Introducing The Tense, Imperfect Copywriter. Because when everything sounds the same, authenticity still matters.
The Tense, Imperfect Copywriter
For the past eight years, Words by Woodslea has been my home as a writer.
It’s where I’ve written thousands of property features, brand stories, editorials and deeply personal pieces for clients who trusted me to get their words right. It’s where I’ve listened, asked questions, noticed the details and tried with integrity to honour the people behind the words (I can’t say ‘work’ – it’s been too much fun…if I’m allowed to say that!).
But the world of writing is changing.
Like many of you, I’ve been watching the rise of AI with a mixture of curiosity, admiration and unease. It’s a powerful tool. In the right context, it can save time, organise information, and remove barriers that once stopped people from expressing themselves. And yet…it has also changed the landscape completely.
Where once writing quality varied widely, almost everyone can now produce something that sounds polished and “good enough”. The result is not worse writing, but writing that often feels interchangeable, deja-vu-y, does-the-job, formulaic, competent and oddly hollow. A bit like a Big Mac on a hangover.
So after an eight-year sleigh ride of fun, I’ve had to stop and ask myself a difficult question:
What is it, exactly, that I offer that can’t be replicated?
The answer wasn’t speed, it wasn’t volume (though I’ve become pretty adept at both — no one can compete with a machine. After all, I was born in the 1980s, raised on RoboCop, Terminator… and, of course, Johnny 5), and it certainly wasn’t perfection which is why I have a proofreader and a ‘reasonable edits’ clause.
What I can offer is patience, humanity, freedom of thought, life experience, individuality, empathy (real – not algorithmic) and passion.
It’s listening with someone and hearing not just what they say, but how they say it. Noticing the pauses and what they leave unsaid. The humour. The hesitations. The tone of voice. The parts that matter more than they first appear.
So The Tense, Imperfect Copywriter was born, not as a replacement for Words by Woodslea, but as its philosophical sibling. A space that speaks more openly about the value of human writing in an automated world. A place to work with people and businesses who still care how their words are perceived and who want their story to feel like their own.
This new page isn’t anti-technology. I still use tools. I still move with the times. But I also believe that some parts of our work — especially those that involve trust, reputation, or personal experience — deserve a more considered approach.
When you need a doctor, when you’re trying to search down a helpline number, when something matters, most of us don’t want a system: We want a person.
If you’re curious, you can find the new page here: https://imperfecttensecopywriter.com/
Words by Woodslea isn’t going anywhere, this is simply another way of expressing what that work stands for.
Thank you, as always, for being here. And a big, big thanks to Harriet on this one for being the nudge and John for being there for the push. Humans. We’d be lost without them!
— Sarah
