Blog overload

Not content with this one, the other one and the handful of other blogs I update or guest on here and there, I've only gone and started a new one!

The new one, though, is proper work on a topic that passes for an addiction in the Wordsmith Towers household - soap. No, not the stuff I lather up with in the shower. The other sort. On TV. One of 'em, anyway.

I'm busy pimping it right now on Twitter and Facebook and I'll be updating it at least once a week. That'll keep me off the streets in the evenings. And it's good to be hacking again...

Disability and PR spin

I just received an email from Leonard Cheshire Disability. Or rather, their PR company: "I’m contacting you from the information you supplied on your blog. I saw you have posted about disability and I wanted to tell you about an organization in the UK you may or may not be aware of. Leonard Cheshire Disability have just unveiled six new characters (attached) from its [REMOVED] series on [REMOVED] ahead of a six week campaign to change attitudes to disability. Disabled people have the same desires and aspirations as non-disabled people, in work, education and relationships. The new animations will challenge people’s low expectations about what disabled people can do and will be broadcasted on national television over the summer. The new characters are based on the unscripted voices of real young disabled people talking about the issues that affect their lives. One animation highlights attitudes towards wheelchairs and people with a hearing impairment, while the others focus on things like sex, relationships and bullying. From reading your blog we hope you may believe in the campaign and post to your readers and debate about what it aims to achieve. Clips of the new adverts and the TV adverts from the first series can be found and be embedded from [REMOVED]. The new advert clips will include the new characters mentioned earlier, which you can see at the [REMOVED] website; along with more about the campaign, interviews with the voices behind the characters, and clips of all the current and previous adverts: [REMOVED]"

Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against Leonard Cheshire and the valuable work it does for those far more seriously disabled than myself. What I object to is their PR company cynically trying to cash in on this blog to promote the cause. Their opening lines show clearly they haven't even followed this blog properly or they would be well aware that I post regularly, if intermittently, on living with a disability and would not have sent me such a patronising plea ("I saw you have posted about disability and I wanted to tell you about an organization in the UK you may or may not be aware of").

I'm a journalist and I write about disability issues sometimes, with that added insight I have from actually being disabled (at least from an official viewpoint, as my disability is not that bad from a personal perspective). Do they honestly think as a meeja professional I would not have heard of Leonard Cheshire? More importantly, do they believe I am that gullible, buyable even, that an email would be all it takes to promote them?

I don't doubt that Nile-On (the PR company) is doing its best to promote a very worthy cause (and gawd knows, disability needs positive press coverage) but cynically trying to exploit or hijack personal blogs is not the way forward. I get very riled by these kind of approaches. It's not the first time and undoubtedly won't be the last, but boy does it raise my hackles...

I'm far more interested in Britain's Missing Top Model as a way of showing the diversity of disability.

Advertising on blogs

It had to happen eventually. Advertising company Polimedia emailed me to see if they could buy space on my blog to flog one of their clients, Doing Fine.

I can't be arsed to reply, partly because Hotmail doesn't function in Firefox and I'm not in the mood for opening it in IE.

But if you're reading this, Polimedia, my blog is not for sale. Not to advertisers, anyway. I'm Doing Fine without you. I hate the (attempted) commercialisation of everything on the internet and my views cannot be appended to the brand image of some company or other. I don't need your money and I certainly don't want to compromise myself.

I'll continue to post on here what I like, when I like, without worrying if my "sponsor" will get offended and withdraw. Money doesn't buy everything, certainly not me.

A day in the life

Dougalfish wrote a great post last week on her typical working day. I'm quite often asked "but what do you do all day?". It's hard to answer as no 2 days are ever the same (well, not unless I'm editing some mind-numbingly dull book on insurance risk management for 2 solid weeks) but I suppose yesterday was a fairly average day in most respects.

6.00 - switch the alarm off. Lie there for 2 minutes thinking I really want to go back to sleep for another 3 hours. Instead, I drag my sorry carcass to the bathroom to clean my teeth and have a hot shower. The steam wakes me up a little. A quick towel down and I dress in gym kit - yoga pants, t-shirt and trainers. It's chilly so I add a fleece then spend 10 minutes putting some make-up on (mascara and brow pencil if you're wondering) and beating my hair into submission.

6.45 - the cat is by now going crazy trying to get my attention because quite clearly I am at fault for being up a whole 45 minutes without feeding him. Downstairs, I feed the cats (there are actually 2) and make a pint of hot water with lemon slices. I empty the dishwasher while the kettle comes to the boil.

