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.

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.

I’ve just lost my Wired City Reconnected virginity, having attended one of their networking events for the first time this evening. Run by those friendly folk at Alba Associates, these handshake events are aimed principally at people working in the digital and creative industries

As Shaun Fensom - Chair of Manchester Digital and an impressively switched-on chap - said during our short chat, the current buzzword may be ‘innovation’, but there’s still a huge amount of value in ‘collaboration’ - and that’s really what Wired City is all about, providing a space for people with different skills and projects to meet, be introduced to each other and hopefully create collaborative opportunities and relationships for the future.

The introduction element is a key part of Wired City’s events, as you get to see a list of the attendees beforehand and choose one or two (or ten) who you’d like to speak to. The organisers - Les, Immy and Fiona - then make sure that they introduce you to those individuals over the course of the evening.

Once you get used to Les popping up on your shoulder and asking if you’re ready to move on yet (I did at one point think he was about to blow a whistle in a speed-dating stylee, only to realise he’d just popped a pen lid in his mouth whilst writing something down) this is actually a really useful way to get people moving and talking to as many other people as possible. Plus, I think it’s going to make me more likely to follow up with those people who I did speak to, if only to carry on the conversation that we left off slightly abruptly!

So yes, I shall be along at the next Wired City event. And no, it’s not just so I can get another free glass of wine… (although yes, it always helps…).

Ever wondered just how powerful words are? This chap certainly felt their force in some risque text messages and decided to take his revenge.

We love developing clever company names and amusing strap lines, we recently came up with ‘Making a bum job better’ for Cheeky Wipes. So we appreciate other inventive approaches to naming businesses - how about something new for the concrete industry?

You’ve probably heard about the atheist bus campaign on the news, you may even be one of the people contributing. It’s attracted a fair amount of controversy, but the copywriting world is bemused by it for a whole different set of reasons.

All Words girls are striding out… that is, we’ve joined Striding Out: a not-for-profit organisation that aims to nurture and support entrepreneurs across the UK.

The community was initially set up to offer dedicated support to young entrepreneurs between the ages of 16 and 30; however, its popularity has grown and it is now open to the over-30s. (Which, considering my age last birthday, is just as well…)

Networking events, professional advice, one-to-one and group coaching and recruitment assistance are all available for members, as well as virtual administrative assistance and office space via Striding Out partners.