Andrea Wren: Journalist

Business writing in The Independent

It's just occurred to me that since I developed my 'new look' blog-style portfolio site instead of my old static one, I haven't included any of the past pieces I did for The Independent's Business Monthly section, which was focused on SMEs.

There was an interesting feature I wrote on the unscrupulous practice of 'passing off' called Internet Domain names: Don't get caught in a rival's web. Unfortunately, I had a great case study for this piece and they pulled out at the last minute for fear of legal action against them, so the feature ended up being mostly advice-based.

'Did you know' slot in the The Times...

I very recently wrote this tiny article 'From beyond the grave' for the 'Did you know?' slot that features in the front pages of the T2 section of The Times. The venture that it is focused on - www.leavealetter.com - has a purpose of allowing individuals to write letters for their loved ones, to be read in the event of their death.

I think it is a really interesting concept and am hoping to do more work and features on this. I've pasted the full piece below.

Cosmetic surgery copywriting

You might say I was a bit of an expert in cosmetic surgery and non-surgical treatments now. A few months ago I finished a large copywriting project to produce a series of factsheets (44 in total!) for online impartial buying guide BuyAssociation, but it has just recently gone live.

It was quite a job, each sheet was about 500 words and required me to research each surgery or non-invasive intervention that I talked about. It was also quite enlightening - I didn't know half of the procedures even existed until I wrote about them - and I even found out that having buttock implants is just about one of the most painful procedures you can opt for (not through personal experience, I hasten to add).

Nutrition in pregnancy feature

This nutrition in pregnancy feature I wrote for Gomamatoday.com is something I did a while ago but had forgotten all about. I wanted to draw attention to it because nutrition and diet is such an area of interest to me.

What I thought was particularly important and new about this feature though (it isn't just a 'how to eat when pregnant' piece) was that it drew upon some current research around energy intake and pregnant women, which had found that many pregnant women are eating fewer calories and taking less iron and fibre than the recommended amounts for non-pregnant women.

Using personal experience for health stories

Admittedly, it can be a little embarrassing when you're using your own personal experience for health stories, especially in the case of this new candida story I've done for iVillage.co.uk (it reveals a little too much for my liking!). But as anyone who writes from personal experience knows, it makes the whole process of putting the feature together a lot easier, as well as making it more real for the reader - particularly if they can relate to what is being said.

New blog: Freelancewritingtips.com

Budding freelance writers out there, as well as established ones, might find something of interest on a new blog run as a joint project between Linda Jones and Craig McGinty (who helped me develop my very own Chocolate & Beyond site). Freelancewritingtips.com is a great source of information and news on the freelance writing world, tackling current debates and offering pointers for freelance journalists.

Worth taking a look, I think.

iVillage CBT feature

This feature I wrote for iVillage on Cognitive Behavioural Therapy is a great example of drawing on my 'expertise' for my work. In my old career as a substance misuse worker for young offenders I did some training around CBT methods, and used CBT tools with my clients.

I like it when I can utilise my training and experience in my journalism! Makes the job a whole lot easier.