7.00 - sit at the PC. A s I sip my hot water, I take a quick look at any emails that came in overnight - one from a US client asking if I have any stories for her (no, I don't. I'd tell her if I did), several mails from a journo listserv I belong to (I delete these as I'm not interested in the topic being debated) and one from a colleague about organising a drinks do for freelances in our neck of the woods. Then I surf the net for half an hour - Facebook, the Journobiz forums, the BBC headlines. I'll read the rest of the news later.

7.45 - my trainer is at the door. Time to work out. For the next hour or so, this evil sadist (just kidding, he's very sweet really) has me lifting weights, doing squats and using a Swiss ball to tone up. The trainer comes 3 mornings a week and I go to the gym in between. Sitting at a PC all day is a good recipe for turning into a lardarse. The workouts are supposed to keep that in check.

9.00 - the trainer's gone so I have another quick shower and dress in jeans, a long green jumper and my trainers. I put coffee on to brew then rummage in the fridge for breakfast. I ought to be making juice, but I can't be bothered today so I grab a banana and make two slices of toast. I'll be alone for the rest of the day as the cleaner's not due for another couple of days.

9.30 - back at the PC. I read the Guardian and the Sun for more news. A broadsheet and a tabloid so I get both takes on what's happening out there. I rarely have time to read other papers, but if a major story breaks (such as the 7/7 bombings) I'll turn on News 24 and surf other news sites as well. Then I log in to Bloglines to read the blogs I subscribe to and some news feeds.

10.00 - time to log in to Googlemail and trawl through the press releases. I do this 2-3 times a day. Mostly, it's delete, delete, delete but today something catches my eye about a new website that could prove to be of use professionally. I immediately go and have a look and decide to register. It takes less than 10 minutes for me to realise this was a big mistake as the site has privacy issues. I decide to pitch a story about this to one of the papers I write for - it takes me about 10 minutes to draft the pitch then whizz it over the ether in an email.

10.30 - I start drafting a press release for a local businesswoman. I'm doing this as a freebie as she runs a virtual PA company and will give me some free hours in return, useful if I need transcription or some other service done. I find it hard to concentrate and keep sneaking 5-minute breaks on Facebook and Journobiz. The postie delivers the mail at 11-ish but there's nothing of interest today. I also take 2 phone calls, one from a freelance editor in the mood for a chat (he gets a polite brush-off as I'm too busy), the other from a client wanting a progress report.

12.00 - I've finished the first draft of the release so I mail it to my "client". Then I start my next task. Last week, I interviewed several industry spokespersons for a corporate job I'm working on. It's time to type up my notes. I hate this as it's the dullest part of the project, but essential if I'm going to produce a quality report for the client. I grit my teeth and crack on with it.

1.00 - lunch. I make a cheese sandwich and a pint mug of tea. Time to check emails again. I have an offer of editing work for a financial company - yay, right up my street. I email back to suggest a time for a phone chat on a different day. Another contact emails to say she's leaving her job and so-and-so will be handling projects in future. Time to chase as I have a number of corporate pitches sitting with this client that they haven't yet responded to. I decide I need some air so grab my coat and bag and head out the door. I nip into the bank across the street to pay in a cheque that's been sitting on my desk for 2 weeks already then I walk up to the parade to buy stamps. I'm home inside 20 minutes and chuck some washing in the machine.

2.00 - back to transcribing my notes. I need to listen to the recordings here and there as I have gaps but decide to do that tomorrow instead. I take mini-breaks to surf Facebook, Journobiz, the BBC, Bloglines and incoming mail. It's quiet today in terms of interruptions - the phone has barely rung and my email level is unusually low.

5.00 - I'm done. My notes are all typed up and I have a very clear picture in my head of how I'll be structuring the report for my client. I'll be starting that next day. I raise 3 invoices for clients - I should have done these last Friday but I was too busy. I turn 1 into a PDF and email it, then nip to the postbox with the other 2. Ideally I'd like to email all my invoices and have a paperless office but some clients still want a "proper" invoice. I also post a cheque to a colleague who bailed me out last week on a research problem and has to be paid for her time. I try not to outsource such work if I can avoid it but I was pushed for time last week and juggling too many jobs.

5.45 - I sift through the papers littering my desk. I can't bear clutter so I file what I can and divide the rest into 2 piles - "must deal with tomorrow" and "can hang around for a while in a neat corner".

6.00 - sit down with a drink. Briefly fancy a ciggie before remembering I gave up last June. I still miss them very occasionally. I feed the cats again and cook a quick dinner of steak and salad then get changed into a posher top over the jeans. I swap the trainers for heels and put on more make-up - eyeshadow, liner and lip gloss. The hair looks just about ok. A spritz of Coco Mademoiselle and some earrings are the finishing touches.

