About me
Excellent writing/editing. Honed project management skills. Passion.
These are the three key things I offer my clients. I’m a copywriter and communications consultant with nearly 20 years’ experience. This includes over four years as a journalist and editor at a charity copywriting agency and more than 12 years as a freelancer.
I’ve worked on copywriting and editing projects with WaterAid, World Vision, WWF-UK, The Children’s Society, YoungMinds, Nacro, Cancer Research UK, Catch22, BTCV, Drinkaware, and many more. And I’ve written for The Guardian, The Big Issue and The Western Mail.
I’m London-based and happy to come and meet you to chat over a future charity communications project.
Download my CV.
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Excellent writing/editing
From e-newsletters to annual reviews, reports to web articles, I believe that all good charity writing should tell a story and enjoy creating copy that motivates readers to take action. Sometimes that means stripping copy right back to get to the real meaning so I’m as happy editing as I am writing from scratch.
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Honed project management skills
I’m used to project managing web and print projects from concept to delivery. I interpret briefs from a range of clients and, having worked in a busy copywriting agency on a number of charity accounts, can “hit the ground running”.
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Passion
The right attitude makes all the difference and I am hugely enthusiastic about the power of good charity communications to help transform lives. As a journalist I have written about everything from wedding photographers to green nappies. But charity communications is what I am passionate about. I make sure I keep up-to-date with what is happening in the sector so I can deliver the most creative, relevant and effective projects for my clients.
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Four more things about me
1. Write a two-line standfirst introducing a feature about the best project you’ve ever worked on.
Liverpool’s HMP Kennet, a centre for excluded school kids in Clacton-on-Sea, a London hostel for former offenders. Alongside Nacro housing tenant, Jacqui, copywriter Trina Wallace visited inspiring projects all over the country to write the crime reduction charity’s annual reviews.
2. Best piece of writing advice you’ve ever received.
The writing process does not start when you begin typing or putting pen to paper. Advice from my former features editor. You need to think about what you’re going to write away from the computer – when you’re making a cuppa, on the bus, at lunch… And you have to plan how your writing will develop. Have some bullet points outlining what each paragraph will contain so you know where your copy will take you and don’t waste a word.
3. Describe yourself in less than 30 words (web sentences should not be more than 30 words).
Potteries-born Trina likes meeting, talking to and writing about people. She’s into yoga, travelling and has been known to indulge in the odd pint.
4. Favourite quote about writing/journalism.
“A scrupulous writer, in every sentence that he, [or she!], writes, will ask himself, [or herself], at least four questions, thus: 1. What am I trying to say? 2. What words will express it? 3. What image or idiom will make it clearer? 4. Is this image fresh enough to have an effect?” George Orwell, Politics and the English Language.
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