Going further afield?

Maybe you could write a few extras when you are on form to put on ice and bring out when the pen runs dry.

That was a nice derangement of mixed metaphors, but you know what I mean.

kittylester I'm happily reading your son's book and I like it! You must have been beside yourself too - and it sounds as if he almost literally was. Will post a review once I'm through. Go for it Phoenix, let the writing fairy frogmarch you.

Many thanks all,

janeainsworth I'll get back to you on that one, don't want you to be out of pocket re postage etc

merlot , thanks for the link, will go through in a bit more depth, probably next week after Mr P has departed.

anno definitely food for thought, if the Gurniad (or is it Grauniad) hasn't got anything like that at present,

grrr... (never sure about the numbers of rrrrrr's must get my glasses changed!) although the dog is about, I sometimes find it easier to sit down and type a load of old tosh rather than tackling other things!

Elegran love the phrase "a derangement of mixed metaphors" !!

Now, do you think I should just send a sample of ramblings on various topics to magazines and newspapers on spec, or should I sound them out first?

(The Oldie website makes it very clear what they will and won't look at, but does invite unsolicited pieces within certain guidelines, but not sure about others)

Thanks again.

xxx
Phoenix

I loved Bad Housekeeping .

Go for it Phoenix!! lots of us really enjoy your posts.

I would certainly try with Saga. I am sure your posts would translate into readable blogs for radio, but such stuff really does need to be properly read.

I obviously have no idea if you could do this, but there are a lot of published authors and poets who's reading of there own work is dire and really should be left to the professionals.

Good luck!

I'd be tempted to send your best 2-3 completed 'sample ramblings' to various magazines and papers. I had a friend who used to freelance, sadly I've lost touch with her, but I know that once you've had something published once by a magazine they look more favourably on future articles.

Phoenix you might already have this info but if not, this site shows you how to start blogging

websitesetupguide.com/basic/blog-wordpress.htm

You could also do a creative writing course to hone your skills, such as this one for example. The cost is 200 pounds, very steep I know, but maybe there are concessions for unemployed; there are probably free ones out there as well.

education.exeter.ac.uk/dll/details.php?code=DLC01C

Good luck!

I love reading about your cats, and I'm wondering if there are targetted mags for soppy cat people (like you and me) I haven't seen any, but that's probably because I haven't looked.

phoenix Have you considered nearer to home?The Saturday Western Morning News runs columns by various contributors and I've noticed that a regular one, Alice Band, the diary of a naval wife, has recently disappeared so there might be an opening there!

how about cat magazine?

Grannylin I have just come back to suggest just that. Our local paper, Leicester Mercury, has a magazine section on a Saturday and our even more local weekly has a couple of feature sections too.

I talked to Matt about tumblr which he said was really easy. He had looked at lots of others before he picked that one - although that was 7 years ago. He still uses it occasionally. Can you tell that I'm really excited about this?

Does Womans Weekly still exist. They used to do odd articles.

No. I don't mean "odd".

Do I?

I hate that grin so much!!!

You could try submitting one to GN. Call it a blog. (I don't reckon they know what a blog is anyway )

Cari does.

Woman's Weekly does still exist JO5 and in fact has just celebrated its centenary year.
This is full of interesting facts eg the median age of its readers is 62.

J I hate the grin too! There something manic and false about it - nothing like a big, warm, open smile. Maybe two of these instead

Yes, Butty, I agree.

Guardian on Saturday has a Family section..would they fit in there?? (sorry if someone has suggested this already!

Hello again all, many thanks for the suggestions, they are all appreciated. Mr P goes back to foreign parts on Monday (well, Reading actually) so I'm going to set some time aside next week to go through the publications that have been suggested.

Then I suppose I need to decide which bits to polish up and send as examples. I am toying with the underwear malfunction incidents, and perhaps an Argos one. I will of course send a cat one to Nanado's suggestion!

Sorry to be here again, but if anyone has any thoughts about which ramblings might be best for certain publications, then opinions will be appreciated.

Thank you.

PS No input from HQ

PPS STILL no input from HQ!

I have a feeling they are still on Christmas hols. When posts are deleted at the moment it seems to be by MNHQ not GNHQ.

How very dare they!