The write stuff

FabFest. Or Why I love Books, Blogging & The Thing I did on Saturday.

Sunday, November 11th, 2012

‘We read to know we’re not alone’.

The brilliant C S Lewis put it so beautifully. Reading is cheering, but it’s also comforting. A good book is guaranteed to elevate my mood more effectively than being given a Big Purple Quality Street. A cracker of a novel provokes thoughts and makes my mind whizz brilliantly. It does also feel oddly like companionship; that insight into how other people think, how other people live, (even just inside author’s imaginations), is strangely comforting as well as often challenging or thought-provoking. A good book is yoga for the mind mixed with a pub night out for the brain.

The Big Purple One. Almost as good as a book

Blogreading is different. It’s also absolutely, completely the same. I strongly suspect Mr Lewis would be a big blogger if he was alive (The Narnian Daily? The Warder of the Wardrobe? God, Life and Fauns? ) The lives and thoughts of other bloggers may be a world away from my own but the joyous sense of people living, breathing, thinking everywhere is stimulating, amusing and just so interesting. I  read other people’s blogs and revel in the insight into their minds and experiences.  I do love a good blog me. Possibly because I’m nosey. Possibly because I’m human.

I also think there’s a real joy in being a blogger. Actually, I know there is, both from personal experience and seeing the proliferation of the blogsphere. It’s ‘pocketsized writing’ where you can try out how words sound when they’re not just in your head. Trying to make a point or just share. I’ve never been convinced there’s a full novel in me (maybe a pamphlet, probably just a shopping list). There’s definitely lots of little blogs though. Blogging is incredibly liberating, ever-so-slightly self indulgent (even when in blogs like this I convince myself it’s ‘work’ and will help grow the business) and it’s just, well kind of fun.

The other beauty of the blog world is that it’s a great way to quote a different serious-boy author E M Forster ‘only connect’. For mums, this is incredibly important. As soon as you become a mother, and particularly I believe (but please rant at me if you don’t agree) as a working mother, there Is Not Enough Time. In the world. Ever. For you. For the washing. For trying to be a good mother. And particularly for connecting with others, with friends and fellow humans. Blogging works brilliantly for this.

We blog to know we’re not alone. It’s all about the connections. About the Twitter feedback and that sense that someone out there is interested in what you have to say.

It’s comforting. It’s interesting. It’s a solitary activity that’s very social.

So today I’m writing as a big thank you to Mumsnet. For connecting people through your site (and all KINDS of people). And for connecting Bloggers at the Brilliant #Blogfest 2012 which Isadora (who also blogs on pregnancy for this site) and I attended yesterday.

It was chock-full of a positive, supportive atmosphere & the speakers were…. oh lord, why can I not find a less hackneyed word than ‘inspiring’? Definitely need to find a better phrase. The speakers made me feel proud to be a bird and helped me fall in love with the power of words all over again.

Speakers included the truly, truly inspirational Miriam Gonzalez Durantes who talked about how bloody lucky we are (my paraphrasing of her articulate, beautifully presented speech) and how important it is for women to work together and join together to help each other. They also included the rather lovely (and brave) Girl with a 1 track mind and the supercool Zoe Williams, as well as frank and jawdropping thoughts from Liz Jones. Justine Roberts was charming, warm and intelligent & the keynote speaker was the Queen of Smart Saucy Brilliance Caitlin Moran who rocked the room with fast & funny fabulousness. God, she’s good.

If any bloggers there are half as witty and intelligent as these women then the world is in a good place. The Hand that Rocks the Cradle can rock the world… and it can write the world into a warmer and wittier place along the way.   Isadora pointed out that she couldn’t remember the last time she was in a room with 200 women; having spent my previous existence in very male dominated companies it was an interesting and welcome change.  It was All Good. A top banana of a day.

Am I alone in thinking that?

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Sophie was at Mumsnet Blogfest 2012. Book tickets for 2013 here. She’ll see you there.

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Guest blog: The Stylist’s Advice

Wednesday, January 25th, 2012
This week we’ve got the lovely Alex Longmore, top fashion stylist sharing her top tips for looking foxy with a bump. Alex has gained a reputation as an expert celebrity stylist who has styled some of the most glamorous celebrity mums-to-be including the fabulous Dannii Minogue.
As a top Celebrity and Personal Stylist I am always asked what suits new Mums-to-be and what they should be wearing when their body begins to change shape.

This very exciting time can often also signify a time of insecurity with most women dealing with issues surrounding weight gain and a feeling of losing independence and sex appeal.

This doesn’t have to be the case and I urge all those Mums out there who are feeling a bit frumpy to follow my top five tips for looking great. They are magic solutions and once you start looking great you will feel good too.

