Tuesday 13 May 2014

Blog on tour

When the internet was first invented and not long after everyone got an email address, it quickly became apparent that there was a dark side to connecting people and friends from all over the world so easily. Electronic evil came in the form of chain emails and letters. 'FORWARD THIS ON OR YOU WILL DIE!' shouted the subject headers. 'Send this to 10 friends you love as much as me or I'll assume you don't love me, you're a bad friend and you will die,' others stated.

I always deleted them. I fucking hate anything chain-related.

However, there is usually an exception to every rule and this is mine. Two weeks ago I was asked by fellow blogger and journalist Catriona Innes to take part in a blogging tour. The idea is you answer some questions about your writing (as you'll soon see), then nominate a fellow blogger who's posts you enjoy, then they answer the same questions and so the chain goes on. For audiences, it'll hopefully introduce you to something new and for us writers it gives us a moment of reflection to contemplate how we do words and stuff. Good all round.

So, like I said, I was nominated by Catriona (Katie), who is author of the wonderful blog Crocuses In The Snow. I first met Katie when I worked at Scarlet magazine and she came to an internship for a month. We've remained in touch ever since and her journalistic career has continued to flourish.

My nominations will follow at the end of this post, but first here are the Q&A's...

What am I working on?
At the moment there's a lot of copywriting going on for an adult brand's website, which is due to launch very soon. That's taking up the majority of my time. In terms of writing for consumer publications I have my regular four columns for top shelf men's mags, which puts me in a constant writing loop as they roll around one after the other. There there's my events page for the gardening website, which gets uploaded weekly. These are my biggest 'day job' paid commissions, but I do let myself have fun with my writing too.

Away from the pressures of deadlines (and writing to pay the bills), I've started typing out my first book about sex (sorry I'm reluctant to give too much away) and am working on a website idea with fellow writer, blogger and friend Faye Dalgleish. I'm especially excited about the latter project as it should be a lot of fun and will give me a bit of a break from writing about relationships and shagging all of the time.

How does my work differ from others of its genre?
In the last year or so it feels like there has been an explosion of young women writing about sex. It feels like we've reached a point where we've become fed up and frustrated with what mainstream media portray as good sex advice and we're beginning to rebel against the candy-coloured ideas presented in SATC or Cosmo or whatever and are calling bullshit on what is considered "normal" or "healthy".

I like to think I have a place in this group of 20-something women, just trying to tell it like it is, be honest and sift the truth from the crap. The fact I was once called "disturbed" by someone on-staff at a women's mag, for simply being honest about sex and the fears some women feel around this subject, just proves my point. Sadly, there are still too many titles and writers that continue to try and dictate what we should consider regular and what is too out there.

My work differs from others because I like to have fun with what I write. So often (and I know I'm going on about sex writing a lot, but at the moment it makes up the bulk of my work load), matters of intimacy are over analysed and picked apart and although there is very much a time and a place for that and it's important we look at trends and issues within sex and sexuality, I sometimes feel we forget that sex should be fun and enjoyable too.

For me, I like to take the more light-hearted line when I can (but still get the facts right of course) and leave the serious analysis and reporting to others. Maybe this is why I enjoy writing for the men's mags so much? I know I can be cheeky, sarcastic and much ruder than any of the mainstream women's mags would ever allow. Having said that, I'm not afraid to throw my two cents in on issues around the rights of sex workers and comment on how sex is reported in the media.

Why do I do what I do?
The brutal and totally unromantic answer to this question is: so that I can pay the bills. Well, writing is my living, so I do what I do because I prefer this profession to any other. See this earlier post about how and why I got into freelancing specifically.

Going down the more abstract, 'writing is my art dharling' route, then I do what I do because I've always enjoyed telling stories. Ever since I was at primary school I loved using my imagination and writing things for others to read and enjoy. When my school got a computer and I'd learnt how to use Publisher, I got a few friends together and created a school newspaper. It was only one sheet of A4 and it was called Goss (short for gossip). We ran three editions, ever, and then I think we got too into playing kiss chase, or using the new skipping ropes, or something.

Since then I always knew I wanted to be a journalist: print, or documentary film (maybe I'll still try this one day) and uncover and write interesting articles. I've always been a pretty social person too, so a career where I get to talk to people, pick at their stories and makes contacts is very attractive to me.

Studying media from GCSE up to degree level taught me so much about the industry and how clever it is. I find it all fascinating. That's what drew me into it and then the sex writing kind of happened by chance: partly because of working at Scarlet and the subjects we'd write about, part because of who we shared an office with (Paul Raymond Publications) and part because the more I read in other women's media, the angrier I felt myself getting and the more bored I became, so made it a personal mission to write something better. I hope I'm achieving that.

The bottom line is, I write because I enjoy it, I give a shit and I believe there's a lot to be said and I want to put my voice towards that.

How does my writing process work?
Geez, this is a tough one, because every article, press release or copywriting job requires a slightly different method, or it does for me. Broadly speaking I'll get an idea for a feature or article after I've read/heard/watched something in the news, or if I've been chatting to friends on the phone, or down the pub. The thing with writing about sex is that (almost) everyone is at it and everyone has such vast and varied experiences of what it's like for them, so there's generally something to comment on, or another angle to find. Anyway, once I've grasped at an idea, I'll do the research to figure out if it's something workable, i.e. can it be turned into 500, 1000, 2000 word feature and then I'll think about where best to pitch it. Sometimes it's a goer, other times ideas fall flat on their arse within minutes of thinking them up.

For the more rigid stuff, like copywriting for a company, it involves doing a lot of reading about the brand, maybe speaking to the CEO and noting down good phrases and words which you can use later. Although it might not look it on the surface, copywriting still requires just as much creativity as penning an entertaining feature on spanking (or something).

So, that wraps up my contribution for the blogging tour. Now to the nominations of who's next...

Laura Lexx: We've heard from lots of authors and journos, so lets spin this blog tour into a slightly different direction by visiting the highly amusing world of stand-up comedian, actress and presenter Laura Lexx. Can't wait to hear about her writing process!

Faye Dalgleish: Erm, ok, so Faye may have only just discovered I'm nominating her to do this, but I reckon she'll only be annoyed at me for a few hours (I can deal with that). My partner in crime at uni and much talented writer, Faye blogs here. Discussing everything from jogging to overheard homophobic diners in a restaurant, Faye's honest approach to blogging about every day occurrences certainly makes for an entertaining read.

Enjoy!