My Stuff | Strawberry Communications: Writing & PR

2016 in Review

December 28, 2016 By Johanna Baker-Dowdell Leave a Comment

It is late December and as I’ve done for several years I’ve been reviewing what I’ve achieved throughout the past year.

For a year that has been difficult personally for many I know (and with the loss of so many important icons), I have to admit I’m looking forward to waving goodbye to 2016 in a few days. However, it has been a good year in other ways.

I like to start each year by setting a word to focus on and mine for 2016 was “knowledge”. However, I think after reviewing what I’ve done through the year it should have been “write”. Makes sense that a writer should write, doesn’t it? Sarcasm aside, I have written thousands and thousands of words for my PhD thesis, newspaper articles, blog posts and creative pieces, not to mention hundreds of social media updates. Words are my life.

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Filed Under: My Stuff Tagged With: 2016, business goal, goal setting, goals, personal goals, university goals, year in review

Research snapshot: Social media in crisis reporting

November 24, 2016 By Johanna Baker-Dowdell Leave a Comment

This week I was invited to share insights from my PhD research at the UTAS School of Social Sciences Work in Progress day.

My PhD project looks at how social media texts produced by members of the public have impacted journalistic practice within the context of crisis reporting. To do this I analysed how social media texts were used as news sources in newspaper reports during three English crisis events between 2005 and 2013: the London Bombings, English Riots and Lee Rigby’s murder.

As disruptive and highly emotive events where knowledge is a premium, crises elevate the importance of media coverage, particularly as an accurate source of information. In studying the way social media texts are used as news sources during such events, my project contributes to the body of work on current journalistic practice in crisis reporting.

A Decade in Business: Reflection and Refocus

September 28, 2016 By Johanna Baker-Dowdell Leave a Comment

A photo by Christopher Sardegna. unsplash.com/photos/CMOa3H1SXG0

This month Strawberry Communications turns 10. I had been freelancing on and off for six years before I started working for myself full time, but once my eldest son was born I knew I didn’t want to be working for someone else five days a week. My work experience and entrepreneurial spirit drove me to go it alone and I registered the business in October 2006.

My business has gone through many iterations in that 10 years: from being a purely freelance writing business initially, to combining my own clients with freelancing for other PR businesses. From there Strawberry Communications was predominantly operating as a PR consultancy with two additional consultants supporting me and it’s now back to mostly writing, with just me at the helm.

A fluid business

There have been many reasons for these changes: responding to industry demand, working around my family and my own desire for change. During the past 10 years I’ve worked around one, and then two, small children, after which I ran the business full time while my partner become a stay-at-home dad. Next I combined running Strawberry Communications with baking business, Stanley & Nelson, and then with studying part-time. For the past two years I’ve been studying full time and working in the business part time. I expect to be finished my PhD within the next six months and so now I’m starting to think about what I’ll do post study.

What do a girls’ weekend away and writing have in common?

June 30, 2016 By Johanna Baker-Dowdell 2 Comments

As a writer I thrive on the opportunity to spend extended periods of time with others who love words as much as I do. It’s a real treat to occasionally be able to immerse myself in all things writing and be surrounded by others who feel the same.

My recent trip to Melbourne for the National Writers’ Conference was a chance to do just that – and spend some time with two fellow members of my writers’ group, Penny and Leonie. This was a typical girls’ weekend where we talked about the raft of topics women share when together (partners, families, friends, travel, food, pets etc), but we also dissected the sessions we’d attended and shared how they had inspired us to write more, or differently, or explore new genres.

Between us, Penny, Leonie and I have attended many writers’ festivals and enjoyed them, but felt they were lacking in the stuff we really needed to know – insights to the craft of writing itself. Instead of being for avid readers (which we are too), this wasn’t about authors discussing what inspired them to write their latest work and then share their favourite passage. The National Writer’s Conference didn’t skirt around the how-tos and whys of writing, the program asked authors to jump straight in to the nitty gritty and lay their writing process bare.

The Pursuit of Knowledge

January 29, 2016 By Johanna Baker-Dowdell Leave a Comment

Like so many others I like to start each new year by thinking about what I’d like to achieve in the next 12 months. I always have a list of goals, which span personal and professional aspirations. For the past few years I’ve set myself a word as the theme for year, with each goal radiating from that one idea. My word for this year is “knowledge”.

A friend pointed out I already had knowledge when it came to my business and my area of study, but this year I want to go beyond the strict definition of knowledge of gaining facts, information or skill through education and experience to deepen my knowledge in three areas:

Professional – I am about to start my third year of my PhD and intend to finish the year confident I am an expert in the space where traditional journalism and social media meet.

