I’ve been quiet for what feels like absolutely ages. In reality, it’s only been a couple of weeks. And what a big couple of weeks.

My parents arrived, to help my fiance and I move house. When they arrived, Dad announced that his father had died the previous morning.

Throughout the week (Dad leaving early for obvious reasons), we moved a bajillion things, scrubbed the previous property, had the carpets cleaned, and ate a lot of pizza. Then, on mum’s last day, we hired a car I just wished I could’ve kept, I kissed my other half seeyalater, and we headed interstate for my grandfather’s funeral.

I thenceforth stayed three days, wept a lot, laughed a lot, and ate a lot. Then I drove the return 6.5 hours alone (complete with adventures, like getting run off the road by a B-Double at high speed), and kept setting things up. I’ve only just now got my beloved ADSL back.

As for my office? Frightful mess. Absolutely frightful. Five minutes at a time is all I can manage… but I’m getting there.

So, this is a bit of an update to you all to say I’m still here! There have been several sign-ups for my free online course, which is fabulous. I’m thinking of running a half-day workshop (or more than one) on the topic. I’d love to know your thoughts on it.

And over the next few weeks I’ll be doing a mini-series of blogs based on the products in my shop. Should be good fun all round!

What have you all been up to since I’ve been “missing in action”?

Just a quick post to let you guys all know that my Create Sparkling Copy short course is now available.

This course will take you through the fundamentals of creating awesome copy. You’ll learn about planning, audiences, purpose, and getting the words right.

Best of all, you will learn about the principles of review and continuous improvement. Not many other courses take you through this vital part of getting your copy right.

Sign up to the course here! If you like it, let me know. Feedback is what counts!

Getting your email newsletters out, flashing yourself around the social networks, and generally being a bit of an e-vamp is all great for your business. Ask yourself, though, whether you are splashing around the electronic world, or immersing yourself into it.

From my isolated little (currently too-hot) loungeroom, it’s all well and good to imagine that people have moved away from print newsletters. But they haven’t!

In the past two workplaces in which I have been a paid monkey, not one little bit of thought — at all! — was given to emails or e-newsletters. These two companies would prefer to spend thousands on print documents. Filled with bad art, misspelled words, appalling styles of writing.

Not to mention the letters that would go out. Oh my lord.

Honestly, if you want to connect with people, at least go the yards and make it error-free. Nothing says “I don’t have much pride in what I do” than a document full of errors. The second stage is bad typography, awful design, and clip art.

These organisations ‘think electronically’ or believe themselves to be ‘thinking E’. They are trying desperately to go paperless, with intranets and new whiz-bang computer systems. But instead of changing their cultures slowly, integrating themselves with what is not new technology any more, they’re sitting it on top. Of course, it teeters and wobbles and eventually falls over. Nobody has managed the change properly, and nobody is immersed in the electronic world. Every one of them is splashing around and being excited by the pretty patterns.

For those businesses who are actually serious about thinking electronically, here’s a tip. You aren’t immersed until you are measuring how you are rolling.

You might be sending newsletters out by email; but until you are measuring the performance of each one, you aren’t anywhere close to Thinking E; at least, not fully. It’s when you get to the point where you are monitoring the performance of your communications that you are truly immersed.

If you are a true E company, you would:

• send email newsletters out, regularly
• assess the performance of your previous newsletter to improve on it, month-to-month
• reassess your website content for relevance, every six months
• maximise social networks with communication strategies, monitoring, and analysis
• keep on top of your website analytics, understand them, and push better and better performance
• keep on top of your grassroots metrics: word of mouth, recommendations, which are reflected online through social networks
• help your employees become engaged in promoting and talking about your business online (which they will, if they’re happy and encouraged!)
• … and so on and so forth.

I might ‘just’ be a copywriter. But I’ve worked in the field long enough to understand how your business’s attitude towards the electronic world can impact on its communications.

Does your business splash about, or is it immersed? Thinking E isn’t just about marketing or profit margins, it’s about communication.

You know, I didn’t even look at this website for most of 2011. When I did, it struck me as being patently absurd that anybody would contact me for rates or quotes or any other bollocks.

So I did away with it.

And I put in a shop.

And I love the shop.

If it were me, I would use the shop.

After gradually migrating towards an online-shopper-only, I have to say that just letting people buy things — and talking to them later — is easier. And better. And SIMPLE OMG.

