WHAT I DO NOW
I’m currently an online student, working towards an MA in Creative Writing at the Arts University Bournemouth.

SHORT STORIES
I write short stories and enter competitions. It’s a habit-forming past-time, especially when it bears fruit – I’ve just been placed on a rather nice shortlist, which makes the hard work worth it. The craft of the short story, or micro-story, is a great way of honing the skills needed for any kind of written work. It’s all about discipline and creativity, and I love it.

WHAT I DID BS (BEFORE STUDENT)
I was a lifestyle writer – C for consumer – working across travel, retail, heritage, education, health, beauty, property and wellbeing websites. I created:
• new words for websites
• edits on existing content
• single pages (like a profile page, about page, product page)
• interior design stories, case studies, and testimonials
• blogs and articles.

HOW DID IT START?
My career began in a different camp: I got a degree in printmaking at art school in Hull (when Lawson was ‘Pearce’). I always had one eye on journalism. During summer months I found internships on magazines in London, and when college ended I worked as a typist in a features agency. That led to a short course in journalism, which set in motion my career as a writer and editor.

WHERE HAVE I WORKED?
I’ve freelanced for 30 years, but these companies contributed in a major way to my early career trajectory:
• Bristol United Press
• Emap Elan (Slimming Magazine)
• BBC Worldwide (BBC Good Homes Magazine)
• Publicis Blueprint (Asda Magazine)
• John Brown Publishing (John Lewis Edition Magazine)
I set up Wordfairy in 2018, creating content and offering an editing service. More details available on my LinkedIn page.

SINGAPORE 2012-2017
From 2012-2017 I lived in Singapore, working as a freelancer before bagging a job as an editor on an events website. While living on the Little Red Dot, I studied to become a tour guide at The Peranakan Museum, and wrote a travel blog at partlycloudy.co.uk. You can cut straight to some of the edited posts here.

WHAT ELSE?
• Various writing courses at the Open University and Curtis Brown Creative. Being a student is a great thing to do at any age. If you get the chance to do it, do it.
• Travel, holidays, culture. Who doesn’t love a spot of southeast Asian travel, a Greek beach, a Lisbon breakfast? Food, culture, scenery, people, weird stuff… always checking out Skyscanner.
• Bring me a bowl and a whisk and I’ll whip up a cake. Nothing decorative, just a big Victoria Sponge with jam and cream.
• Not my fault I sing loudly in the shower, having been brought up by vinyl-loving parents with great musical taste, who took their daughters to Cornish folk clubs and fed them crisps while the adults had musical lockins. Since then it’s been choirs and karaoke, and now it’s Singstar while cooking. Sorry, neighbours.
• Always surrounded by family and friends: one husband, one son, one dad, one sister, one brother-outlaw, two cats, cousins, an aunty, an uncle, and best friends who are also family. Lucky, aren’t I?
• There is so much to come and I’m here for all of it, charting everything one blog at a time.