Copywriting - September 2008 - land-locked in Berkshire

Nicola calculates she probably spent more time on dry land than she did in the water during September! As the open water season drew to a close, the uncommonly windy weather meant that her planned Jersey to France swim was cancelled. It's a shame, but par for the course. Thank goodness she got that second Channel swim in!

To convince her that time spent in the house can be a good idea, the kind people at the BBC kicked off Strictly Come Dancing for another year. Isn't John Sergeant adorable? Don't Vincent and Rachel-from-S-Club go perfectly together? Will they ever give Anton someone decent to dance with? Oh, it's all so exciting. This year's Gethin is Austin Healy, Nicola reckons. Or maybe that Tom person from Casualty. She'd love to go ga-ga over Mark Foster, but the man simply can't dance (no matter how well he swims).

Ahem. Back at her desk, Nicola continued to provide Business in Berkshire microsite members with copy for their sites, PDFs and newsletters. Regulars included Windsor Vehicle Leasing and Absolute Health and Safety Solutions whilst she also worked on copy for new clients such as Alghero Tiles.

She finished off conference production work on events projects for CIBSE, Clarion Gaming and The Honda Institute and is now giving herself a short break from events before the autumn rush begins.

Nicola was delighted to get new clients It's All About...coverage in the local press. She wrote a press release, circulated it to newspaper contacts and followed it up. The result is local press coverage which will be read by the client's target market and help boost the success of their exciting venture. If anyone would like to go on a detox bootcamp in October (at a luxury UK destination!), It's All About... can sort you out. Their expert nutrition and fitness gurus guarantee you'll lose a dress size! (Contact Nicola if you're interested)

Nicola submitted a feature about swimming between the Scilly Isles to Coast magazine, although it will be a fair wait until the story is printed (there's little point publishing a piece about open-water swimming over winter, after all). She also submitted a piece to Women's Fitness magazine about the pros and cons of different ways to improve your swimming technique.

Regular copywriting work (including writing the monthly e-newsletters of Assorti and the London Photographic Association) continued, whilst Nicola also had a couple of days out of the office acting as official observer on various Channel swims. It's a very strange way to spend a day (and, often, a night as well!) but hugely rewarding. Congratulations to Doug, and commiserations to Emma, Michelle and Sam. Nicola thinks she's just about got her sea-legs...just as the season finishes!