  • For daytime relaxed elegance match a figure hugging dark top, (black is ideal as it is the most flattering colour and will take inches off  the top) with a leopard print big scarf (almost pashmina in size) and a pair of maternity skinny jeans. Wear this with your usual staples pre-pregnancy such as a faithful pair of Converses and you will certainly put emphasis on the Yummy in Mummy.
  • It’s better to stick with block colours throughout. Don’t be tempted by patterns and prints – they are unflattering and won’t do the skinniest of Mums to be any favors. If colour is your thing then experiment with bright and bold colours in chiffons and silks.
  • Always show a little bit of flesh in the evening. Skin exposed on decollage, arms and legs will balance the bump and leave you looking in proportion. If you feel over exposed wear a scarf or a long necklace or earrings to draw attention away.
  • Chiffon and soft luxurious knits look best worn at night, if you go for this option in the day you will end up looking like a tent on tour and another thing – be careful with long-skirts. It is better to stick to jeans and leggings for day and a knee length or wrap dress for evening.
  • Take a tip from the celebrities, they always mix pregnancy-wear with mainline clothes.  Be inspired by Posh Spice and buy a handbag as big as your bump to  distract  attention and remember, above all, that looking good is is all about being in proportion.
For more advice and personal styling inspiration, contact Alex on  alex@alexlongmore.co.uk or 0208 968 4909.
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The forgotten art of handwriting.

Monday, November 1st, 2010

This is an experiment. I’m actually writing the first draft of this blog entry by hand, while having a pedicure.This is the kind of multitasking that makes one feel virtuous. Pampering and working at the same time, easing weary feet and your conscience. Perfect.

Like most people, I suspect, I rarely write things by hand now. On holiday recently, a spate of enthusiastic postcard-writing left my wrist tired and me amazed at how out of practice I’ve become.

At school my handwriting was carefully crafted, nay pretentious in its calligraphy and if I concentrate now it can still be presentable but most of the time it’s a shocking sprawl. I’ve lost the habit.

Interestingly, one of the most common bits of positive feedback on Babes with Babies packaging is the personalised letters we include with gift. We carefully handwrite the recipients’ name on thembefore tying them with ribbon. Our customers love the special feeling this gives in an increasingly automated world.

So, this is making me think two things. Firstly, that I must learn to write more in notebooks as it allows me greater flexibility with work. And secondly that my daughters will probably grow up writing even less than me. Perhaps, one day in the future, I will embarrass them with my quaint, outmoded ways when they’re away at university by sending them handwritten letters.

It’s not the demise in the art of handwriting that I think we should mourn but also the risk that memories will disappear. I spent a happy weekend in my parent’s recently, browsing through boxes of my old letters (the ex-boyfriends’ ones were particularly fun). And it is lovely reading other people’s letters. Radio 7 recently serialised one of my favourite all time books Speaking for Themselves which features the letters of Winston and Clementine Churchill. Romantic, revealing, brilliant. It’s available to buy for download here as an audio book or as a paperback copy here.

I’m also going to print out and save some of my email correspondence. My best friend lives in LA. Different time zone, different lifestyle and we have managed to keep up our incessant chatting via Skype a little but mainly through email. I’d love to keep these to remind me of our friendship when I’m in an old people’s home.

 

Feelgood tip – Fascinating Site of the Week. Letters of Note.

Want to see something that will make you feelgood? Letters of Note is a lovely site dedicated to interesting correspondence (most of it scanned in). Includes aletter from Ghandi to Hitler ‘for the sake of humanity’ & the message Stephen Fry wrote to a depressed fan which I think is incredibly wise and may be worth reading for anyone suffering from any kind of the blues, postnatal or otherwise. Here’s an extract:

“I’ve found that it’s of some help to think of one’s moods and feelings about the world as being similar to weather:

Here are some obvious things about the weather:

It’s real.
You can’t change it by wishing it away.
If it’s dark and rainy it really is dark and rainy and you can’t alter it.
It might be dark and rainy for two weeks in a row.

BUT

It will be sunny one day.
It isn’t under one’s control as to when the sun comes out, but come out it will.
One day.

It really is the same with one’s moods, I think. The wrong approach is to believe that they are illusions. They are real. Depression, anxiety, listlessness – these are as real as the weather – AND EQUALLY NOT UNDER ONE’S CONTROL. Not one’s fault.

BUT

They will pass: they really will.” See the orginal message from Stephen Fry here and Letters of Note here.

Like it? Hate it? Let us know what you think. You can type your comments in, don’t worry…

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