tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-70478277873204641922009-10-17T03:07:36.303+01:00Thoughts, news and resources from the desk of a working writer.Sarah Cruickshankhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14572722233832395749noreply@blogger.comBlogger91125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7047827787320464192.post-35909501105753472602008-10-17T18:33:00.001+01:002008-10-17T18:33:56.852+01:00Join me on my new blog <a href="http://sarahsscribbles.wordpress.com">here</a><br /><br />Sarah x<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/7047827787320464192-3590950110575347260?l=notesfromsarahsdesk.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Sarah Cruickshankhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14572722233832395749noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7047827787320464192.post-2975315862821647872008-10-09T09:26:00.002+01:002008-10-09T09:31:02.377+01:00Yep, I have no commissions or paid work of any kind at the moment. Thankfully with 'payment on publication' gigs, I have money coming in until January that'll cover my expenses, but wont really leave me with much spare cash (thank goodness for a husband with a good job).<br /><br />As is so often the case when you freelance, I'm waiting to hear from a couple of people about projects that may or may not come off, but at the moment I'm happy to take a step back and develop my own projects a bit. <br /><br />Next week I'll start pitching again and wait for the eternal silence of the e-ether to be broken by somebody who wants to pay me for what I do best (writing stuff before anyone leaves smutty comments!)<br /><br />Sarah x<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/7047827787320464192-297531586282164787?l=notesfromsarahsdesk.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Sarah Cruickshankhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14572722233832395749noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7047827787320464192.post-65218406969009342732008-10-02T09:16:00.001+01:002008-10-02T09:17:32.585+01:00Join me <a href="http://www.freelancewritingtips.com/2008/10/sarah-cruicksha.html">here</a> to find out how having blogs and websites can help raise your profile and generate commissions.<br /><br />Sarah x<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/7047827787320464192-6521840696900934273?l=notesfromsarahsdesk.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Sarah Cruickshankhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14572722233832395749noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7047827787320464192.post-1813823335221932322008-09-28T18:56:00.004+01:002008-10-02T20:09:53.146+01:00As you know, I decided not to complete the 40 things to do before I was 40 because I decided it was actually a stupid idea. Anyway, I wrote an article about it and pitched it to every possible home, but nobody wanted it, so - as I promised - here is the piece. Please let me know what you think.<br /><br />Sarah x<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Killing the List</span><br /><br />Back in January of this year with my 40th birthday looming in October, I started a blog at www.sarahat40.blogspot.com<br /><br />It was the first of – yes, you guessed it – 40 things I was going to do before I reached 40. Friends had sent me links to others people’s blogs and bought me books and I’d made a list of things that sounded cool (and not too dangerous), to do.<br /><br />Now - at the end of August – I’ve managed to do 10 of them with varying degrees of success (I’ll never perform on the harmonica in public!), and have realised that I don’t actually give a monkeys about all the others.<br /><br />In fact, I’ve come to realise that if I’d really wanted to do these things, I would have done them in the 39 years I’ve already had. It also struck me (co-incidentally in the week when Dave Freeman – the guy who invented the whole “list” concept – died), that in not doing the things on the list, I’ve done some far more interesting things by just living.<br /><br />I have – for example – become a freelance journalist; collected lots of interesting pebbles and glass on the beach with my family; bought and flown a kite; done <br />some great hikes; knitted a mitten (and I’m going to do the other one to make the pair); made new friends and reconnected with own ones on Facebook and spent many wonderful hours in the company of my husband and son.<br />In not doing 30 of the 40 things, I’ve discovered that I don’t want to learn how to skateboard, play the drums or write a song. I don’t want to bury a time capsule, send a message in a bottle, or order a vodka martini shaken not stirred. I have no desire to be drawn by a street artist, have tea at The Ritz or go to a health spa. I also don’t want to read a Russian novel, complete The Times crossword, learn a new word every day for a month, audition something, become a street entertainer or be on TV.<br /><br />What I actually want to do is get on with the business of doing what I’m doing, being a wife, mother and freelance journalist. I want to provide a comfortable home and good food for my family. I want to be around to take my son to and from school. I want to continue to write and forge little successes in my chosen career. I want to train as a Cub Leader and enjoy Scouting. I want to look back on my life without regret and think “I did what I wanted to do, I lived a good life, I provided for my family and made a little difference to the people whose lives I touched.”<br /><br />Do I regret making my list? Do you know what? Yes, I do. I made a list of things I thought other people would think were cool, that other people would envy me doing. I made the list because I thought it would impress other people <br />and make them think I was interesting.