As many of you know I’ve been off having another baby and Bill has been running the show. I’m now officially back in the driving seat and ready to take on new copywriting and editing jobs.
I’ve got a few interesting jobs on the go at the moment and you’ll be hearing more about them on upcoming blogs.
Just a quick post to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a wonderful New Year.
Nicola is going on maternity leave in the new year, so the man in charge will be Bill Hilton. Drop him a line in 2010 if you need a copywriter or editor.
Here’s to a great 2010 for us all!
At the beginning of this year I sponsored another business. Mum’s the Boss is one of those businesses that I instantly thought was a great idea, probably because I’m a mum, work at home and often have to do the juggle of work and childcare.
This week I got an email from Sam and Helen letting me know that the little I gave made a big difference…
“We just wanted to write and thank you so much for the money you gave us at the start of the year to sponsor the creche provision at our meetings. We have just had our last meeting of 2009 and it has been an amazing year - with growing membership numbers, lots of local PR, running 3 start-up events and introducing drop-in business surgeries to our monthly schedule. Next year we are changing our meeting venue, from a local community hall to the town’s international athletics stadium, which will give us a much higher profile locally. And because of the demand from other business mums, in January we will be expanding into 2 other counties, with a view to getting groups running in 10 counties by the end of the year.
The leap of faith you took with us and our idea all those months ago was incredibly generous, and your donation really helped to ease our cash flow throughout the year. We really can’t thank you enough - but we will try to, by following your example and helping out another business mum at the start of her journey one day soon.”
Just shows you one person can make a difference.
Then have a read through this article on lies freelancers tell themselves, might stop you making some of the mistakes I made in the beginning.
http://freelancefolder.com/seven-lies-freelancers-tell-themselves/
It’s bad thinking expressed in words…
One of our clients, Edge Hill, have been shortlisted for the Communicators in Business award for their E42 magazine. We do lots of different writing and editing jobs for Edge Hill including proofreading E42. Fingers crossed for a good result on the night.
Last night I took myself off to the (very last) Stockport CIDS get together.
I’m ashamed to say in my nearly 5 years of living in the shadows of the impressive viaduct I’ve never attended a local meeting of creatives. I’m involved in the vibrant Manchester creative scene but poor Stockport always seems to play second fiddle, despite having an impressive array of museums, creative industries and cracking businesses.
But it looks as though things are changing. Last night the stage (well Stockport Art Gallery) was given over to Stockport College and Thoughtful Ideas agency, and their Thoughtful six project.
This is seriously different - it’s not work experience, it’s not crappy placements where you get shoved in the corner, filing and making cups of tea.
Thoughtful have relocated for the next few months to Stockport College, and effectively taken on six new employees in the shape of six students who will help them run the company. Really. They’ve already been involved in creating work and delivering pitches. And not to any old companies - organisations like the Tate Liverpool and Howies.
I’m often approached by graduates looking for writing jobs, and much like in the design industry they are often creatively brilliant but lack the ’soft’ skills needed in business. The concept of deadlines, answering a phone, putting on a smart shirt, pitching, responsiveness, just pass them by. And as a small business I often don’t have time to teach them, much as I wish I could. So it is really inspiring to see the worlds of education and creativity coming closer together. The end result of the project (apart from the amazing experience the students get to put on their CV) will be a guide to the creative industries.
The most impressive part of last night? The Thoughtful guys seem to be learning as much from the students as they are teaching.
The thing that makes comedians distinctive is the language they use - check out Ginger and Black. Musical storytellers indeed.
When you tell people you write for a living there is an expectation that you’ll a. know every word in the dictionary b. have read every book ever published. I’m working on it but there are lots of words and lots and lots of books. But I do know if I ever decide to pretend I’ve absorbed every word of some obscure 16th century poet, I’ll be in good company.