This case says a lot about us all. — When the news broke that van-life influencer Gabby Petito had gone missing during her trip to the Grand Teton National Park with her fiancé, Brian Laundrie, ants crawled my spine. I had the unshakeable feeling she wasn’t just missing, she was dead, and that her fiancé had killed her. I’m…

I didn’t realise the shift would be quite so dramatic. — Most people don’t quit social media without a specific reason; I’m no different. A couple of months ago, I paused my Instagram account because my husband and I had been going through infertility and my heart slammed against my throat every time I saw a pregnancy announcement. The plan was…

My thoughts following the Medium Writers Challenge. — As I expected, Medium announcing the winners of its Writers Challenge stirred up dust. I’ve practically had whiplash from all the sneezing. There are those who say the winning essays were works of genius and those who say they were wildly depressing; there are those angry entries didn’t align with…

On pressing the bruise. — A week after I first disabled my Instagram and Facebook, I woke in a cold sweat at 3 am. Reflexively, I checked my phone but was left with my finger hovering over the screen. …

Any journey worth taking is giddy with ups and downs. — “Look, there are literal 5-year-olds on this ride and they’re having an amazing time!” my then-boyfriend, now-husband nudged me gently as we stared up at a rollercoaster in Tivoli, Copenhagen. All around I could hear the mechanical whirring of rides and Christmas music blasting tinnily through the speakers. The smell…

What is TOV? Why does it matter? And how do you create a TOV that’s a good fit for you? — I’ve been an editor for over 10 years and a copywriter for 6. When you chip away at one career for the long, patterns inevitably emerge. Something I notice time and again is how companies splurge on logo design and fancy interactive websites but their copy tone of voice (or…

The pros and cons of all 3 disciplines to help you decide which is right for you. — I’ve dabbled in a bit of everything so you don’t have to. Two years ago I was *just* a freelance copywriter. I had a talent for producing effective marketing copy, but I found it tiring and longed for something less, I don't know, cynical. As an experiment, I joined a…

10 years on, I weigh up what it’s meant for me to go it alone. — When I sat down to pen my work entry for an online writing challenge, How’s Work: A Tragic Comedy In 3 Acts, I was surprised by everything that tumbled out. I don’t think I’d realised the white-hot resentment I’d built up over the years. Granted, I’d had an unusually bad…

Tried your hand at the #MWC? Keep on shooting for the moon. — Did you enter the Medium Writer’s Challenge? I did and it was like chewing an oversized toffee. Tiring, sticky but oh so sweet. Curiously, the constraints of the competition brought a different writer out of me. The pieces I wrote showed my soft underbelly and meandered in directions I didn’t…