2021: A year we'll never forget.

Well, in 2021 the rest of you finally got on board with what I've been saying for years: working from home is the BOMB. Okay, not the first take-away we think of from 2021, but it doesn't need spelling out what a strange year it was, does it?

In many ways 2021 was business as usual for me, although I had some NEW opportunities to try out my hand at writing for the television industry when my book Not That I'd Kiss A Girl was optioned by one of New Zealand's largest production companies, South Pacific Pictures, and they let me in the writer's room to do some storylining with a fantastic team of other women. Highlight of the year for me, as I am a pop culture and TV nut and have the 1994 Shortland Street cover of Kirsty and Lionel's wedding to prove it.

I also continued on with writer's festival events to promote the book around New Zealand, culminating in speaking with one of New Zealand's most prolific novelists, Charlotte Grimshaw, at the Auckland Writers Festival.

Speaking about family dynamics with Charlotte Grimshaw and Kyle Mewburn, chaired by Claire Mabey

It was also another year of great copywriting challenges: 

• Working with my friend Claire Mance for her agency Talk Communications, writing some cool things for community groups, and reading scientific papers to write case studies for a cool NZ company battling COVID-19 with clinical trials.
  
  
• Getting stuck into some Immigration NZ comms, teaching them how to communicate clearly and with empathy – super important with all the visa hold-ups due to COVID-19.

 

• ​When the anti-vaccination community heard a rumour that AA was going to mandate vaccinations for their Roadside Assistance staff, they bombarded the AA with hundreds of emails in the space of just a few days! I was there to craft some responses to the more – ahem – passionate missives, and write some templated copy to help their staff with the wider responses.

 

• Tag Singapore came calling, and I banged out some case studies for their client Tableau, who do data visualisation.

 

• Pairing with Ghost Partners, I helped their client Education NZ with comms for their online events platform: refining their complicated email journeys and tidying up website copy, with scripts to come.

 

• And while all this was going on, I kept up my part-time contract with Fisher & Paykel Appliances, moving onto their Haier brand and helping them give it a lot more love, with everything from more robust product copy, to tone of voice guidelines and more.

Can't wait to see what 2022 will bring... get in touch if you have a project you need a hand with.