You and me (but mostly me)
Words, words, words.
I've loved words for as long as I can remember. The art of them. The theatre. The rhythm and intent and precision. The way they help us communicate openly, honestly, and well. The way they let us share our stories and our humanity.
That love of words shows up in different ways in my varied repertoire. Writing them for brands and publications. Fixing them through proofreading and editing. Strategising them through website audits and SEO research. Playing with them in essays and book reviews and poetry. Each act is different from the last, and I love every part of the performance I get to call my career.
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But when the house lights go up, who's the person behind it all?
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There's a life alongside every writer, and mine took a few interesting turns to get here. Allow me to use my obsession with musical theatre to give you the backstage pass to how it all came to be...
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Jen x
Note before we begin: The song titles remain the copyright of their original writers. I've borrowed them here for storytelling purposes only (because I couldn't resist).
who am i?
Hi! I’m Jen. Or Jennifer. Or Jenny. Yell one of those, and I'll come running. I’m a book-obsessed, beach-walker, tea-drinker, musical-lover, freelance writer.
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But who you are now is shaped by who you were then, and I was always the one whose life centred around words.
written in the stars
When I was younger, I used to handwrite story after story. Then I would painstakingly type them out on the family computer plonked in the corner of the living room; completing my fiction with the fanciest of Word Art titles and characters named after everyone in my class. I'd print them off, hole-punch them, and proudly tuck them into a folder called (very originally) Jenny’s Anthology.
I was also a regular at my local library; so regular they joked I was single-handedly keeping them in business. I devoured books like there was no tomorrow.
Through reading and writing, I discovered new ways to make sense of the world. How words could make people laugh, understand each other, feel something.
I didn’t know what kind of writer I’d be. I just knew I was one.
the room where it happens
As I grew up, there was so much I wanted to do with my life: travel, study, fall in love with places and people and ideas.
So I tried it all, and I loved it all.
I worked for years in a cafe, where I had regular customers who we knew by their coffee order. I worked in a private investigation firm. I sold merch at concerts for artists like Billie Eilish, The Eagles, and Arctic Monkeys. I worked my way up through a warehouse, from assistant to manager.
I travelled and saw the most wonderful places. I took in the view from the top of the Empire State Building, kissed the Blarney Stone, and ate my body weight in Belgian chocolate. I swam with turtles in the ocean in Hawaii and felt the rush of Niagara Falls sweeping over me.
And, along the way, I earned my Bachelor degree in Social Sciences, where I studied how people think, make decisions, and act on the information they’re given.
Throughout it all, I wrote. Stories. Poems. Streams of consciousness. Essays.
Writing was still there. Still my connection. Still my thread to the world.
i should tell you
Of course, every story has its conflict.
And mine was trying to move forward in the world where I wasn’t ever sure I could “make it” as a writer. Carving a career in any of the arts is difficult at the best of times, and there just never seemed like the right time to make that leap.
But then, wildly and somewhat wonderfully, content writing as my full-time job sort of fell into my lap - and, of course, I grabbed it with both hands.
thank goodness
I’m so glad I did. Throughout my freelance content writing career, I worked with different clients across blog posts, product descriptions, email newsletters, website copy refreshes, SEO copywriting projects, strategy work, and more.
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I love the puzzle of it all: finding the right word, the right rhythm, the right message.
What can I say other than it’s been an absolute blast.
come what may
​Nowadays, ​I'm so lucky to continue working with words: writing blog posts and web content, editing other people's words, auditing websites, doing keyword research. I also publish essays that wrestle with big questions, review books that I still devour like there's no tomorrow, and create resources that help other writers build careers they love. Every part of what I do strengthens the others: the editing makes me a better writer, the teaching makes me a better editor, the essays make me a better teacher.​​
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I wake up excited about what's on my desk, and that feeling never gets old.​
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all I ask of you
So, the stage show continues, and the only question left to ask is: will the next playbill I write about me and my business involve you? Well, hopefully you know by now, I'd really love it to.
If you've got words that need writing, fixing, or strategising, please feel free to drop me a message any time.
