'You've got your hands full'

Email your MP about child poverty - it takes less than two minutes

2009-11-04T20:57:20+00:00

ACCORDING to a Press Association report, the number of children in families living on benefits has increased by 170,000 over the past year, with child poverty growing in affluent as well as traditionally affected areas.

The Campaign to End Child Poverty reports a "staggering" two million British children now have no parent in work.

It warned the number of children in families without jobs was rising to its highest level for a decade.

Without substantial investment now, 2.3 million children will be living in poverty in 2010, more than half a million above the Government's target, it was warned.

Investing £4 billion would take the Government close to its aim of halving child poverty, said the campaigners.

The report's author, social policy researcher Donald Hirsch said: "We couldn't afford to let the banks fail and now we can't afford to fail our children, our future.

"Rising unemployment has created a new poverty crisis which could leave children scarred for life and cost society some £25 billion a year. This dwarfs the investment needed to hit the target to halve child poverty by 2010."

Kate Green, chief executive of the Child Poverty Action Group, said, "This shows that more investment is needed as families feel the effects of the recession.

"The Government must provide additional financial support for families on benefits and tax credits in the Pre-Budget Report in November. We also need a wider recession recovery package that improves the Social Fund, increases childcare, helps parents to work part time without losing benefits and meets extra school costs."

* You can email your MP to ask for them to push the Government for action.

There's a link here for anyone who's interested. Thanks.

I have emailed our MP after being told by the organisers of the campaign that just 159 people had taken the time to do so.

How many votes does the X Factor get again?

Help find Madeleine McCann and other missing children

2009-11-04T20:38:57+00:00

MUM bloggers are being asked to help publicise this video in the hunt for Madeleine McCann.

As the appeal slips further from the top of news agendas, the hope is that some momentum can be maintained.

The video is from the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre.

If you are interested in learning more about other missing children in the UK, and how you can help, please also check out Missingkids.co.uk.

Twin Tuesday: Jedward are just the latest twins to rock the X Factor!

2009-11-03T21:02:54+00:00

2009:

2008: These girls later competed for a Eurovision place.

2007: Oh my!

2006: Imaginatively called...The Twins

Blame these:

Can anyone think of any more?

And can you tell me which of these class acts I have worked with? :)

Back but shattered

2009-11-02T22:23:34+00:00

THANK YOU again for all the good wishes before we went to The Bahamas.

If you are in any way interested, we are now back and loving the various delights of being at home - rain, sorting out car tax, gas leaks, terrible wind, that type of thing.

Yeah, I know. Possibly too much information.

I hope to post all about our cruise adventure as soon as I can. A small matter of a shedload of work stuff is in the way at the moment. Am not even going to attempt the terrible wind thing.

Seeya.

Just want to make my voice heard: I won't be buying the Mail again

2009-10-20T21:29:32+01:00

PAUL usually blogs about online journalism while Becky blogs about cakey buns.

This week, their excellent blogs were closely connected for the first and possibly last time as they both took time to ponder the appalling story of how a journalist ripped into a popular young performer on the day before his funeral.

How 'organised' was the Jan Moir campaign? asked Paul.

I don't think there is much I can add to the acres of newsprint and online comment that has followed this extraordinary episode, but I did want to say, loud and clear as I have in comments on both Paul and Becky's blogs, that my complaint to the PCC was not part of an orchestrated campaign.

I also wanted to say, quite simply that I won't be buying the Mail again and nor will I be pitching it. (Not that I did anyway any time recently, thanks to the overcommissioning...)

I wasn’t aware of a Facebook group aiming to shame Jan Moir and do not follow Stephen Fry or Derren Brown on Twitter.

I was struck most of all by a lack of common human decency in the article before my mind registered the homophobic undertones.

It quite upset me and I tweeted that I was upset by the vile article, I felt that Twitter helped give me a voice in this regard and a few people responded to or retweeted my view on it.

