Sadhbh Warren

In May 2024, Bruce Springsteen played Cork - and I had a front row view.  Because I infiltrated the Spring-nuts. Seeing Bruce Springsteen and the E Street band has been on my wish list for decades. When a friend told me about the fan-administered queueing system developed by the Spring-nuts I knew I had to see it in action. The venue, Pairc Ui Chaoimh, is five minutes walk from my house so this information turned what should have been a 4 hour gig, with 3 hours of music, into a multiday epic with 10 hours standing on the day. I regret nothing. This was my week running with the Spring-Nuts. ** Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band are playing in Cork I am on the rail, front and centre at the Cork's Burce Springsteen show, and everyone around me is completely losing their minds. There is a woman behind me hysterically screaming "Bruce, Bruce Bruce" like she's having the best time of her life with three guys called Bruce. Nearby a woman waves a life-size cardboard cut-...

This piece is from 2011. My partner is over it (mostly) How I won tickets to Foo Fighters' Goat Island show in 2011 Last night I was on Goat Island watching the Foo Fighters play their new album. And all I had to do was betray my fiancé two days before our engagement party. I won by entering a competition on V Music. They wanted vids from fans on why they should go. I figured they'd get a billion, "OMG I luv the FOos!!1!" type entries, so I took a different tack.  Send me for science. The exact science was that, with our engagement party in two days, I needed to check my bloke, P, was in fact hotter than Dave Grohl (who I believed to be the hottest man alive before meeting P).  Need to check. Before the wedding, donchaknow. For science. P has forgiven me. Probably. I discovered something useful for our relationship at the gig - curling my hand into the RAWK horns symbol stops my engagement/wedding rings from flying off while moshing. This is a useful thing to know. An...

When it comes to diet and fitness, it seems that people don’t think the oldies are the goodies. It’s weird. If I announce I am following the latest celebrity diet, everyone is interested. After all, how what can go wrong when you follow the advice of people who believe in size zero and Scientology? But when I mention I’ve taken up running people respond with horror. It won’t work, they tell me. Jogging is too hard. It’s bad for my joints, they wail. I’m doing the Couch to 5k, a beginner-friendly plan designed to get you to running 5 kilometers without tears, injuries or requiring illegal steroid injections twice a week from someone called Big Boxing Bob. I can see the results and I’m enjoying it. But people insist on worrying about my knees. Won’t someone please think of my knees? From the stories I have heard, a small but significant proportion of the population has explosives in their patella. Much like the bus in Speed, they’re fine at a walk.  But i...

This was published in MX, Australia's free daily newspaper, and yes, it did actually happen. Not in my current job, thankfully, but back when I was back-packing: working by day, drinking like a fish by night... Stick Your Job I’m tired and cranky and falling over when I try to put on my trousers. Not really an ideal state to go to work in. Drinking with friends until 4am always seems like a great idea at the time. Not so much the next day, and even less when you have to work. So, what’s good for exhaustion and hangovers? Caffeine’s always good - for everything. But unfortunately the killer hangover means coffee is not an option. The mere thought of it makes me feel sick. So, I decide I can probably handle a cup of tea. Tea has anti-toxidants or anti-oxidents or something. I'm unsure which, but I am figuring that it will either kill the toxic stuff (good) or the oxygen in my system (bad, but at least I'll be too dead to be hungover). Picking up my MP3 player, I hea...

This was published in MX, Australia's free public transport daily, on 1 September. The most amusing bit, for me, is that in Ireland the term "wet willy" means when someone dampens a finger and sticks it in your ear and wiggles it, to squick you out. Over here in Australia, it just means damp penis. So. I have told MX's readership (three quarters of a million and counting) that a hairdresser stuck his penis in my ear. No, wait - BOTH ears. Sadhbh Warren on haircuts I’m beginning to regret deciding to save cash by getting a haircut at a hairdressing college. I’m the only person there, and all the other students are merrily chopping away on mannequins. A trainee starts swearing and frantically rubbing her doll’s head with a cloth – she has mixed up something wrong and it’s a good thing she’s not using a real person (things you never want to hear your hairdresser say: ‘‘Oh my God, her ears! They’re melting!’’). So far, I’m not too worried. They tell me that they ...

I write for businesses so you don’t have to. Whether that’s websites, funding applications, blogs, case studies, reports or tenders – if you need it written, I can probably help. Don’t know what you need to get the results you want? That's where project managing comes in. I can help you work out that out, and then plan it with you and provide you an ongoing writing service to support your business needs. I offer writing services on a project basis as well as longer strategic solutions, including fractional copywriting. How fast will I do it? Every project is different but if you know your scope, tone, length and keyword/s, you can expect a turn-around of 3 - 5 working days. I can take on rush work, subject to a fee and availability. Need some guidance on what will make your idea shine? I can also work with you to tease out your business needs; it will take a little longer, but it will be worth it! Want to see my business?   Head to Red Rock Writing where I work with SMEs who need ...

