The urge to return to the craft side of the job after years of editing magazines from within the management structures of publishing corporations!
I get a kick out of talking with people full of enthusiasm for what they do, learning about their projects and writing about them. To me that's the joy of both features and of news, though of course it can't always be like that.
If you trained, where? If not, how did you become a freelancer?
I've never been trained formally but went through a kind of apprenticeship in the members' journals arm of the IEE right at the beginning of my career. I've also attended countless courses and have taken care to learn what I can from colleagues and bosses along the way. That's one of the positives of working for big publishers.
Early in my career I also did a couple of stints in PR and marketing, so I understand the pressures and requirements of that side of the business as well as journalism.
Do you specialise in any particular field and what areas do you write about?
Nowadays I focus on medicine (particularly primary care), health generally and pharmaceutical marketing, but over the years I've really been around. My writing and editing experience includes electronics, engineering, industrial management, design systems and, in the leisure area, boating.
Which publications have you been published in?
Lots - though naturally the material I've written for PRs doesn't usually appear with a byline. I currently write regularly for Chemist+Druggist in my two-days-week capacity as clinical editor, for Pharmafocus, and for the training and news website Wellards.co.uk.
Which articles, in which publication, are you the most proud of?
The ones that most closely matched the commissioner's conception of what they should be, plus a few extra goodies they're grateful for but didn't think of themselves.
What are the best and worst aspects of freelancing?
The best aspects are not being tied to one organisation or one boss and the enormous variety of the commissions I get - I find I'm learning all the time and that my mind's as active as it's ever been. The worst aspects are the 4am panics about late payments, working around holidays and the feast and famine of the typical freelance writer's working life.
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