I then checked a link for the PCC website as supplied in another tweet that was sent my way from someone I didn’t follow.

I complained and retweeted the link. This was in no way orchestrated or planned on my part, rather a spontaneous expression of my disgust that such a lack of decency and compassion should be shown.

Some may consider it cheesy that when I think about this chain of events, I was thinking about Stephen Gately’s mum and as I am a mum too, it really did upset me to think she would have to be made aware of such a vile article.

I couldn’t get my head round the fact that the piece had gone from writer to sub to page and bearing in mind the findings of the coroner, that no-one had questioned the taste, decency or accuracy of stating there was ‘nothing natural about the death’.

I was also stunned that JM wrote he couldn’t hold a tune. Like others who have commented elsewhere, I don’t possess a single BoyZone track but I had heard him sing and my untrained ear agreed with Andrew Lloyd Webber.

It was this level of petty bile and the timing of it which also upset me. My parents are long-time Mail readers and I have bought it to read on train journeys or at the weekend.

I will be talking to my mum and dad and asking them to stop buying it too.

I think it’s short-sighted and arrogant to respond to such a wave of condemnation by saying this was an ‘orchestrated campaign’ and feel somewhat baffled that anyone working in the media should seek to portray this as some sort of spat between a more liberal ‘twitterati’ and a right wing newspaper.

There were plenty of parents, of all political persuasions who felt at a very basic level that the unfeeling nature of the piece should be spoken out about.

I hope an apology, at least, is forthcoming.

I complained because I am a mum and a human being, not because I became aware that high-profile people on Twitter were suggesting this was a good idea.

Three years ago I crumbled...why my daughters' birthday is a triple celebration

2009-10-20T13:49:56+01:00

I SOBBED in front of the doctor.

She gently asked me when I began to feel so desperate and I told her it was on my daughters' birthday.

Admitting that such a supposedly joyous day should cause me pain, was hard. I felt guilty.

Why shouldn't I just shut up and get on with it like everyone else?

But as I sat on my bed at 3am,crying and contemplating throwing myself through the window, I knew I had to seek medical help.

Despite thinking everyone would be better off without me, part of me was still rational enough to know I didn’t want to feel like this.

My daughters' birthday was the last straw because here I was again, organising a party, doing the food, booking cinema tickets, sorting invitations and anticipating the arrival of a gaggle of eight to nine-year-olds for a sleepover.

What was I thinking?

I was taking too much on. Alongside the day to day tasks of work and family, for me, at this time, it was too much. It was the same every Christmas.

But would I admit it?

Would I hell.

Until I saw the doctor.

The day before, in my work as a freelance journalist, I’d interviewed two women. One had lost one of her twins at birth; the other had been kidnapped at knifepoint.

Both began to cry on the phone. I started too and couldn’t stop.

The thought of letting down these women by not being able to tell their stories, not to mention the editors waiting for the copy, was too much to bear.

To my shame, I never went back and explained to those interviewees why their stories never saw the light of day. I lost contact with the editors too. I didn’t want to be remembered as the one who was nuts.

Like all journalists, I can thrive under pressure. I know it's part of what being a journalist is all about but it also brought back terrible memories of a doctor telling me I had ‘reactive depression’ years earlier.

In a newsroom, I’d been told to ‘fuck off home’ as I was ‘obviously mental’. That was after taking time away to visit a brother seriously injured in an accident and returning with what my editor called ‘a face like a slapped arse.’

I raged inside and wondered if any other industries got away with treating employees like that. I never spoke up and quit instead.

This time, with more than me to think about, I knew I had to get better and quick.

With the doctor's help I did. I was prescribed anti-depressants. I took them for three months and remembered what it was like to be me again.

And thank God I did.

As my family approaches our beloved girls' birthday, I think I am safe to say I am glad I never jumped out of that window. And ever since, I have spoken up to get more support and help when these family milestones approach.

That year, I fell asleep in the cinema. I had no energy. Last year, as we enjoyed a day in Blackpool in the rain, there was no stopping me and this year, well this year we are all set for quite an adventure.