7.30 - head out the door. It's my monthly night out with a particular gang of friends. I walk to a pub in town and I'm first to arrive so I chat to the landlord, who's a pal of mine.

8.00 - my friends turn up and we proceed to make inroads into vast quantities of vodka. I end up talking shop as 3 mates want to know about a magazine I commission for, so we natter about that for a while then gossip about absent friends and holiday plans.

11.00 - I'm slightly tipsy and don't fancy walking home alone so I scrounge a lift from a friend. He drops me on the corner of my street and I wave goodnight to him. The house is in darkness when I let myself in. The vodka has left me wired so I pour a large brandy and sit at the PC while I drink it (and a top-up). I surf my favourite sites once more.

12.00 - it's midnight. Time to crash. As I flip the bedside light off I realise I'm still wearing my make-up but can't be bothered to get up again. Within seconds I'm fast asleep.

National recognition

Well, blow me! That nice chap at the Guardian, Roy Greenslade, has given this blog a mention in his weekly column in Media Guardian. Greenslade is giving a well-deserved nationwide plug to the new case-studies website that I mentioned in my last post.

I nearly fell off my chair in shock when I saw this humble wordsmith getting a nod in the last paragraph. And he has described my blog as "engaging". I'm almost embarrassed. Certainly enough to stop me putting "A star is born" as the title, as it occurred to me some readers might think I was being arrogant instead of my usual sarcastic self. But still, the endorsement was enough to send my stats mile-high (I hate that phrase, seeing as I went totally metric in 1991, but somehow kilometre-high doesn't have quite the same ring).

Thanks, Roy. I owe you a pint.

PS, the blog is still for sale if any publishers are interested. ;)

My media

Inspired by Linda Jones's media diet over on Freelance Writing Tips, here's mine.

Press: I'm too lazy to buy papers these days, except for the weekly local rag. I read the Guardian and Observer online, plus the BBC news online. I surf the online tabloids only if I have time and am bored and in search of some celebrity gossip. I also buy several magazines every month - usually BBC Good Food, Eve, InStyle and New Woman (the latter strictly for the fashion pages). I rarely read the trade press, except for my free copy of Editing Matters, published by the SfEP. I also like How Do, for its coverage of north-west media, which is after all on my patch.

Blogs: I read quite a few. I always enjoy reading what Craig McGinty has to say about the media. Likewise, I read Linda Jones on her various blogs. She is a highly experienced journalist and has great insight into the media, plus a sharp wit. Sally at Getting Ink is also very insightful and funny. I also follow Belle de Jour and The Girl, because they are the two best sex blogs around and utterly addictive. I surf around to read others occasionally.

Web: I use the web every day when working. Wikipedia is useful for fact-checking and research, as is Google. I have bookmarks for many other sites I use regularly, either for work or personal stuff. I shop online for books and other stuff and I belong to a large number of forums that reflect my personal interests.

Networking: the internet is so useful for business networking. I belong to several business forums - good for discussing business issues and occasionally finding work. I have a presence on MySpace, but can't be bothered with Facebook, Bebo and the rest. I also use LinkedIn but have yet to exploit it to the max. And, of course, there's the quintessential JournoBiz.

Phone: I hate the phone.

Skype: another essential. I rarely use the phone, but the chat facility is very useful for my overseas clients, especially for exchanging files. I also chat to friends via Yahoo.

Email: an essential tool given that 99.9% of my work arrives and leaves by email. As soon as I get up, the first thing I do after making my pot of tea is to check my inbox. Then I carry on checking it regularly throughout the day until it's time to sleep. Addict? Moi?

Gadgets: none. I can't be doing with Blackberrys and the like. My mobile phone is the one concession I make and even then it's switched off most of the time and only used when absolutely essential.

Books: life would be tedious in the extreme without books. Naturally, I have a ridiculously huge collection of dictionaries and reference books - tools of the trade. For relaxation, I love crime fiction, particularly gory serial killer thrillers. The gorier the better. I also enjoy biographies, particularly of bands I grew up with the late 70s/early 80s. I have a large collection of books on The Clash, for example. I also read a lot of history and politics. I must read in bed at night, even if it's only for 5 minutes before switching the light off.

TV/radio: I watch very little TV. I rarely watch the news as I read it online, but I occasionally tune into BBC News 24 if there's a major breaking story. Otherwise, I always watch EastEnders, Doctor Who and Torchwood when they are showing, and I enjoy a good drama series too. I used to listen to Radio 4 all the time 20 years ago, but these days only tune in for The Archers. I find daytime radio distracting when I'm working and I hate missing out on so many good programmes but it's just not practical anymore. My bedroom radio is tuned to Radio 2 - I love Wogan and Jonathan Ross.