Oh My Word

It’s been a long time since I last blogged - what are my excuses? Well, I gave birth on June 5th 2009 to a beautiful bouncing baby boy called Noah. And that little darling is now 8 months old and still sleeps like a baby (i.e. not at all). I’ve never understood people when they announce in a relaxed manner that they slept like a baby….babies don’t sleep. Mine doesn’t anyway.

As I type this, my poor cherub is stirring yet again for the umpteenth time this evening.  He has a viral infection and is extremely cross and bawls at the slightest thing. It’s hard going but I have to put myself last. I am dog tired and craving sleep but very happy with my brood - a pink one and a blue one now. A perfect mix.

Not so perfect though when they are passing viruses backwards and forth……..will be back on when I get a little peace from the poorly one.

I am due to give birth in two weeks and am trying to keep calm with hypnobirthing CDs and deep breathing. But it’s hard to stay relaxed when I can’t even walk into my local Waitrose without the whole world (that’s shoppers AND the staff) feeling my bump and telling me it is DEFINITELY a boy and that I am massive.

I mean, I only go in for a pint of milk or a paper and suddenly everyone has taken over my body. It’s weird. But I grin and bear it and politely answer the same questions every time: “No I don’t know the sex, yes the baby still has another two weeks and yes if I do go overdue I could have another month of lugging this watermelon around. No I don’t know how much weight I’ve put on and yes it’s probably more than two stone.” 

Grrr… but I guess I’d better enjoy it because once this baby arrives, everyone will be ignoring me and my sleep deprived state and will instead coo over the baby.

And I bet it won’t even be a big baby after all this. I keep telling myself it will be but deep down I know it’s more likely to be the excessive amounts of bread, cheese and choc ices I’ve been scoffing.

But it will be worth it.

I am now on maternity leave and will be back working at the end of January next year. Until then, my laptop, pens and pads are taken over by breastfeeding tops, play pens and breast pads.

The dreaded lurgy has hit home. My poor daughter was struck down last night around 8.30pm and now I patiently sit and wait for it to claim 48 hours of my life.

At times like this, my mothering instincts kick in far stronger than I would have imagined,  in my old life before kids. I have been up throughout the night to change bed linen, phone NHS Direct, fetch water etc.

And now I am on my knees but I will keep on going til bedtime. I sit and watch her - I could do it for hours. Her little face etched with illness. She is weak and pale, her energy depleted. I feel the same, but for her, I will carry on.

And then when I do get the odd five minutes to lie down and rest my weary legs, a little gentle kicking inside my blossoming belly (ok, gargantuan gut)  reminds me that I will soon be having more than the odd night with lack of sleep.

I have 12 weeks before the second baby arrives so I need to charge my batteries as best I can, and pray the evil sickness bug won’t sweep me off my feet.

While my cherub outside the womb sleeps on, I shall carry on with my writing. And enjoy the calm before the storm.

Oh My Word! I’ve actually started writing a book! Finally, after months (or even years) of procrastination, I have managed to sit myself down with a good coffee and start typing.

It was the advice I was given from an author friend. His advice has always been “just start writing”.

So I have. I won’t divulge any of it yet in case I have one of those creative outbursts and bin every page. But I am a little hopeful. And I am writing it for me - it eleviates the pressure some what. If someone is interested in publishing, and I somehow make a fortune, then I can live with that!

Back at the ranch (well, the flat if I’m honest), life continues to be completely chaotic. My five-year-old has decided she has zero friends at school which I find heartbreaking. Although I volunteered to help out this morning and discovered she wasn’t lonely for a second.

Then as soon as I got home, the midwife called to arrange meeting me at the hospital in two weeks’ time, to write a birth plan. Apparently she has a special interest in birth trauma. Great. I’ve had one of those before and I will do my damnest to avoid a second.

I’m 6 months pregnant on the 23rd of Feb and therefore time is ticking on. I want to enjoy this period of freedom - I can write. I can attend the local village dance class (run by ex Take That tour dancers - mind you, in my current portly state, I would look more suitable at a dance class run by ex Roly Poly Girls) and indulge in my creativity.