Despite the tinsel and sparkly lights and fat bearded men in bright red suits, I find Christmas a sneaky season. One again, December has rolled round and I haven’t even bought my Mum a pressie yet. Every year, all the magazines advise shopping early and taking advantage of the January sales. I read them, think “what a good idea, I’ll do that” and then forget. So, instead of basking smugly with a glass of wine, I’m gearing up to battle maddened parents and frazzled assistants who have been tasked with finding an intimate present for their bosses partner - or partners. But you start optimistic and energized - ready to shop and roll, baby. You start thinking big. Wouldn’t it be great if you got everything in one shop? You’d be finished! The Queen of Christmas shopping. Then you can ditch the bags and the mad shoppers and go straight to the pub! This all seems like a really good idea, but leads to situations like you trying to persuade yourself that your sister would like a socket wrench, ...

I am the youngest child in my family. By the time I was old enough to cook my Mum was past the “let us bake together, angel children, never mind the mess” stage and into “get out, get out, are you trying to get burnt”. So I haven't really been taught to cook food basics. This can be an issue when I am faced with standard foods that I don’t care about enough to learn how to cook. I do a mean butter chicken, for example, because butter chicken is delicious but fail every time at making vegetable soup because, ugh, vegetable soup tastes like used socks. These days I have family of my own to feed - four people and a dog! - so obviously there's only one solution; exploring the wonderful worlds of malnutrition and massive credit card debt simultaneously by ordering takeaway all the time! Hah, but seriously no (as my partner says to me ALL THE DAMN TIME). Most nights I try to put together a home-cooked meal to give the impression that we are a functional family unit and not a near-r...

Very happy with this piece. Not only was it a great trip but the magazine worked with me on how to lay out the content and I think it looks amazing.

Here is a prime example of being careful what you cover when you can't travel. Writing this was an exercise in torture - all those descriptions of stunning beaches, tropical balmy days and great food. I'm well overdue for another holiday there! It’s known for the 300 days of sun it gets each year, with over 30 high-quality venues and endless exceptional activities, it’s as a business event destination that the Sunshine Coast really shines. (This is a clipping only, for more please contact me.)

This piece was picked up by the Echo Live , my event manager's guide to organizing a spooky but safe Halloween. I'm pleased to report this was a huge success at my home with my own little monsters too! 

I shared my tale of homeschooling woe - reproduced below - with the Irish Examiner  and on Medium .  School’s finally out for summer so let’s review what our family have learned over the last four torturous millennia, I mean months, of homeschooling.  Many facts were learned. Not by my kids, of course. They’re off the garden somewhere eating mud or setting fires or something. They learned nothing but Mum and Dad’s favorite spots to hide the TV remote, the fancy biscuits, and occasionally ourselves. But the grown-ups feel a great deal more educated. When the primary schools and daycares here in Ireland announced they were closing but would be sending out work each day, we stayed hopeful. After all, many people around choose to homeschool their kids. How bad can it be? It’s bad. It’s terrible and we’re terrible at it. Do you know the cunning required to make a 6-year-old willingly open a workbook? The tenacity needed to get them to sit down and finish a page of writing? The...

Would you like your office to go to the dogs? My piece on pet-friendly workplaces for Executive PA magazine  makes no bones about the many benefits of bringing man's best friend to the workplace.   We're not barking up the wrong tree - dog friendly offices have higher employee satisfaction and an edge in recruiting staff, according to a surveys, and studies have found that working teams who had a dog had ranked higher on qualities of trust, team cohesion, and intimacy than dog-less teams.  Dogged persistence may be needed to persuade the doubters but the offices I interviewed felt their pet-friendly policy made them top dogs when it came to workplace enjoyment. Maybe more companies should paws for thought and let every dog have its (work) day. I will stop with the terrible dog puns now, I promise. Here's an excerpt, for more see the magazine on the website ( pages 64/65 ) or drop me an email. Who let the dogs in?  Office dog Bronte hard at work ...

