set up my stall as a […]

Most people will be familiar with the terms gaggle of geese, litter of puppies, pride of lions and school of dolphins. Yet there are many other collective nouns for animals – known as “terms of venery” – that are less well known but equally worthy. Origins of collective nouns As with most words in the […]

The majority of my clients are based in Warwickshire or the Midlands, but I regularly work with businesses across the UK and occasionally in Europe. I’m equally happy working with companies/business owners direct or as a flexible ‘white label’ resource for digital/PR/marketing agencies looking to outsource their content writing or other editorial services. Confidentiality agreements […]

I’m not a technical writer per se, but I have a proven track record of producing intelligible web content and marketing material for technology clients. Find out more ↦ Organisations offering professional or financial services require a wealth of content that is factually correct, well written and easily understood. Find out more ↦ Companies operating […]

However many times you reread your own words, the chances are that you’ll still see what you wanted to write rather than what you actually wrote. Whether yours is a multinational company or a micro business, first impressions really do count. So it pays to employ the services of a professional proofreader. For a small outlay, using […]

Home › Archive for Freelancing › Page 2 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… This week’s blog post was inspired by an […]

Home › Posts tagged marketing Would you believe it, but it’s been 21 years since I decided back in October 1996 to set up my stall as a freelancer? After initially offering four services – copywriting, editing, proofreading and translation – I soon dropped the latter to… Do you ever wonder what job or profession you might […]

Home › Posts tagged write As a standalone word, a graph is a diagram showing the relation between variable quantities – usually measured along a pair of axes at right angles. In Linguistics, it refers to a visual symbol representing a unit of sound or… I’ve a confession: this is my first blog post in […]

Whether yours is a small business or a large company, the simple fact is that you should be blogging. Customers and prospects like blogs, provided that the content is well written, original and relevant to your business. It should also address their interests and answer their needs, rather than be a platform for self promotion. What’s […]

Home › Posts tagged talks This time last week I joined some 200 of my peers at Copy Cabana 2017 – the 2nd copywriters’ conference to be held in (not quite so sunny) Bournemouth. The event’s tagline is “Prepare to celebrate the life linguistic”. It certainly delivered on its… The inaugural Copy Cabana copywriting conference held yesterday at Silicon Beach in […]

Home › Archive for Writing › Page 2 Every now and then I undertake a large proofreading job, such as a manual or an annual report. The most recent was a meaty 90,000-word operations manual. What I’ve noticed is that the same writing mistakes crop up time and… One of the questions I’m often asked […]

Home › Archive for Writing Like many others, I turned to various creative pursuits for a welcome distraction during lockdown. One of these was rediscovering a favourite childhood pastime: jigsaws. Not only has this helped take my mind off other things these past few months,… Introducing the first in a new series of mini blog […]

Home › Posts tagged words It’s no secret that I love discovering and collecting new words. And I find it much easier to remember them if I group them into themes. I recently came across two new words about senses that complemented a few I… As a standalone word, a graph is a diagram showing […]

Home › Posts tagged punctuation Am I just becoming more pedantic as I get older? Or is there a general decline in grammar today? Either way, I’ve recently noticed a rise in basic grammatical mistakes, including the increasingly rampant comma splice. And it’s starting to bug me,… As writers we’re often encouraged to keep things short and […]