<br /><br />Writing the list was shallow and showy. Not completing the list isn’t a failure, it’s a realisation that there are more important things in life, like honesty and responsibility and so the thing to do before – and after – I’m 40 is to live my life to the full, honestly and without regret.<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/7047827787320464192-181382333522193232?l=notesfromsarahsdesk.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Sarah Cruickshankhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14572722233832395749noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7047827787320464192.post-69131750311204526422008-09-19T21:21:00.005+01:002008-09-19T21:31:35.390+01:00Yep, I'm rushed off my tiny toes again with a big pile of deadlines coming up.<div><br /></div><div>On top of those, I'm writing two projects for a local school, with term started again I'm back on school runs, homework, after school clubs and sandwiches AND I'm starting to train as a Cub Leader.  Actually, I haven't even started the training part yet, but I have started attending the Pack Nights (great fun, but exhausting).</div><div><br /></div><div>I'm hoping to have everything set up to take on a PR client in the next few weeks and then I'll probably cut back on my journalism work for a little while so that I can develop my other interests.</div><div><br /></div><div>Things are looking interesting at the moment, at the risk of sounding naff, I wonder if life really does begin at 40?</div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/7047827787320464192-6913175031120452642?l=notesfromsarahsdesk.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Sarah Cruickshankhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14572722233832395749noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7047827787320464192.post-39839992410194591282008-09-19T21:21:00.002+01:002008-09-19T21:26:05.216+01:00Although, there's not much call for chalk any more, what with interactive whiteboards and PCs.<div><br /></div><div>Anyway, I'm developing 2 projects for a local school based around writing.  The first will take high-achieving writers and - hopefully - push them that bit harder to help them be better writers. The other will be to help interested children to develop a termly online magazine to profile their news.</div><div><br /></div><div>Being a former teacher and a writer makes this right up my street, at the moment the projects are in the really early stages of development, but I'm excited about the opportunity to share my experience and enthusiasm with the children.  I'll keep you informed of where the projects go...</div><div><br /></div><div>Sarah x</div><div><br /></div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/7047827787320464192-3983999241019459128?l=notesfromsarahsdesk.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Sarah Cruickshankhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14572722233832395749noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7047827787320464192.post-14835972144173668362008-09-15T21:27:00.002+01:002008-09-15T21:29:27.566+01:00Read about them<a href="http://www.womenseverything.com/problems-in-pregnancy-c461.html"> here</a> in a piece I wrote for online magazine Womens Everything!<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/7047827787320464192-1483597214417366836?l=notesfromsarahsdesk.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Sarah Cruickshankhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14572722233832395749noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7047827787320464192.post-90081688294828200792008-09-15T21:21:00.003+01:002008-09-15T21:25:52.886+01:00No, despite over 1000 hits to sarahat40, no one has made any mention of its passing.  Clearly, all those American readers (who <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;">were</span> they, no one ever owned up to reading it, apart from Gavin &amp; Jules, and neither of them live in America!)<div><br /></div><div>Anyway, since the passing of said blog, I've been busily writing my usual trickle of articles.  I'm currently dwelling in December, writing about Advent and for the next week or so, I'll be covering lots of November and December happenings. </div><div><br /></div><div>I do find it odd that I live a lot of my professional life 3 months in the future, but it pays the bills, so who am I to complain?</div><div><br /></div><div>I'm also knitting more since I stopped blogging quite so randomly, so if you're good I might let you see some of my creations...</div><div><br /></div><div>Sarah x</div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/7047827787320464192-9008168829482820079?l=notesfromsarahsdesk.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Sarah Cruickshankhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14572722233832395749noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7047827787320464192.post-74934674496951569102008-09-12T13:46:00.003+01:002008-09-12T13:54:29.037+01:00I pitched an article to some newspapers last week and now I'm sitting around waiting to hear.  <div><br /></div><div>The fact that you don't know what's going on makes it a really difficult situation to be in.  Do you chase them up to check what's going on?  Do you assume the silence means they're not interested and send it on to other sources (giving you problems if two editors eventually come back to you and say "yes please"), or do you give up and post the article on your own blog or website (after which, you're going to have problems selling on a second-hand product!)</div><div><br /></div><div>If your article isn't seasonal or related to a particular anniversary then you might be able to squirrel it away and bring it out again at a later date, but if your feet is time-related it may become useless if you can't sell the piece.