Working from home today I caught the watchful eye of my supervisor, the dog, I was reminded of a piece I wrote on dogs on the office.  Work harder or walk me, suggests my supervisor dog. Some Australian offices are going to the dogs to keep their workers happy and pet-friendly workplaces are becoming common. My current employers aren't onboard but some of the world’s largest are; including Apple, Amazon and Google. Over 20% of work places in America are dog friendly, but the world leader is Taiwan where over half of all work places welcome man’s best friend with open arms.  While there’s no doubt many dog-owners will see advantages to taking Rover to work, what’s in it for the business? Employee satisfaction and an edge in recruiting staff, according to a survey carried out by Dogster.com and Simply Hired , who found two-thirds of dog owners would work longer hours and a third would take a pay cut if they could bring their dog to the office. A study by Central Mic...

This piece ran in MX, a daily Australian transport newspaper. Wishing you all a pleasant holiday season and see you in 2015! Despite the tinsel and sparkly lights and fat bearded men in bright red suits, I find Christmas a sneaky season. One again, December has rolled round and I haven’t even bought my Mum a pressie yet. Every year, all the magazines advise shopping early and taking advantage of the January sales. I read them, think “what a good idea, I’ll do that” and then forget. So, instead of basking smugly with a glass of wine, I’m gearing up to battle maddened parents and frazzled assistants who have been tasked with finding an intimate present for their bosses partner - or partners. At the  start it's easy to be  optimistic  and  energized  - ready to shop and roll, baby. You  start  thinking big. Wouldn’t it be great if you got everything in one shop? You’d be finished! The Queen of ...

“If you wrote something for which someone sent you a check, if you cashed the check and it didn't bounce, and if you then paid the light bill with the money, I consider you talented.”  Stephen King, On Writing Stephen King wrote that. On my good days, I remember that Stephen King - Stephen mofo-ing King, a man with both an amazing body of work and an absurdly cute dog  - apparently considers me talented. I’m not going to be using my income from writing to buy a solid gold pony, or even a solid gold hamster, but I have made it into five figures. That was over three years, mind; not exactly a lucrative career but enough to keep me in beer and boots. On my bad days, I remind myself that those three years were over six years ago and that my cumulative work since having children are four dull and forgettable pieces for business publications and a few blog posts where the amount of swearing considerably outweighs any interesting content. I have written many other things. Bir...

Ripped jeans, micro-minis, offensive t-shirt slogans and far too much cleavage on display (from either gender) - researching my recent piece for Executive PA magazine brought me plenty of information on how office casual dress-codes can work, and how they can go horribly, horribly wrong...   Mark Zuckerberg wears a hoody, Tim Cook continues Steve Jobs's casually dressed CEO tradition, and Sir Richard Branson is rarely out of denim. While the office maxim is "copy the boss", what if they start dressing down?  Are CEOs really ditching the suit and, if so, should you? What with company leaders in jeans, increasing informality in many industries and the omnipresent casual Friday, it looks like business wear is going out of fashion. But how casual is too casual? One office found itself writing endless guides to clarify what business casual code means. "We had juniors in mini-skirts and new hires in ripped jeans and thongs," says their MD's PA. "We end...

"Turn around really slowly and carefully," my biking partner says as I stoop to put down my helmet. "And look at what's behind you."   As an Irishwoman in Australia, it's got to be the phrase I least wanted to hear. There are others, including “is that log a crocodile" and “I’ll just put on my budgie smugglers” but in terms of I'm-in-the-place-with-the-most-poisonous-animals-in-the-world-and-they-all-hate-me, this one's got to win. That's it.  My number is up.   And I haven't even seen a quokka yet. I’m blaming the travel tips I have got from every Perthite and tourist who has ever been to WA. As one, they all said I needed to see Rottnest Island. Nicknamed Rotto, the island is just an hour from Fremantle; a stunning environmental refuge with white sand beaches, no cars and the infamous Rottnest quokka. And, because there’re no motor vehicles allowed on the island, it’s pedalling all the way. We hire bikes to get around the twenty-...

Some of you may have noticed rustling in the bushes and strange noises on Twitter . Don't be alarmed. That's just my new business name, getting ready to emerge. While as a freelancer I'm lucky in having a distinctive and unusual name, being called Sadhbh comes with one big disadvantage.  No one can say it*. A small sample of the recent guesses made by people trying to work it out include Saba, Sadvie, Sadhabah, and, of course, “Yo, Irish”. Some resorted to changing my surname as firstname and calling me Warren. Others just stand there, twitching and wide-eyed like rabbit in the headlights, until I put them out of their misery and explain how to pronounce it. It's a very traditional Irish female name and actually pretty easy to say - like the number five, but with an "s" instead of an "f". It might look like the victi m of a tragic consonants shorta ge , but it trips off the tongue quite easily. Sive. But for those that don't know th...