I hope my simplistic tale of recovery from depression may help someone somewhere.

Thank you.

NUJ: Putting an end to stress at work campaign.

Rethink:

National Advice Service on 0845 456 0455

Time to Change, a four year campaign to end mental health discrimination.

Our worst holiday - too much jelly, a broken arm and seeking solace in a chocolate bar or six!

2009-10-20T12:54:50+01:00

THERE'S a lay-by in Mid Wales we pass each time we go to New Quay, which we never fail to point out.

It's "Emily's lay-by" - same as my mum has a gate somewhere on the Horseshoe Pass.

The sight of it, some eight years later, still fills me with a slight dread and a knot lurches in my stomach.

I never fail to remember the spectacular projectile vomiting that led us there - too late to save our car but early enough to allow us to get Emily changed and deposit an entire sick-coated outfit in its bin.

We only had ourselves to blame.

Like her nan before her, Emily has never been the best traveller.

On our way to Pendine Sands, with two more families, we'd stopped off at another nan's house and she fed the kids jelly and ice cream.

"Emily doesn't like it." I protested sounding like a maternal version of Little Britain's Andy.

But Emily had other ideas.

She decided all of a sudden that she did now like jelly and ice cream and what was more, she was not only going to finish her own but also polish off what was left by her sister and her two friends.

Nice.

I'd never seen anything like it. I was a bit embarrassed, but my friend's mum whose house we had stopped at was impressed by Emily's appetite.

"Get it down you," she smiled.

"Get it up you" would have been more appropriate as the journey continued.

Just 30 minutes of meandering Mid Wales roads later, Emily was spewing for England.

And so we stopped at the lay-by, before continuing with a resigned air and a determination that the holiday could only get better.

We were wrong.

After queuing to collect our caravan keys, we made our way inside and began to unpack.

A knock at the door soon came and my friend Stacey informed me she was taking her daughter Ellen to the nearest doctor as she had caught her hand in a door.

Ouch.

But it wasn't the end of the world, was it? I cheerily asked my girls.

"Daddy will be here soon," I assured them after Neil rang to say he was on his way after a late shift.

I'll never know what they thought of this news.

Next thing I knew Melissa had pooed on the floor as her potty training "practise" got the better of her.

As I stooped to clear up the runny mess seeping into the beige carpet, I could hear Emily's giggles behind me as she clambered onto the sofa.

But then I heard a sickening crunch.

Before I had time to tell her not to climb quite so eagerly, she had fallen off, landing on her wrist. She was crying uncontrollably.

I did what every good mother does and told her to stop complaining. Then we tried the trusted family remedy of running her arm under a cold tap.

Somehow, I also found time to wash the crap off my hands and eat a whole packet of Breakaways.

They never even touched the sides.

I drove like a maniac to hospital. I can still see the cars I passed now, sticking up two fingers or mouthing expletives at me.

When we found out Emily had broken her arm, I was inconsolable.

Even Bradley Bear wouldn't make up for this.

Needless to say we have never been back to Pendine. I've never touched a Breakaway and Emily has never had jelly and ice cream since.

* This post is for Victoria at It's a small world after all and her festival of car sick!

Thanks for blog award and passing it on

2009-10-18T13:52:13+01:00

THANKS to Ellen at World of a Mummy and Whistlejacket for a "I love your blog" award.

I think it's about time I displayed these 'ere awards properly, so I'll get on with that.

As I understand it, the way it works is you are supposed to then pass on said accolade. Ellen said it goes to 15, yes 15, blogs...

So here goes with mine*:

Fantastic Four Down Mum to Go.

Extra special English Mum

Divine Dulwichdivorcee

Excellent Erica

Lovelies: Laura and Liz

Mummy-licious Madhouse

Sensational Sleep is for the weak

Fabulous Family Affairs

Just delicious Jo Beaufoix

Super-duper Singleparentdad

Terrific, kid Tara.