</div><div><br /></div><div>The piece I pitched last week will cease to be relevant next month and so, if I haven't managed to shift it before then, it'll appear on this blog in mid-October.</div><div><br /></div><div>Keep your fingers crossed that I find a paying home for it.</div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/7047827787320464192-7493467449695156910?l=notesfromsarahsdesk.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Sarah Cruickshankhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14572722233832395749noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7047827787320464192.post-24983262465611245142008-09-11T17:23:00.001+01:002008-09-11T17:24:47.944+01:00I really love this<a href="http://krconnect.blogspot.com/2008/09/job-for-future.html"> post</a> by <a href="http://www.krconnect.blogspot.com">Kevin Roberts</a>.  I want to be a storyteller, or maybe an optimist!<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/7047827787320464192-2498326246561124514?l=notesfromsarahsdesk.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Sarah Cruickshankhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14572722233832395749noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7047827787320464192.post-2988344282716085662008-09-03T19:30:00.003+01:002008-09-03T20:23:51.935+01:00Its no good, I don't like working straight on to the computer 'cos its not the way my mind works, so I've gone back to writing first drafts in long hand before transferring them.  I know some people feel it takes longer, but its much easier for me to see how a thing is developing if I'm actually writing it with a pen.<div><br /></div><div>Anyway, I'm doing some research for some fiction writing at the moment, so I'm putting together a nice notebook full of odd stuff that strikes me as being potentially useful somewhere along the way.  How much of it I'll use I don't know, but I'm certainly having fun putting it together.</div><div><br /></div><div>Sarah x</div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/7047827787320464192-298834428271608566?l=notesfromsarahsdesk.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Sarah Cruickshankhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14572722233832395749noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7047827787320464192.post-60688404431444529192008-09-02T10:58:00.002+01:002008-09-02T11:03:41.230+01:00It seems ages since I blogged about work, so here goes...<div><br /></div><div>School started today, which means I'm back to working my "normal" hours.</div><div><br /></div><div>My resolve not to work during August lasted just long enough to get away for a break, but then a few interesting pieces came up that were too good to turn down, so I put in a few hours a week.</div><div><br /></div><div>Now I'm back to writing the usual education stuff, plus pitching some first-person pieces and putting together a book proposal and making a start on the fiction element of the Writers Bureau course I'm doing.  On top of that, I've got <a href="http://www.thehomecorner.co.uk">The Home Corner</a> to keep developing.</div><div><br /></div><div>So, September will be mostly working!</div><div><br /></div><div>Sarah</div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/7047827787320464192-6068840443144452919?l=notesfromsarahsdesk.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Sarah Cruickshankhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14572722233832395749noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7047827787320464192.post-29173474927905033142008-08-18T13:23:00.003+01:002008-08-18T13:33:31.287+01:00Filed the quick-turnaround, giant commission today and am now DETERMINED to take the rest of August off!<br /><br />There's a great article <a href="http://www.freelancewritingtips.com/2008/08/advice-from-the.html">here</a> by Linda Jones. So, having promised myself a month off, what went wrong?<br /><br />Well, July was busy, the idea being that I'd write copy I knew needed to be filed in August, so come filing day I'd just have to email stuff off. That was all well and good until an editor came back to me and said that the 1000 words I'd filed were great, but that actually a 5000 word piece with a quick turnaround was what was now wanted. Decision to make was, did I take the work and have to put in some really long nights, or did I say "no thanks" and let someone else take the gig? I did think long and hard before saying "yes", but the money was a big draw and it wasn't too bad, let's hope all's okay and I really can take the next couple of weeks properly off.<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/7047827787320464192-2917347492790503314?l=notesfromsarahsdesk.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Sarah Cruickshankhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14572722233832395749noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7047827787320464192.post-78205241255830622192008-08-15T08:11:00.002+01:002008-08-15T08:15:17.148+01:00Having promised to take August off, I've ended up doing quite a bit of work and I've got a busy weekend ahead finishing a piece that had a quick turnaround.<br /><br />The idea of taking August off was to spend the time with my son, so I've been working in the nights after his bedtime or during the day when he's been lost in Beijing!<br /><br />I'm doing a few relaxing things as well this weekend and I'm taking next weekend off completely, before getting back into work in September.<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/7047827787320464192-7820524125583062219?l=notesfromsarahsdesk.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Sarah Cruickshankhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14572722233832395749noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7047827787320464192.post-89229674184714183812008-08-06T12:27:00.004+01:002008-08-15T08:11:39.648+01:00I'd planned to take the whole of August off, but having completed all the copy I needed to file, a new big commission came in with a 2 week turnaround.