I have always loved writing; in times of stress or despair putting pen to paper has sometimes been more therapeutic than talking to people (though I do plenty of that as well!). At the moment I am (slowly) working on a couple of books, write features from time to time and of course also write my blog; however I have been lucky over the past few years also to have made some money from writing.

A recent feature – and check out Trail Running in January 2020

September 2019 Lancashire Life

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I write features on a range of topics and love interviewing people: life is endlessly enthralling.

For a year I wrote weekly snippets for a series of local online newsletters. This entailed finding, interviewing, obtaining photos and writing up local stories – generally individuals but sometimes organisations – but was too time-consuming once I obtained work in Newcastle.

I have contributed to local and national periodicals: The Carlisle Guide, Cumbria magazine, The Northern Running Guide, Top Sante, Woman and Home, Lancashire Life, Somerset Life, The Update (the George Fisher magazine), Running Free, Cycling Weekly, Rolls Royce magazine, Notebook (the Sunday Mirror magazine) and others.

Feedback has been positive from both readers and interviewees.  The latter often comment that I have been able to express how they feel about a subject far better than they could: they also often prefer me to write them up than other local journalists (probably partly due to the difference between being a newspaper reporter under constant daily pressure to produce stories, and a freelance feature writer with the time and inclination to want to conjure up the essence of a subject and to ensure that the real interest comes across).

The topics I most frequently cover, due to experience and interests, include the outdoors (trail running, triathlon, exercise); being an older mother; places to visit (with or without children) and classical music.  I also regularly write reviews of concerts, theatre performances and trail runs.

I have also produced copy for websites, flyers and brochures and can help promote a business by writing press releases, Facebook content and blog posts.