‘Please be advised.’ Those were the first three words of an email that greeted me when I sat down at my desk with my first coffee of the day on a recent sunny morning. What came next, I almost didn’t … Continue reading
When I first started writing for a living, one of the senior sub-editors took me to one side and gave me his ‘new boy chat’. ‘Most people’s writing is heavily influenced by their reading,’ he said. ‘So read widely, but … Continue reading
An old friend died recently. His death wasn’t unexpected; he was nudging 90 and he had been unwell for almost two years. As a young man he had survived The Great Depression and The Second World War, and, despite coming … Continue reading
My first grown up writing job was with an advertising and communications consultancy. My boss was a former accountant with a degree in economics. But his real passion was for words. ‘Tell a story,’ he used to say. ‘And tell … Continue reading
I love radio. I grew up listening to light static interspersed with music, comedy, news, and drama. Is there a radio gene? I suspect that there might be. My father was a big fan of radio (‘wireless’, as he called … Continue reading
Going through some old papers, I recently came across a note from a writer friend who died at a relatively young age. She had trained as a journalist and then tried her hand (unsuccessfully) at novel writing. While waiting for … Continue reading
When I first began writing for a living, I was surprised by how much effort it took to write a few hundred words of clear, easy-to-read prose. There was the gathering of the raw materials: the ideas, the facts, and … Continue reading
One of my vivid memories of life in the First Form was a pin board that displayed ‘Work we are proud of.’ As I recall, it was covered with rather indifferent prose written by people who, nevertheless, had neat (and … Continue reading
More than half of the documents we are commissioned to edit and enhance are directed at board directors and senior business executives: CEOs, CFOs, CIOs, CMOs. These are people who make the decisions that ultimately enable their organisations to succeed … Continue reading
Way, way back, I had the opportunity to work with a writer who was seriously under-rated. It wasn’t that he wasn’t known. He was a high-profile man-about-town: the star of many a party; the host of many a fine lunch. … Continue reading