About Me

Derek was prompt and detailed in his work. As a new business owner, how I come across to my audience is vital and he gave me the edge I needed to ensure my voice came across well. So easy to work with as well!
Jane Berwick, The Adult Learning Hub
I have always enjoyed writing. It feels natural to set up Refreshing Copy to help people and businesses with their writing, be that for marketing, business writing, web content or educational materials. And here's why:

  • I spent almost 10 years teaching English to speakers of other languages, a big part of which was showing people how to be better writers. After all, writing is such an essential part of communication. 
  • Following on from English teaching, I moved into educational publishing where, as an editor, I mentored authors and helped develop effective digital English language learning materials.
  • As an editor, the language learning materials I produce have to be understood by people of any level of English language ability. So, instructions and text have to be clear and concise - just like in copywriting.
  • My publishing experience has also provided me with a great deal of editorial project management experience - working to tight deadlines and to budget.
  • I am a published writer. I wrote an academic paper that was published in the International Journal of Bilingual and Multilingual Teachers of English. You are more than welcome to read it on the University of Bahrain's Scientific Journals website.
  • I have a master's degree in applied linguistics from The Open University (handy for education) and another master's degree in research from the University of Exeter (very handy for copywriting). Both were completed by distance learning while working full time so that taught me the importance of time management and disciplined studying while still trying to have a life.
  • Finally, I qualified as a professional member of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors in 1997 and worked as a commercial practice surveyor (property and facilities management) for eight years.

My career started in the UK before taking me to Japan, Spain, China and then back to the UK. So, I have picked up some Japanese, Spanish and Chinese along the way!

Please do get in touch and we can have a chat about how I can best help you and your business.

Thanks

Derek
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