Neatly appealing Nixdminx

Practically perfect Parentdish

Rather ace Real Mamma Diaries

Marvellous Maternal Tales

* I know some of you will have this already from someone with more about them than me and some of you won't give a monkey's but well if you want to accept it and pass it on, there you go.

On blogging, travel writing and working for free

2009-10-15T15:23:08+01:00

ALONG with my business partner, I lead training workshops advising freelance journalists on how to make more money. I've written a book which warns against writing for free.

Now I'm an editor of a family travel blog with no budget to pay contributors.

How the hell did that happen?

Would you expect a plumber or mechanic to do their job for free? No and neither would I. Nor do I expect anyone to write for Have a Lovely Time for free.

It's a debate which continues to run and one I feel even more closely linked to since launching Have a Lovely Time. Thing is, writers are sending me copy, saying they want to be featured, despite me saying very clearly we can't pay, that we have an established team and that we welcome "occasional" contributions from parent bloggers.

It does actually keep me awake at night, worrying that anyone would think they are being ripped off. So, I've tried my best to find ways to make it pay. Journalists and bloggers writing for the site are sharing opportunities coming our way and while I recognise that not all of them pay the bills, some of them do help.

What do I mean?

For example, we've been invited on press trips. When this happens, if the contributor is a freelance journalist, we can work together to identify paying markets and craft pitches. At least one writer reports a published piece in a newspaper they'd been trying to crack for a while came as a direct result of a piece on Have a Lovely Time.

At the same time, while some marketing people invite us on press trips, freelance journalists are finding others want guaranteed commissions before a place on such a trip will be assigned. We know we're not going to compete on reader numbers with a newspaper's travel section but if the PRs are after 'word of mouth' then reporting they can contribute may also prove a help for the journalist in this respect.

Also, I've been able to offer places on the workshops I mention above to contributors. I'm pleased that some have been able to take me up on it.

As well as this, the established freelance writers tell me that they are "happy" to contribute as it helps build their portfolio and boost their on-going chances of building a specialism in a very competitive field.

Ask any new writer and they’ll tell you how difficult it is to ‘crack’ that elusive vicious circle: You want a job, editors want experience. You pitch a feature; they want evidence of a track record – cuttings of already published work.

So what can you do? Writing for free is a harmless way of proving you have what it takes, isn’t it?

You must beware - for every publication offering you “exposure” as your sole reward, there’s plenty more experienced hacks who’ll tell you to tread carefully. As someone always firmly in this second category and now also being possibly being seen as fitting into the first, it's a really difficult line to tread.

I've written for free in a limited capacity. My career in journalism, which began at the Wolverhampton Express & Star, now spans 20 years and has seen work published in dozens of publications.

I started my own business called Passionate Media, which now has five members of staff. I've worked as an editor in Russia, a news editor on regional evening papers and contributor to various nationals.

So why did I ever feel the need to ‘give away’ my work?

All those years ago, it could be argued that I wrote for free during my time on work experience.

But a sharp reality check tells me my ‘payment’ was the invaluable on the job training I received.

Years on, while at home with two baby daughters, I volunteered to write for a charity’s magazine.

That helped me talk myself into the job of editing the magazine and doing the charity’s PR. I also offered unpaid ad hoc PR work for my local Chamber of Commerce.

The result? To this day, its senior personnel still recommend my services when contacted by firms wanting publicity.

Lichfield-based writer Nick Daws is the award-winning author of around 50 non-fiction books, including Living & Working in Italy and Start your own home-based business.

He raises a key point campaigned on by the National Union of Journalists and many, many more experienced writers – writing for free devalues the profession.

He says: “I’ve always avoided writing for free. Writers should be paid a fair wage and those who routinely work for free are effectively undercutting those of us who depend on writing for our livelihood.