Remember simple things? Nice, weren’t they.

I’m going back to simple. Better blogs, better experience.

And at some stage I’ll do something about the typography on this damn site, too. It’s all a little bit too.….. black.

Let me know what you think about my store!! I want feedback please!

I recently sent out my first newsletter in nearly a year. My imaginary marketing mentor is slapping me around the head right now, yelling, “It’s not good enough!!”

So rather than ignore this nasty beast, I started thinking about a series I might be able to post, both here and in my newsletters.

This week at my ‘real job’ (I actually work full-time as an administrator elsewhere at the moment) I was asked to run a series of workshops about writing. The workshops we came up with were:

• creative writing
• article writing
• review writing

Once we mapped these out, we started thinking about IT workshops, given that the attendees won’t be particularly savvy. So, we’re going to cover:

• writing for the web
• blogging and publishing online
• … aaaand something else, probably related to use of web 2.0 technologies

The planning I’ll be doing for these workshops will all go to waste if I don’t do something with it. So, in six to eight weeks you can look forward to the start of these posts.

And if you don’t want to have to visit this site to see them, sign up to the pixie list. If you’re anything like me, you’d rather everything go to your email so you don’t forget!

It’s long overdue, but I finally overhauled my services and rates page.

The page now includes an expanded (and explanatory) fee structure and guidelines section, which will hopefully help you to decide what sort of service fits you and your budget best.

Read the updated page here. And, as always, feel free to shoot me an email if you have any queries.

I’ve been out of action with my copywriting for a while — but not for much longer.

This is a short note to let you all know that I’m reconfiguring my pricing schedule and taking on new clients as of 1 July 2011.

If you would like further information please drop a comment or email me.

It’s no secret that English is losing words at a pretty snapping rate. And it’s because they’re not used.

So, I want to introduce you to Save The Words. It’s dedicated to raising awareness to those words that are in danger of dying out. It’s no secret that English is an incredibly elegant language, even in insult if used correctly.

For example, here’s a snippet from an amusing email I received recently:

A member of Parliament to Disraeli: “Sir, you will either die on the gallows or of some unspeakable disease.“
“That depends, Sir,” said Disraeli, “whether I embrace your policies or your mistress.”

I’m all for evolution of language; but the more words we have, the more precise is our communication.

And so, I adopted the word vappous. It means “flat” or “bland”. I’m sorely tempted to buy the shirt suggested by Save The Words, if only to help the site to stay alive. Adopting the word means I must promise to use it. And use it I shall!

The only question is, what limit do I set? I could damn nearly adopt the whole lot…

Ok. This is not strictly a blog, given that it is a plug for a former client’s book. It’s titled Cry for Health: Health — the casualty of modern times, and it has been 17 years in the making.

I was the primary editor for this work, until for various reasons I had to bail on the project at the last minute. It’s unfortunate that I couldn’t avoid this, but these things happen — and I’m stoked that the book has finally been released.

This work is one of the most tightly researched and argued titles on the topic of how our modern lifestyles are dramatically affecting our health. As Jesse (the author) wrote to me in the cover of my work:

To Leticia, an outstanding editor, who challenged me to hone my writing. Thanks and enjoy the read, and may good health and good cheer be with you always.

In talking to Jesse recently, he pointed out that being challenged on points that he personally believed and hadn’t thought other people might reject, was one of the best things about us working together. It has been a great journey with this title, and to see it finally in print is so very satisfying for all parties concerned.

If you’re interested in looking further into this book, or obtaining a copy, head to the Cry for Health website. We’re talking e-books at the moment, so hopefully I’ll have more information about this soon!

I’ve been working with one of my editing clients for nearly a year. I’m helping her to self-publish a book for her family about her daughter’s injuries as a result of a major motor vehicle accident. And today she sent through the most lovely comments, which she is happy for me to publish here as a testimonial.

The work on her book is still in progress, and still at the editorial stage. We’ve been taking things slowly, shaping the text, and making it as complete and as sensitive as possible. But it’s nearly at an end, and fairly soon it will be finished!

Because of the nature of the project, I can’t provide any identifying information. But here are her lovely comments:

Just wanted to say that if I had put in a request for a very special person to see me through the process of formulating this book, I could not have found anyone more fitting and perfect than you! Thank you so much for your patience and for your insights, abilities and willingness to explore all the last intricacies and their threads. It means so much to me.