Reflecting on 2015

December 23, 2015 By Johanna Baker-Dowdell Leave a Comment

Reflection for me is something I don’t spend a huge amount of time doing, however at this time of the year I do like to look back over what has happened in the previous 12 months before planning for the New Year.

So, in the spirit of welcoming a year anew next week, here is my 2015 reflective post. I hope you’ll join me and share the highlights of your own year too via a comment here or on social media.

I set “focus” as my word for the year. While I’ve been very focused in some areas (training and trekking in Peru), I’ve let a few other aspects slide more than they should (I wanted to write more for pleasure and my PhD supervisor is nodding about now). So I’ve got some work to do to catch up in the next year, but here’s a run down of what did happen in 2015.

Review: On Course for a Fantastic Year of Writing with Pilot Diary

January 29, 2015 By Johanna Baker-Dowdell 2 Comments

I couldn’t contain my excitement when I saw (via The Tasmanian Writers’ Centre newsletter) that Pilot Press had produced a diary specifically for writers. I had already decided I was going to write more creative pieces this year and that I wanted to trial a paper diary again so, of course, I had to have a Pilot.

Posting about my excitement on social media resulted in a flurry of activity amongst my writerly friends, many of whom asked me to review the diary. So, here’s my review.

Pilot Press’ website promises a diary for writers, and that is exactly what I have. From the first moment I opened the package containing the diary and felt the gorgeous stock used in its creation I was sold. I’m very tactile and have always been a sucker for the feel of untouched paper that screams for me to write something amazing on it. Well, I may not always write amazing things, but I do feel inspired by creamy, slightly textured virgin pages.

Moving Mountains with my Focus

January 29, 2015 By Johanna Baker-Dowdell 2 Comments

“That’s been one of my mantras – focus and simplicity. Simple can be harder than complex: you have to work hard to get your thinking clean to make it simple. But it’s worth it in the end because once you get there, you can move mountains.” ~ Steve Jobs

Like many, I awaited the end of 2014 with a mixture of trepidation and excitement. For me 2014 was a blessing and a curse. It was not a good year for me personally with a major foot injury clipping my wings for five months, but I celebrated many successes including being confirmed as a PhD candidate at the University of Tasmania so it wasn’t all bad.

To start me off on the right track I chose a word, incorporating ideas from Christine Kane, Leonie Dawson and Kelly Exeter. My word for 2015 is “Focus”, which I settled on because I want to stop reacting to other’s priorities and trying to do everything concurrently so I can concentrate on less to do my tasks better. And because I feel inspired by pretty things, I decorated a poster for my office during a craft morning with my boys to remind myself to stay focused.

Christmas Gift List for Mumpreneurs

December 15, 2014 By Johanna Baker-Dowdell 4 Comments

It’s 10 days until Christmas and you’ve been busy ticking off items from your Christmas list to make sure everything is perfect for your family’s festivities next week.

That’s great, but have you considered yourself in this equation? If you haven’t, it’s time to sit down with a tea, coffee or cold drink (or something alcoholic if that’s what’s needed) and pick something from this list for you. Yes, you!

Busy mumpreneurs should be rewarding themselves for everything they have achieved in 2014 and this list makes it easy to do just that.

1. Practice self care – the five minutes you’re taking to have a drink and read this are not quite enough. As Helen Butler from Clutter Rescue explains in her interview with Howard’s Storage World, self care could include booking in some time for a catch up with a friend, a facial at your favourite beauty clinic or reading something in the sun sans children. Watch Helen’s interview for more ideas (and some organisation tips too).

My self care picks are: Mary’s Skin Care, The Little Black Dress Project, Business & Baby on Board and Juice Plus.

Grassroots Community in Practice

November 26, 2014 By Johanna Baker-Dowdell Leave a Comment

My husband Harvey and I moved out little family to Tasmania in 2010 because we wanted to start a hazelnut farm and find a community where we felt we belonged.

We still haven’t found a farm but we’ve definitely found the community. The value of that community has been proven again and again through friends helping out with our children, the beautiful conversations we have with producers at our local farmer’s markets and the families who attend our boys’ school. However, I have never felt prouder to belong to this community than in the past few weeks when we all banded together to help someone who is important to all of us.

I’ve followed chef Steve Cumper on Twitter for years now, I’ve cooked his recipes from Country Style and we’ve visited his iconic restaurant, the Red Velvet Lounge, several times so when I discovered it had been gutted by fire a fortnight ago I felt like I needed to do something to help. I wasn’t the only one.