So may my pen be eternally loaded with luscious ink and my laptop fully charged and ready for action. My brain is whirring and conjuring…

Somehow, in the midst of landing fantastic new copywriting gigs, helping a friend with her newborn, childminding for another desperate friend, advising someone on their work in progress (for a memoir they hope to get published), and bringing up my five-year-old, I have found some leisure time!

And the proof is in the pudding. Said pudding is due to be born on May 30th 2009 and the Childe family is very excited.

That said, I’ve been a little naughty and have not been taking things easy. So, I have entered the second trimester of my pregnancy with a new air of calm. The childminding is stopping, all the other little bitty jobs (and I don’t include bringing up my five-year-old here!) are stopping. From now on, it’s just me, my bump and my trusty laptop.

After all, I can keep working right up until I give birth. Sitting down quietly with a laptop is hardly the most strenuous task and it will keep me out of mischief.

I’m still taking on new work and count my lucky stars daily that despite the current economic downturn, Oh My Word! continues to flourish. But we must all treat our businesses - no matter how large or small - with the utmost care. They are all fragile and we need to ensure we take nothing forgranted.

Went for a brisk walk after the school run this morning to clear my head before I start my next magazine column. I’m going to base it on my school reunion and am trying to get the intro perfectly enticing. After all, we are always warned about social networking sites and school reunions ruining marriages.

And as I arranged the school reunion THROUGH a social networking site, it was only right that I documented the day (on Brighton beach). Especially when one of the girls is now a fully fledged stripper. It was always going to be an interesting reunion when she turned up.

Anyway I am digressing. After the walk around the village, I popped in to see my friend and author. She’s in the midst of her second book and let it slip today that I get a mention! I am so excited, she’s referred to me as the Glamazon. Apparently because I am always made up for the school run. I tried to explain that it is to cover any traces of teenage acne but she was having none of it.

It’s given me a right spring in my step. Glamorous? Moi? You better believe it! Thank god she doesn’t see me first thing in the morning.

Why shouldn’t someone make a career out of their hobby? I have always loved writing and therefore I know I have chosen the right profession for me.

I remember earnestly writing stories when I was a child. My favourite books were Charlie & The Chocolate Factory, The Twits, The Secret Garden and all the Enid Blyton girls at boarding school stories.

Ooh and the pens! I loved nothing more than to receive pens and notebooks for birthday and Christmas presents. There was something utterly satisfying about starting a brand new, clean white page with a smooth black ink pen. I would start practising my writing first. Then I would begin writing down possible titles for a book. I would invent new words and their meaning.

Writing entertained me. I found it comforting to lose oneself in a private world of secret diaries and poetry.

It was inevitable that I would train to become a journalist. What I wasn’t so prepared for however, was the hard-nosedness that went with the job. It wasn’t in my nature to not care about the feelings of others. I was too nice and worried too much about upsetting the subject of my articles. So I moved away from reporting and found my niche with feature writing, specialising in women’s interests.

I left behind newspapers and magazines for a year backpacking around Australia with my boyfriend (now husband) and on returning to the UK, we married and had a baby.

That changed my life. I no longer wanted to be working long hours in a faceless office. I wanted to work, to continue my passion, but to balance it with this adorable daughter we had produced.

And so I started working from home. Copywriting and proof-reading is the main part of my working life but I often wonder what it would be like to ghost write a novel. As long as I have my imagination, passion and computer, I imagine I will continue writing for as long as my fingers allow me to type.

I have written a lot of material for a gift company that specialises in baby hand and foot casting kits.

This was my first move into freelance writing after leaving behind my job as features writer at an evening newspaper in Oxford.

I then, through word of mouth, wrote a press release for an organic baby product company which resulted in coverage in a national baby magazine.

I thought perhaps I had found my niche, but was then asked to write a regular column in a national magazine for fathers which I still do to date. This was more of a challenge as my brief was to write like a “ladette” for a male audience. I become a character when I write the column, as I am completely the opposite of that in “real life”.

I also wrote a column for a parenting magazine based in Bournemouth but sadly it ceased publication a few months later due to a lack of advertising revenue.
This was a setback as I enjoyed writing for the magazine but soon after, I was copywriting for a recruitment agency in London and a business magazine in the Cotswolds.

My style can be varied and tailor-made to your company’s requirements and that is why I enjoy writing so much. It is like an actor taking on a new role – copywriting requires research, immense attention to detail and great imagination for delivery.