<br /><br />It was too good a job to turn down, so I'm going to have a few late nights, but that's okay.<br /><br />I've also got my new website www.thehomecorner.co.uk up and running.<br /><br />I'm re-writing my personal website 'cos it had a bit of a brainstorm - no harm done though.<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/7047827787320464192-8922967418471418381?l=notesfromsarahsdesk.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Sarah Cruickshankhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14572722233832395749noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7047827787320464192.post-83102434632060432822008-07-18T13:27:00.002+01:002008-07-18T13:39:20.174+01:00So, my friend <a href="http://www.mydigitaldesk.blogspot.com">Suzie Harris</a> got involved in this meme via our friend and fellow scribbler <a href="http://www.mywritingblog.com">Nick Daws</a>. Basically, the idea is that you look at the list, mark off the books as appropriate and then tag some more people to get them involved too. <a href="http://www.caxtontempest.blogspot.com/">Ken Preston</a> and I volunteered to be Suzie's tags.<br /><br />If anyone fancies giving it a go, leave a comment with a blog to link to here.<br /><br />All you have to do is copy the list, adapt it for yourself and then post it on your blog. Its an American list in this case, but none the worse for that.<br /><br />Here's my list...<br /><br />Mark your list as follows...<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Bold - Read</span><br /><span style="font-style:italic;">Italic – Intend to Read</span><br />Bracket - Love<br /><br /><br />1 Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen<br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">2 [The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien]
</span><br />3 Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte <br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">4 Harry Potter series - JK Rowling
</span><br />5 To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
<br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">6 The Bible 
<br />7 Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte</span><br />8 Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell
<br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">9 [His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman]<br />10 Great Expectations - Charles Dickens 
<br />11 Little Women - Louisa M Alcott</span><br />12 Tess of the D'Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy<br />13 Catch-22 - Joseph Heller
<br />14 Complete Works of Shakespeare
<br />15 Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier<br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">16 [The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien]</span><br />17 Birdsong - Sebastian Faulks
<br />18 Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger
<br />19 The Time Traveller's Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
<br />20 Middlemarch - George Eliot
<br />21 Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell
<br />22 The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald
<br />23 Bleak House - Charles Dickens
<br />24 War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy
<br /><span style="font-style:italic;">25 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams</span>
<br />26 Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh
<br />27 Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky
<br />28 Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck
<br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">29 Alice's Adventures in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll
<br />30 The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame</span><br /><span style="font-style:italic;">31 Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy
</span><br />32 David Copperfield - Charles Dickens
<br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">33 Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis</span><br />34 Emma - Jane Austen<br />35 Persuasion - Jane Austen
<br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">36 The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - CS Lewis
<br />37 The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
</span><br />38 Captain Corelli's Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres
<br />39 Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden
<br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">40 [Winnie-the-Pooh - AA Milne]<br />41 Animal Farm - George Orwell
<br />42 The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown
</span><br />43 One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez<br />44 MISSING
<br />45 The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins
<br />46 Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery<br />47 Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy
<br />48 The Handmaid's Tale - Margaret Atwood
<br />4<span style="font-weight:bold;">9 Lord of the Flies - William Golding
</span><br />50 Atonement - Ian McEwan
<br />51 MISSING
<br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">52 [Dune - Frank Herbert]</span><br />53 Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons
<br />54 Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen
<br />55 A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth
<br />56 The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon
<br />57 A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens
<br />58 Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
<br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon
<br />60 Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