“I recently did a small job to allow a company to assess my style and I could assess what the job would involve. I wouldn’t adopt this approach for anything more substantial. I might be willing to accept a lower than usual fee for writing say, a test article, if I genuinely believed it was going to lead on to better things.

"I’d definitely expect payment if the job was going to take me more than half a day or so. “You need to judge any offer carefully. If it’s just a small job to test your skills, and you’re confident it could lead to regular work, go for it.

"But if it’s more substantial, be prepared to negotiate. Point out to the editor that this will take a fair bit of work and as a professional writer you expect some recompense.

"If they are reasonable people, they should understand and accept this. If not, you’re probably better off not working for them anyway.”

Martin Drury, of Evesham, has written numerous articles for his university paper, tipped off the local press, appeared on student radio, and written reviews for various websites – but only started making a living from writing in 2005.

He has since contributed to Yoga Magazine, The Liberal, the Readers’ Review, Gloucester Citizen, Evesham Journal, and Spill Music magazine - and says he never could have got there without building a portfolio of ‘free’ writing.

He says: “If your first writing opportunity is a paid writing opportunity, you’re very lucky. If people are waving pay cheques- however small- in your face before you’ve even penned a single word, take the money and don’t consider writing for free.”

For London-based Michael Hewitt, who has an impressive clutch of cuts from the likes of the UK broadsheet press and prestigious glossy magazines, writing for fun kick started his career – by accident

Finding himself bored in his specialist PR job, he began posting messages to a bulletin board which was a precursor of the Internet.

He says: “A few months in, I received an e-mail from the editor of a magazine called Personal Computer World, asking me to write a column for him. “The resulting column ran for about nine years and I was twice nominated for Columnist of the Year.

But Michael too urges caution. He says: “Beware of any editors offering “jam tomorrow,” saying if you write for free now, when their publication becomes successful, they’ll start paying you.

What often happens is that, if the publication takes off, they’ll dump you and hire some higher-profile, established journalist."

Are you being ripped off?

* Ask yourself is this publication ripping me off or do they genuinely have a limited budget?

If so, why? If they can't afford to pay their writers, why is this and do you really want to write for them?

* Weigh up if the piece will genuinely have the possibility of leading to other work, building a specialism or boosting your reputation

*Be prepared to ask for a fee if a job is going to take a lot of work.

Ask for expenses at the very least

* Do you care passionately about an issue you are reporting on? Will it make a genuine difference? (And even then some would say remember – the resulting warm glow doesn’t pay the bills.)

How have things moved on?

For me, a complicating factor in all of this is that many bloggers don't consider writing a "job." Some may be aspiring journalists, some may be established journalists and some have no interest in journalism whatsoever.

And in travel journalism, mainstream publications are repeatedly saying there's no budget for UK travel features.

In February 2008, I reported the following for Press Gazette:

What were the chances of building a career in this competitive field for anyone who fancied it?

Author, journalist and trainer Dea Birkett said:

Forget it. The biggest misconception about travel writing is that it’s an easy way to make a living. You have to do other things to pay the mortgage.

Unlike other jobs, you have to be on duty 24/7. It’s exhausting. When you’re white-water rafting up a New Zealand river, you’re also watching yourself do it. In effect, taking notes about yourself. No-one else on the raft – unless it’s jam-packed with travel writers – is doing those two things at once. They’re just holding on.

You might trek around Kenya for a week but then come back to your electricity bill.

It’s a week away. A day or two to organise the trip, then another day to write the feature. That’s about 10 days for maybe £500.

Wannabe travel writers need to be realistic about what lies ahead, added Birkett:

The newspaper and magazine market is shrinking, as more sections rely on ‘readers' recommendations’, for which they pay nothing.

The trend is away from 1,200-word features towards listings, which are compiled in-house. Most people now go to the web for their travel writing. Newspaper websites all pay less than print pages, so again, income is decreasing.

Freelance travel writer and commissioning editor Vicky Baker also urged caution: “You have to remember that the same rules of freelance pitching still apply. It sounds obvious, but, for some reason, people often overlook this in travel.

