Flying High

My name is Sally Stacey and I am based in Berkshire. I am a full time writer but I meant to be a pilot!

Towards the end of my student days I began considering possible careers. I spent my evenings behind the bar in a night club to fund my course. Working as a barmaid did not strike me as a likely path to success. I definitely needed to aim higher! I wanted to train as an airline pilot or a football journalist but there was a problem.

Back in the dark ages now known as the 1980’s it was very hard for women to forge careers in aviation. You could train as a pilot in the USA but only if you paid for the course yourself. This cost around $35,000 and I was approximately $35,000 short of the required funds. I turned my attention to football journalism but guess what? Female football fans were a rarity in those days and women working in football? Well, they simply didn’t exist.

I eventually forged a career in distribution which wasn’t all bad. I rose to the position of Director of Operations at a multi million pound company close to Heathrow Airport. The irony of the location wasn’t lost on me.

If You Want a Job Done Properly……..

At one point it became clear that the company needed new corporate literature. We spent a great deal of money with design companies to evolve a new brochure but the copy they presented us with was truly terrible! I ended up writing the content myself. The brochure made a significant impact and resulted in me receiving several requests to write for other people.

Meanwhile I became involved in a local football team and I was determined to raise their profile. I contacted the local paper and asked if they would cover the team’s matches. They weren’t keen on sending a reporter to Old Dear Park to watch games in the 9th division of the Middlesex league. I can’t imagine why! What they did say was that I could write the match reports and if they were of a sufficient standard they would publish them. And so it was that an unknown pub team’s matches benefited from entirely unwarranted publicity in the Richmond and Twickenham Times!

The Accidental Copywriter

It still didn’t occur to me that I should write for a living. All that changed when my partner’s head nearly exploded in sheer frustration at the quality of the work his copywriters were producing. I offered to write some blogs for him to help out. I had no idea what I was doing but apparently my efforts were a distinct improvement on the other writers’ material.

This time I stuck with the writing. I studied everything ever published on blogging, web content and marketing material but I still felt like a bit of an imposter. However, everyone I wrote for came back for more and begun to recommend my services. Perhaps I was not such an imposter after all!

It now feels like I have been writing forever but life is never dull because I learn something new every day. Google moves the goalposts all the time so I have to keep abreast of SEO related issues and each new project presents a different challenge.

I would love the opportunity to write for you. Contact me today to discuss your requirements.