Rosie Scribble

June Roundup: The month that was ...

This month I have been doing the following...

Eating, drinking, chatting: with my #Blythe sister Sian aka Mummytips aka Cybermummy organiser, aka a genuinely lovely friend.

 

Exploring: Stratford upon Avon and celebrating a ruby wedding anniversary.

 

  

Nominated: for a Gurgle award for overall best mummy blog. Thanks very much!

Sitting: My CIM Professional Certificate in Marketing exam and celebrating my selling my text books on Amazon that very night!

Promoting: Great Ormond Street's Gambodo Children's Party 2010 in Chelsea on September 29th to raise money for the Theatre for Theatres appeal. Do take a look at the web link for further details.

Posing: With a pink rabbit (as you do!)

Looking forward to: Cybermummy, a forthcoming writing workshop with Marie Claire magazine, a seventh birthday and a very exciting August. Watch this space!

The Mum Blogger eBook by Erica Douglas: a review

The Mum Blogger eBook by Erica Douglas promises to provide you with the steps required to create your own blog. In actual fact, it does that and a whole lot more. And it is not just for mums who blog - it is a very valuable tool for anyone interested in starting a blog whether it be parenting, cooking or even business and for those looking to understand the mechanics of blogging a little more. I’ve read it. I think it is excellent, and I would highly recommend it.

The eBook is priced at £25. There is a discount code at the end of this post which gives you £5 off.

Erica’s eBook is broken into 25 short chapters designed so readers can work through it from beginning to end building up their knowledge bit by bit. There is a bonus chapter on monetising your blog for bloggers who consistently get more than 100 readers a day.

April Roundup: The month that was ...

During the month of April, I have been mainly doing this:

Stealing: Blog post ideas. The idea for this post has been stolen directly from English Mum, which is okay because last month Becky's Monthly Roundup idea was stolen by Erica.

Writing: At Ready for Ten -- the new parenting website for the parents of 6-9 year olds. Do come over and take a look and meet the rest of the team. So far we have posted about a range of topics including the General Election, Girls' style: Too much too young?, Preparing the garden for summer, Pester Power and Child's Play.

Reading: The Rules of Work by Richard Templar. My favourite rules so far include: Be passionate but don't kill yourself, Carve put a niche for yourself, and Under promise and Over deliver.

Loving: Rose Eau De Parfum by Paul Smith -- a birthday parent from my parents, and also the pink heart-shaped cushion IJ bought me .

Studying: For my Chartered Institution of Marketing exam in June.

Subscribing: To Marie Claire having decided I am too old for Cosmopolitan Magazine.

Laughing: With (not at) Louis Spence on Pineapple Dance Studios because he is fabulous.

Looking forward to: A forthcoming weekend hotel break, a trip to Gullivers Kingdom, and a week at Center Parcs at the end of the month.

Returning to work in a digital age

The goal -- to return to work full time within two years. The dilemma -- what to do, specifically, and what skills I need to gain in the meantime now that the world has gone digital yet my qualifications were gained pre-internet.

After a positive week which involved emerging from behind the computer screen (where the majority of my day is spent editing Word documents, writing web content and generally cursing all things Microsoft), and meeting a fabulous group of bloggers, I am more motivated and determined than ever, and my focus is now on work.

However, my drive and determination is slowly turning into stress and frustration as I've realised that my skills are outdated, the world has moved on and gone digital and, to an extent, I have been left behind. I have a great deal of catching up to do.

I also want to achieve everything now which of course is not possible, yet I am impatient and  want to make up for lost time.

I'm half way through a marketing course which I'll complete by the end of the year. Aware that the business degree I gained in the 1990s needed updating, I chose an area that particularly interested me. However, marketing is too general; I need to specialise further.

So the dilemma is where to go now considering that so much these days is online rather than off. There are numerous areas that interest me -- marketing communications, journalism, writing, editing, copywriting, PR, social media ... but my concern is that time is not on my side. I turn 37 next week. There is so much that I need to learn; I am unsure where to start.

My week has been spent looking at various courses, considering childcare options and weighing up finances. There is so much information out there to help me develop some sense of direction, possibly too much. And now I'm wondering if I now need a Mac.

I think my head may explode.

So the idea of returning to full-time work now that IJ is approaching an age when she relies on me less is very exciting, it is also very overwhelming and the world of work I once knew no longer exists.

We are off tomorrow to the press day at Drayton Manor where I may be found swinging from the monkey bars talking rather incoherently about search engine optimisation, website design and target markets.

If, by then, I have not gone completely mad!

Fashion advice from a six-year-old and Super Savvy Me

Apparently, I should be wearing high heels, dressing in a skirt every day and wearing make-up at all times. I should never leave the house without lipstick and my hair should be longer.

This 'advice' has not come from any of the latest fashion magazines or newspaper editorial. Instead it has come from my six-year-old (verging on 16-year-old) daughter who decided to mention this to me in the car this morning on the way to school.

Apparently I do not look girlie enough, which is just charming!

This all stems from my visit to London yesterday for the Super Savvy Me website launch. The fact that I was wearing lipstick and mascara (at least when I left the house) was noted by my daughter and met with her approval. Now she wants me to make a similar effort every day even if I am only going to the school gates.

I had thought that it was usually the parent telling the child to wear less make-up, not the child telling the parent to wear more. And now she seems to want me dressed like a Bratz doll, which is not at all what I was wearing yesterday. Who knows where that idea has come from.

Anyway, yesterday's website launch was great and Granny managed to take IJ to school for the first time, despite the fact that I locked them both in the house by mistake when I left. Thankfully Procter and Gamble's site is aimed at real mothers, not those that her perfect and that has to be a good thing. It would not be relevant to me otherwise.

 
At a hotel that was so exclusive it did not even need a sign on the door (which explains why I got lost), I joined a number of fellow bloggers: Sticky Fingers, Single Parent Dad(who very enthusiastically took home my Pampers Gift of Life parcel), Bringing up Charlie (with Charlie), Dulwich Divorcee, A Modern Mother, Who's the Mummy, Jo Beaufoix and Potty Mummy for a talk about the site and then lunch. Their guest contributer, Lowri Turner, was also there and thankfully she shares my ability to burn food regularly.

 
After a very sociable day where we were all  very well looked after, I arrived home to discover that I had sent IJ to school with ham sandwiches that contained no ham. And I had locked them both in the house until granny had located a spare key. So they had not been quite so well looked after.

How super and savvy am I?!!