Media diet week 3

Press: the Press Gazette was back in publication this Thursday after the Xmas break. What a relief. I'd really missed it. My favourite section is "The Knowledge" - always crammed with masses of great features on freelancing and thus a good source of tips and advice. I had a mini-skive from work on Wednesday morning to do a few errands, so I popped into WH Smith to buy some new magazines, purely for research as I plan to crack some new markets if I can. I came out with copies of The Oldie, Psychologies and Tastes of Britain, none of which I've had time to read yet, which means some of the weekend will be spent lying on the sofa - coffee in one hand, mags in the other. I already have a pitch in mind for the foodie mag.

Blogs: Bloglines is turning out to be the new Facebook for me. It's only been a fortnight since I tripped over this site but it's rapidly turning into my no. 1 procrastination toy. I just can't resist adding new blogs to it to read. I've discovered the blog of novelist Anne Brooke, which is witty, slightly bitchy in an ever-so-nice sort of way and covers a huge range of minutiae. Fascinating stuff. Another novelist whose blog I follow is Martin Millar. This cult writer loves football, lying on the sofa and drinking tea, in between playing computer games and watching Buffy reruns. I normally read hack blogs so reading about the lives of those who write completely different stuff is a refreshing eye opener. It's good to get out of the rarefied world of journalism now and again.

TV/radio: I watched The One and Only on Saturday. I have a weird fascination for the BBC's talent shows. And watching people pretend to be Elton John, Cher and (a truly rubbish) Rod Stewart was about as weird as it gets. At least Torchwood was back on Wednesday and lived up to my expectations.

Books: would you believe I am STILL ploughing through Attention All Shipping? My excuse is that bedtime is the only time I get to relax with a book but the past two weeks I've been so tired that most nights I've only managed half a dozen pages before I had to switch the light off. The end is in sight though. Only about 30 pages to go...