MA English, University College Dublin.
BA English and Anthropology, Dean’s List, Grinnell College, USA.
Introduction to copy-editing (SfEP).
On-screen Editing 1 (SfEP).
Copywriting course, College of Commerce, Dublin.
Copywriter: 20+ years ad agency and corporate communications in the US, Dublin and Belfast.
Freelance writer, editor, proofreader: 15+ years.
Mentor with Fighting Words creative writing and literacy workshops for schools in Northern Ireland
Print and digital: newsletters, websites, scripts, guidebooks, reports, marketing materials, ezines, blogs, multi-media campaigns, manuscripts. On-screen or hard copy proofreading.
Copy-editing, proofreading and manuscript development/evaluation: fiction, commercial, memoirs, reports, translations.
Americanisation.
Copywriting: Copy and concepts for marketing communications (print, digital, broadcast) for diverse sectors – public, voluntary, B2B, consumer. Search Engine Optimisation (SEO).
Editorial: Research, interviewing, writing/ghostwriting, proofreading, editing – corporate newsletters, advertorials, company/case histories, features, thought pieces, digital content, SEO.
Marketing, tourism, business-to-business, economic development, education, memoirs, fiction (family drama, women’s commercial, young adult).
Commercial copy for advertising, editorial/PR and digital projects in clear English. Search Engine Optimisation.
US vernacular and markets/audiences.
Memoirs: interviewing, writing and editing.
Advertising agencies, marketing and design companies, print firms: Think Design, Brand Triangle Marketing & Design, Additude, ASG and Partners, Peninsula Print, Genesis, Red Revolution.
Public sector organisations and businesses: Belfast Metropolitan College, Economic Research and Consulting, Young Enterprise, Tourism NI, Tourism Ireland.
Authors: fiction, memoir and young adult writers in Ireland, the US and UK.
Education providers: Belfast Metropolitan College website edit. Adapting translated elements to create single voice for DECET Training Guide, an EU early years body. Wrote marketing materials for Interlingua language courses, Queen’s University Belfast, University of Ulster and Young Enterprise NI.
Authors: Americanisation, editing and manuscript development for Half Irish, a self-published young adult novel. Edited and proofread the English translation from Urdu for self-published memoirs After you Were Gone and My Letters to You. First reader for Belfast authors including Tara West (Fodder, Happy Dark and Poets Are Eaten as a Delicacy in Japan).
Editorial and copywriting: Editorial and digital content for Tourism Ireland, TourismNI, InvestNI, BT Biz ezine, Brett Martin, Northridge Finance, Lough Erne Golf Resort and Hotel, Irish Food Service Association, Fitzwilliam Hotel, and RSPB and Save the Children as a PR/Media volunteer.
Whether it’s writing from scratch or fine-tuning a final draft; a makeover, rewrite, trim to fit, waffle removal, objective feedback or 11th-hour SOS, I’m here to bring out the best in your ideas. My advertising copywriting background ensures a professional, prompt and creative service designed to save effort and hassle and produce fluent, engaging results. I bring a good grasp of the brief, together with an eye for accuracy, consistency, clarity and organisation to every task. To ensure I am the right match for your manuscript project, I offer a free sample edit and assessment.
