Five ways to get the better of self-proclaimed ‘grammar nazis’

Grammar nazis. Have you ever met these people? They’re the worst.

I came across one the other day. Because I’m a copywriter, they often expect to find in me a kindred spirit. Someone who shares their passion for pernickety. It’s a bit awkward, because as a professional I do care about correct language and style. But I also believe English is a fluid and flexible thing. Good writing values ideas far above, say, correct comma usage – and not all of our best writers could explain to you the latter.

One self-professed grammar nazi I know flat refuses to interact with people who don’t use proper sentence case and punctuation. On Facebook. Continue reading →

Plugs for projects

Apple Jack 2, an Xbox 360 game I helped out on, is out today!

I’d love to write more for video game companies. I think their industry is the most creative and exciting in the world at the moment.

So when I played a game called Apple Jack on the Xbox Live Indie Games service a couple of years ago, I decided to contact the developer My Owl Software.

My offer was to write press releases for My Owl’s next game, to help the developer get the publicity they deserved. Because this is no ordinary game company. It’s just one man with ‘zero budget’. Somehow along the way, I ended up doing the illustrations for the game’s intro as well. Continue reading -→

Out and about

Sheffield needs more local businesses like these

Supporting local businesses is something lots of us want to do. It keeps money in the local economy and helps make the city a more unique and interesting place.

Unfortunately not every home grown business in Sheffield gets the basics right. I’m talking about service, quality, price and convenience. And that makes the decision to support local companies a little bit harder. I’m sure I’m not alone in choosing McDonalds over local food pretty often. Or Sainsbury’s over independent butchers and grocers. I’ve been disappointed too many times here.

Thankfully there are a few home grown businesses I do love to visit in Sheffield. And in the interests of supporting places that are run with real passion, I thought I’d share a few. Continue reading -→

Inside Wheatley Copywriting

I’ve got the WordPress community to thank for this smart new website

Welcome to the new Wheatley Copywriting website!

There are snazzy new things here, which I hope will help people find what they want to know about my services more easily. There’s a new portfolio with testimonials, descriptions and excerpts for each entry. There’s a new and better-designed blog. And there’s a dynamic home page that brings everything together in one place.

I’m proud to say that I ‘made’ this website myself. But I could never have done it without the amazing support of the WordPress community. Continue reading -→

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