</span><br />61 Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
<br />62 Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov
<br />63 The Secret History - Donna Tartt
<br />64 The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
<br />65 Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas<br />66 On The Road - Jack Kerouac
<br />67 Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy
<br /><span style="font-style:italic;">68 Bridget Jones's Diary - Helen Fielding
</span><br />69 Midnight's Children - Salman Rushdie
<br />70 Moby-Dick - Herman Melville
<br />71 Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens
<br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">72 [Dracula - Bram Stoker]<br />73 The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett
</span><br /><span style="font-style:italic;">74 Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson
</span><br />75 Ulysses - James Joyce
<br />76 The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath
<br />77 Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome
<br />78 Germinal - Emile Zola
<br />79 Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray
<br />80 Possession - A. S. Byatt
<br /><span style="font-style:italic;">81 A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens<br />82 Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
</span><br />83 The Color Purple - Alice Walker<br />84 The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro
<br />85 Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert<br />
86 A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry
<br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">87 Charlotte's Web - EB White
</span><br />88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom
<br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">89 [Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
]</span><br />90 The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton
<br />91 Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad
<br />92 The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery
<br />93 The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks
<br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">94 Watership Down - Richard Adams</span><br />95 A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole
<br />96 A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute
<br />97 The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas
<br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">98 Hamlet - William Shakespeare
<br />99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl</span><br />100 Les Miserables - Victor Hugo<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/7047827787320464192-8310243463206043282?l=notesfromsarahsdesk.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Sarah Cruickshankhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14572722233832395749noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7047827787320464192.post-33478021295031433612008-07-08T10:51:00.002+01:002008-07-08T10:56:58.233+01:00I signed up to this service a while ago and have found it really useful for getting contact names/numbers/emails for potential pitches.<br /><br />Last week I decided to post a "Freelance Update" about myself just to raise my profile a bit. A BIT? My phone and email were going berserk on the first day and I've had emails every day since from PRs mentioning that they saw me on Gorkana and could they just share this product/client with me.<br /><br />The service is free to join and post to for freelances and from my experience I'd say "go for it". If you're thinking of putting in a shout, here's mine for reference...<br /><br />Freelance Update - Sarah Cruickshank<br />Sarah Cruickshank is a Freelance Journalist specialising in parenting, childcare, education and play. Sarah is a qualified teacher, and a former project worker with Sure Start. Since going freelance, Sarah has written for the likes of Child Care Magazine, Practical Pre-School, Fun2Learn.co.uk and Womenseverything.com. Sarah can be reached on +44 (0)7527 532 292 and sarah@sarahcruickshank.co.uk<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/7047827787320464192-3347802129503143361?l=notesfromsarahsdesk.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Sarah Cruickshankhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14572722233832395749noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7047827787320464192.post-10297768378759142242008-07-04T20:09:00.002+01:002008-07-04T20:11:49.459+01:00I've launched a new blog<a href="http://www.thehomecorner.blogspot.com"> here</a> to bring together all my parenting and childcare writing and information, new product reviews and giveaways. <br /><br />With lots of useful stuff collected over more than 20 years worth of work with children and their parents and carers, it just makes sense to do something coordinated with it.<br /><br />Please visit and enjoy.<br /><br />Sarah<br />x<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/7047827787320464192-1029776837875914224?l=notesfromsarahsdesk.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Sarah Cruickshankhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14572722233832395749noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7047827787320464192.post-85495682127949051942008-07-01T18:13:00.000+01:002008-07-01T18:14:22.755+01:00okay so its my husband, but its <a href="http://imaginarium42.blogspot.com/2008/07/monkey-buisness-real-life-digital.html">here</a><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/7047827787320464192-8549568212794905194?l=notesfromsarahsdesk.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Sarah Cruickshankhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14572722233832395749noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7047827787320464192.post-43199591646699149232008-07-01T15:17:00.003+01:002008-07-01T15:23:32.585+01:00By doing<a href="http://sarahat40.blogspot.com/2008/06/silver-back.html"> this</a>. I will NEVER take a blog for granted again!