Copywriting – Ruth Dawkins Freelance Writer

February 2023: some recent writing work

February 9, 2023 DorkyMum

Black text that reads 2023 on a great background

Happy New Year! I hope you all had a wonderful, restful break over the festive period, and you’ve started 2023 feeling enthusiastic and energised!

Here in Tasmania, schools only went back a couple of days ago. While I did manage a few bits and pieces of work over the holidays, it’s nice to be getting those longer stretches of uninterrupted and focused time again.

I thought I would share links a few recent pieces of work. It’s great fun having this blog to look back on and remind myself of what a variety of projects I do each year.

Back in December, I was lucky enough to interview Hobart local Briony Kidd about her tips for visitors to Hobart. That feature was published on Guardian Australia: Platypus spotting, spontaneous nights out, and grassroots energy.
More recently, I had a piece of creative non-fiction published at one of my favourite websites, Caught by the River. That one is called Dog walking at the bottom of the world.
This interview for Brand Tasmania, with Caro and Chris Brown of Brady’s Lookout Cider was really fun to write.
And as ever, I am so grateful to CSIRO for being a regular, ongoing client. Recent pieces I’ve written for them include one for Resourceful Magazine on indicator minerals for nickel exploration, and two for ECOS on carbon sequestration and deep sea mining.

Photo by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash

Copywriting

CSIRO ECOS blog: sustainable agriculture

July 31, 2020July 31, 2020 DorkyMum

Photograph of a wheat field with a combine harvester in the background.

The latest edition of CSIRO’s ECOS was published this week, and I’m really happy to have a couple of pieces included in it, both of which were commissioned by the Agriculture and Food division.

This edition of ECOS is all about building a resilient future. Continue reading “CSIRO ECOS blog: sustainable agriculture” →

Copywriting, Writing

CSIRO ECOS blog: Oil and Gas Infrastructure

June 26, 2020June 26, 2020 DorkyMum

An offshore oil platform seen from shore

I’m really pleased to share another post that I’ve written for CSIRO.

Like the Future Seas 2030 post that I wrote last month, this was a piece of writing commissioned by the Oceans and Atmosphere Division. It even involved speaking to one of the same researchers – 2020 Tasmanian Australian of the Year Dr Jess Melbourne-Thomas. Continue reading “CSIRO ECOS blog: Oil and Gas Infrastructure” →

Copywriting, Writing

CSIRO ECOS blog: Future Seas 2030

June 9, 2020 DorkyMum

A close up image of waves in the ocean

If you follow any of my social media channels you’ll know that I absolutely love the ocean. I was born on a small island in Scotland, and now live on a small island in Australia. I’m never happier than when I’m surrounded by water.

I was thrilled a few weeks ago to receive a commission from CSIRO’s Oceans and Atmosphere division to write a piece for the ECOS blog on the Future Seas 2030 initiative. Continue reading “CSIRO ECOS blog: Future Seas 2030” →

Copywriting

Tasmania: Come Down for Air

October 16, 2019October 16, 2019 DorkyMum

Tourism Tasmania Come Down for Air campaign launch image

I was really excited yesterday to see that Tourism Tasmania have launched their latest campaign – Come Down For Air.

The behind-the-scenes details of the brand launch, which includes commercials, videos, adverts and a dedicated Come Down for Air website can be found on the Tourism Tasmania website, while the public facing site is DiscoverTasmania.com/air. Continue reading “Tasmania: Come Down for Air” →

Copywriting, freelance life

Working from home as a couple

September 3, 2019September 5, 2019 DorkyMum

Work desk with books, pencils and glasses. Captioned 'working from home as a couple... here's how we do it.' by Ruth Dawkins

My husband and I have just survived our first year working from home together.

Actually, let me rephrase that. My husband and I have just finished a fantastic first year working from home together.

I’ve been a freelancer working from my home office for almost ten years. The amount of work I’ve taken on has increased as my son has grown older and spent more time away from me – first in childcare and then at primary school. But throughout that time I’ve had the chance to put systems and processes in place that maximise my efficiency, and I’ve developed the required discipline to ignore the piles of laundry that always need putting away and instead sit down at my desk, day after day. Continue reading “Working from home as a couple” →

Copywriting

Freycinet Resort website – done!

August 2, 2019August 2, 2019 DorkyMum

a screenshot from the Freycinet Resort website in Tasmania

I spotted earlier today that a project I worked on in June and July has now gone live – and it looks fantastic!

Freycinet Resort offers beautiful eco-accommodation on Tasmania’s East Coast. The property has recently come under new management, and the owners wanted to completely refresh their website to reflect the new direction they’ll be taking the resort in. Continue reading “Freycinet Resort website – done!” →

Copywriting, Feature Writing, freelance life

Should you ever write for free?

March 7, 2019 DorkyMum

Caption 'Should you ever write for free' above dollar bill

The question of whether a professional writer – or an aspiring professional writer – should ever write for free is one that comes up regularly in online groups and discussion forums, and it always provokes healthy debate.

One camp says no, never, absolutely not. A writer should never write for free: we should value our time and expertise; by completing work without payment we’re undercutting other writers; and besides, no-one can pay the rent with ‘exposure’.

The opposing camp would say that writers – especially those who are new to the business – need to build their experience and portfolio and writing for free is often a good way to do that.

Ever keen to find a compromise, I find myself sitting somewhat awkwardly between the two camps. Continue reading “Should you ever write for free?” →

Reading

Reading makes me a better writer: here’s why

February 19, 2019February 19, 2019 DorkyMum

Stack of books and caption 'Being a reader makes me a better writer... here's why.'

It’s no great secret that I’m a big reader. I’ve published several posts on this blog about my favourite books, and over on Instagram I run an account called @ruthreadsbooks which functions as a visual reading diary.

You can imagine then how pleased I was to find this recent study, which concluded that reading makes you a more empathetic person.

I’ve long-believed that being a keen reader makes me a better writer, and developing empathy is a key part of that. Whether you’re writing creatively and trying to put yourself in the position of a reader who wants to be engaged and entertained, or whether you’re writing copy and trying to make sure what you deliver keeps your client happy, the ability to see other perspectives and viewpoints is crucial. Continue reading “Reading makes me a better writer: here’s why” →

Copywriting, Feature Writing, freelance life

Mothers Always Write

April 11, 2018April 12, 2018 DorkyMum

A very quick blog update from me to share a piece that I’ve had published this week.

Mothers Always Write is one of my favourite sites to visit for beautiful poetry and non-fiction about parenting. I did an essay writing bootcamp with them a few years back which was hugely valuable in terms of the resources they provided for background reading and the one-on-one feedback on a piece of work from one of their editors. It was very reasonably priced too – I’d highly recommend it if they run another in future.

Continue reading “Mothers Always Write” →