Tag: freelance writing

Copywriting, Feature Writing, freelance life, Writing

ChatGPT and me: a commitment to my clients

DorkyMum

 

I’m in a lot of writer groups online, and there’s one topic that seems to come up almost daily at the moment: ChatGPT.

The conversations around it are wide-ranging and often passionate. Some writers won’t go anywhere near it for ethical, environmental, or creative reasons. Others have fully embraced it, and are open about how they have incorporated it into their workflow. Some use it quietly, without disclosing it to clients. And some are using it against their better judgment, simply because clients expect or require them to.

It’s clear we’re still in the early stages of figuring out how AI fits into creative and professional writing. There are strong opinions and no settled norms – and as freelancers, it’s up to each of us to take an individual position that we are comfortable with.

For me, that decision is clear: I don’t use ChatGPT for client work.

Continue reading “ChatGPT and me: a commitment to my clients” →

Copywriting, Feature Writing

October 2023: Some recent work

DorkyMum

This is a bit of a fly-by blog post!

I’m just back from a wonderful three weeks visiting family and friends in the UK, and my inbox needs more than a little attention… but the list of articles I’ve had published recently has also been growing steadily. I thought I’d better pop some links up here before I start delving into new work.

It has been an especially busy spell for my work with CSIRO. The pieces I’ve worked on for them recently include:

I have a couple of other CSIRO articles in the publication pipeline, which I’ll share in my next post.

It has also been quite a busy time with Brand Tasmania. Not all of those articles have made it onto the website yet, but the two that have are about Archie Matteo from Westhaven Dairy, and Royce Smith from Granville Harbour Wind Farm.

Finally, I was really pleased to help out the team at Swansea Beach Chalets with content for their revamped website. Swansea Beach Chalets is our favourite place to stay on Tasmania’s East Coast, and it was an honour to help them showcase some of what they have to offer!

Thanks for taking the time to check out some of my recent work. Now, back to that inbox… and let’s see what I’m going to be working on next!

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Photo by Aaron Burden on Unsplash

 

Copywriting, Feature Writing, freelance life

A New Year: Open for Business

DorkyMum

Decorative flat lay with the text 'Happy New Year' in the centre

You know you’ve been busy when you don’t get a chance to write a ‘Happy New Year’ blog post until the first week of March.

It feels a bit late to be posting a detailed roundup of the projects I worked on during 2020, so I think I will skip that annual tradition other than to say thank you so much to all the clients and editors who chose to work with me. Continue reading “A New Year: Open for Business” →

Copywriting, Feature Writing, freelance life, Writing

My freelance year: the good, the bad and the ugly

DorkyMum

black background with caption 'My freelance year: the good, the bad and the ugly' by Ruth Dawkins

Another year just about done!

2019 has been a very busy one here, so I thought I’d finish it by sharing a quick post with you about the good, the bad, and the ugly of my year in work. I am a big fan of being transparent about the highs and lows of freelancing, so that others who are considering making that jump have a realistic sense of what it entails. Continue reading “My freelance year: the good, the bad and the ugly” →

Copywriting, freelance life

Working from home as a couple

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, Feature Writing, freelance life

How to get out of a writing slump

DorkyMum

Image of crumpled paper in a bin and wording 'How to get out of a writing slump' by Ruth Dawkins

Write a content calendar, they said!

Plan a year’s worth of blog posts in advance, they said!

So, I did, and yet somehow it’s May 7th and I’m only now publishing the post that I’d planned for early April… I’ve had two big copywriting projects on the go, both of which required me to work through the school holidays, so when I did have spare time it felt much more important to spend that with my family rather than tinkering away in the back of my website.

However, school is now back, my diary is a little more under control, and I’ve got a chance to share this post that has been sitting in note form in my drafts folder for several weeks.

Somewhat ironically, given how busy I’ve been, I decided that in April I would write about how to get yourself out of a writing slump. Continue reading “How to get out of a writing slump” →

Feature Writing

SBS feature on Antarctica

DorkyMum

Screenshot of SBS news piece on sexism in Antarctica by Ruth Dawkins

I was really pleased to have my first piece published with SBS a couple of weeks ago. I’d written a couple of pieces for their lifestyle section – SBS Life – a while back, but never for the news section.

Timed to coincide with International Women’s Day, it was a reported piece about the gendered barriers to conducting Antarctic fieldwork, pegged on a study that was led by researchers at the University of Tasmania.

Even though the word count grew significantly from the initial commission – from 1000 words to 1600 – there was still a huge amount that I was disappointed to leave out. It was fascinating and very inspiring speaking to a number of women who work in Antarctic research – some in humanities and social sciences, others in biology and climate science – and I hope I can do a follow up piece further down the line.

If you’d like to read it, it’s here: SBS News – Even in Antarctica, women are experiencing sexism.

Copywriting, Feature Writing, freelance life

Should you ever write for free?

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

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, freelance life

Getting Digital Ready for 2019

DorkyMum

Laptop on Table captioned 'Getting Digital Ready for 2019 Ruth Dawkins'

It has been a busy November and December here. I know that in the northern hemisphere, a lot of writers find this a quiet time. From Thanksgiving onwards, a lot of organisations and publications slow down for the holiday season. Then, come January, it’s back to business as usual.

Here in the south, it’s almost the opposite. January is when everything shuts down for the summer so there’s a mad rush to get things tied up before then. The Tasmanian school holidays start in less than a fortnight, so I’m desperately trying to get my desk cleared (and invoices submitted!) in that time.

I’ve just finished a really interesting piece of work for a tourism organisation: ten short pieces of writing focusing on different activities around the state. It made me realise that even after five years here we have barely scratched the surface. It also made me slightly embarrassed to realise that when we have travelled around Tasmania, most of our focus has been on beaches, wineries and short walks, rather than anything more adventurous. Perhaps 2019 will be the year when I finally go canyoning at Cradle Mountain, or mountain biking at Maydena. Or perhaps not… Continue reading “Getting Digital Ready for 2019” →