<br /><br />Following my post being flagged by Google Alerts to the Marketing and PR Exec at the zoo, she contacted me with an interesting childcare related story which I've sold to a magazine.<br /><br />So, be aware of what you're posting!<br /><br />Sarah<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/7047827787320464192-4319959164669914923?l=notesfromsarahsdesk.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Sarah Cruickshankhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14572722233832395749noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7047827787320464192.post-73014526825649090572008-06-28T14:53:00.003+01:002008-06-28T14:55:37.747+01:00Late yesterday one of the ideas I've been waiting to hear about was commissioned (yipee, etc). I was so pleased, even though its a proper feature with experts and stuff so will be a new experience for me.<br /><br />I was really down about not having any new work, but now I'm feeling a lot better.<br /><br />Onward and upward.<br /><br />Sarah<br />x<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/7047827787320464192-7301452682564909057?l=notesfromsarahsdesk.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Sarah Cruickshankhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14572722233832395749noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7047827787320464192.post-30655224238002580362008-06-27T09:21:00.002+01:002008-06-27T09:27:05.955+01:00Strange week this week, I've got work done and found a few good connections, but the commissions I was hoping to get following editorial meetings haven't materialized. <br /><br />It's a difficult position to be in really, one of the ideas is really time - sensitive to the summer, so if the mag that has it at the moment doesn't want it I only have a short time in which to try and sell it elsewhere. I chased the editor in question to check the situation and she hasn't come back to me (3 days later), so I'm toying with pitching to someone else and telling her its tough if she does eventually come back.<br /><br />The second idea isn't really dependent on a particular season to run, so I could just squirrel it away for use another time, but it's a question of whether I want to do that or whether I could do with the work now. I'm prepared to wait a bit longer on this one, but probably only until the middle of next week before I move it on to the back burner.<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/7047827787320464192-3065522423800258036?l=notesfromsarahsdesk.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Sarah Cruickshankhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14572722233832395749noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7047827787320464192.post-35146855228186992462008-06-24T11:28:00.005+01:002008-06-24T18:28:17.051+01:00I don't mind getting rejections from editors, its par for the course as a freelancer and never personal. Most of the rejections I get are pretty friendly too "this one isn't for us, but do send us more ideas", etc.<br /><br />What I really object to is SILENCE! How long does it take to bash out an email that says "No thanks"? I'm sure you could even set it up as a template so all you have to do is press a button. Its just rude and in this day and age, where so much is available at the click of a button, I think its pretty inexcusable.<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/7047827787320464192-3514685522818699246?l=notesfromsarahsdesk.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Sarah Cruickshankhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14572722233832395749noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7047827787320464192.post-46963922381595609392008-06-20T12:24:00.002+01:002008-06-20T12:29:36.101+01:00I've done lots of work this week and even had the sniff of a couple of paid commissions coming from some planning meetings in the next few days (keeping everything crossed).<br /><br />I'm hoping to be able to take most of August off to concentrate on the fiction part of my creative writing course with the <a href="http://www.writersbureau.com/">Writers Bureau</a> - I had hoped to do this in 6 months, but it'll be more like a year by the time I've finished.<br /><br />I've discovered the joys of You Tube recently (yes, I know, I'm a bit behind the times). I mostly only looked on their because Jonathan likes some pretty obscure stuff, <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tx1XIm6q4r4">this</a> is one of his favourites!<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/7047827787320464192-4696392238159560939?l=notesfromsarahsdesk.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Sarah Cruickshankhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14572722233832395749noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7047827787320464192.post-2944974164422008042008-06-17T09:26:00.002+01:002008-06-17T09:29:13.658+01:00Feeling much better about work this week.  I seriously thought about jacking it all in a couple of weeks ago, but having taken some time and thought about it, I know that writing is what I want to be doing, so I have to slog it out.<div><br /></div><div>I've said it before, writing is the hardest job I've ever done, its not glamourous and you spend ost of your time putting out for work and then being put down with rejections.</div><div><br /></div><div>Anyway, back to it!</div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/7047827787320464192-294497416442200804?l=notesfromsarahsdesk.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Sarah Cruickshankhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14572722233832395749noreply@blogger.com0