Copywriting | Feature Writing | Hobart, Tasmania
Hello everyone, I hope you’ve all enjoyed a break over the Easter weekend.
If you’re anything like me, you’re now racing to get a week’s worth of work done in three days before the next public holiday on Friday! Perhaps instead I should just give myself over to some enforced rest and pick things up next week when school goes back instead…
While I do have a moment spare, I thought I would share just a few links to some of my recent work.
It’s that wonderful week between Christmas and New Year when there are few demands on my time, and still plenty of festive snacks left in the fridge.
I always find this period to be both relaxing and productive. Without any work obligations, I can tackle some of the other things that need doing around the house – all the paperwork tasks and chores that sit on my to-do list for six months, but take only ten minutes when I finally get to them… leaving plenty of time for an afternoon nap.
In order to put 2024 firmly behind me, I thought I’d pop up a quick blog post to share some links to my final few published pieces of the year.
Hello friends,
I hope the year is treating you well. We are very happy to be moving into spring here in Tasmania – the warmer, lighter days are a delight after a very wet and windy winter. I no longer have to shove a hot water bottle up my jumper when I’m sitting at the desk in my home office!
Since it’s been a couple of months since my last post on here, I thought it was time to share a few more links to pieces I’ve worked on recently. So, here goes.
Almost all of these are articles that I’ve written for CSIRO, but they’re on a very diverse range of subjects so hopefully there will be at least one that piques your interest!
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”
Earlier in the year, I shared a couple of posts with you that I’d written for Huon Valley Council’s new website.
I cut down on my freelance writing work a lot over the winter, while I focused on family and caring duties (more on that over on my personal blog DorkyMum), but I’ve really enjoyed being back at my desk during November and December and one of the jobs I’ve been enjoying has been writing more Huon Valley blog posts.
We normally just visit the Huon as a day trip, and if I’m honest we usually don’t get any further than a slice of pie and a flight of cider at Willie Smith’s Apple Shed, but all the research I’ve done for these posts has made me realise what a great long weekend or extended break you could have down the Valley and Far South. It seems like an especially good place for families, with plenty to do and see. Continue reading “Huon Valley Council: Stories from the Valley”
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?”
Ruth Dawkins Freelance Writer 