About

What’s my story?

I’ve always worked with words. My previous career was as a copywriter, working for agencies like Saatchi & Saatchi, writing print and TV ads for big name brands. I won awards at Cannes and other festivals for my work, and I was lucky to be able to live and work all over the world with my job; from London, in my native England, to Singapore, Hong Kong, Johannesburg and Cape Town.

Writing for clients in different cultures taught me how to communicate ideas simply, condense information into a strict word count, and create a tone of voice that would sound right for the brand. Basic training for the short story, perhaps.

Why short stories?

I got my first short story published in 2016 and now, ten years later, I’m launching my debut collection ‘The Lookout & Other Stories’ in 2026, with Karavan Press.

Stories help me understand more about the complicated business of being in the world, being with other people, being myself. I love the way they make me think, the imagery that stays when the last page is turned, the way language can challenge, comfort or move me. Much of what I know about editing, I’ve learnt from reading and writing short fiction, so I developed a specialised short story editing service that I couldn’t see offered elsewhere.

Why editing?

I’ve always loved the story behind the story – why a plot works, or doesn’t, how a setting can be a character, where a story can start, or end, and who’s best to tell it. I began as a friendly reader for my writing friends, then, as more people asked my advice, I studied developmental editing to offer more than just casual feedback.

I took a UK course on Developmental Editing (via distance learning), joined the Professional Editors Guild in the Western Cape, and took The Craft of Editing at UCT. As a professional reader and copy editor, I’ve worked with Penguin Random House and currently work with Kwela Books, an inprint of NB Publishers.

I set up my own editing business in 2019, and I’ve worked with beginner writers and published authors ever since, both local and international. I’m based in the far south of Cape Town, where I live with my family.

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