“Some of the least convincing pitches I’ve seen come from experienced writers – ‘I’ve written for X, Y and Z, and I’m going away to Barcelona. Would you like a piece?’

“You need to offer an angle – preferably involving something new, topical, little-known or an inside perspective.”

William Ham Bevan, now freelance but previously deputy editor at Telegraph Create and a former deputy editor at The Sunday Times travel magazine, said: “it makes sense to keep travel writing as a sideline.

“Perhaps try the odd travel piece for an occasional market – one with long lead times to accommodate inevitable rewrites,” he added.

“Those wanting to get into travel get fixated on the supposed glamour and prestige – one to remember when you’re bored rigid in front of BBC World on hotel cable.

“They forget that they’re likely to be paid on the same linage rate as any other writer. So you might get the same amount for the same number of words as the bloke doing a feature on, say, wall plugs; but your piece necessitated a five-day trip rather than an afternoon of phone interviews and 30 minutes on the cuts file.”

A logical answer

I really didn't like the sound of much of this yet I've always fostered an ambition to do at least some travel writing and to make it worthwhile.

Past jobs have taken me to New York, Spain, Russia and various UK destinations so I do have some experience of travel writing, albeit what seems like a lifetime ago.

I've not pitched travel editors very often at all, have had some very encouraging and polite rejections (mainly due, I was told, to a lack of budget or a lack of interest in UK destinations.)

Starting a blog and finding ways to make it pay seemed a logical answer.

Just as I started Got Your Hands Full to provide information and support for families with twins, triplets or more as this is a group not served too well by mainstream media, I felt there was a need for information for UK families about holidays and activities that didn't have to break the bank.

Judging by the response, plenty of bloggers agree with me.

However much we respect and admire the knowledge and experience of high-flying travel journalists and editors, in many cases, their reports in mainstream media just aren't for us.

Our 'best family holidays' aren't in Marrakesh. All some of us can afford is a UK caravan park - which can be pretty good actually, I should know. Sometimes we judge a restaurant more by the quality of the colouring materials available than the menu.

The bloggers who have helped Have a Lovely Time progress understand this.

Amid all these kind offers of contributions, we've also been contacted by various companies pledging their services/products as giveaways to our readers. Not all of these offers are accepted, I hasten to add. And it certainly doesn't mean objectivity is lost.

So, in lieu of cold hard cash, and as well as the 'benefits' I outlined at the start of this post, I've been able to share the following with contributors:

Invitations to holidays, short breaks, theatre tickets and cinema screenings for them and their families.

Saying 'thank you' was one of the reasons I came up with The Great Panto Review 2009. Some 16 UK theatres have now agreed to let in bloggers for Have a Lovely Time to their media previews and we are also boosting The National Alliance of Childhood Cancer Parent Organisations.

As an "old school" journalist, trained on a local paper when time spent sitting in your nearby magistrates' court then sprinting after defendants/witnesses/victims was largely seen as a key to a career in news, it has been very interesting for me to see how that career path has changed and how social media is further shaping the new media landscape.

But there's not a blogging day that goes by where I don't ask myself if contributors to Have a Lovely Time are getting enough out of it.

Of course the real answer is to make the blog pay and have a proper business plan to include paying contributors. The original hope was to reach a point where advertisers could be approached.

Three companies have been in touch about 'affiliate schemes'. This is something else we are looking in to but opens a whole new can of worms.

Apologies for the epic post. If you are still with me, I would like to know what your view on this collection of thoughts is.

I suppose what I'm saying is that our travel blog has turned into something we believe could be successful enough to pay, so how do we go about that and is it really possible in the current climate? I'm really not so sure...

Not much of a question, I know!

Most of all I want to 'do right' by the contributors and not devalue a profession I've worked in for 20 years!

Thank you.

* Journalists' quotes included here were originally published in features for Press Gazette, Channel 4's Ideas Factory or my book on freelance writing.