Time flies when you’re having fun, as they say. So much so that it’s been four years since I wrote a blog on this website. Four years before that I turned self-employed, setting up as a one-woman band with not much more of a plan other than to ‘write stuff’. In those eight years so…
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Me and my Imposter Syndrome
A wonderful thing happened recently. I was asked to be a mentor to journalism students in their final year at Birmingham City University. As someone who has had endless help throughout my career from people more experienced than me, being able to do something similar feels like a real joy, and a privilege. When I…
Journalism vs humanity – where do we draw the line?
I’ve been wanting to write this post for a while, and for a whole load of reasons. It’s an issue I’ve seen rear its head again and again over the last 17 years and is perhaps more important now than ever – on a personal level but as a wider issue too. For journalists, the…
Marking four years of freelancing
Exactly four years ago today I sat down at my desk after leaving my job and wondered what to write. Fast forward about 1,460 days and here I am, doing exactly the same. I guess some things are the same, but over the last four years a lot has changed – more so in the…
Yes, dreams do come true
We all have dreams. Call them aspirations if you will. A big white wedding dress, travelling the world, buying a certain car, getting that promotion, running a marathon. Everyone’s are different, some might seem small, but to the person whose dream they are they are huge, important and memorable. For me a lot of my…
Why being a ‘jack of all trades’ isn’t the worst thing in the world
When I was younger, I remember learning the phrase: “Jack of all trades, master of none”. Weirdly, I can’t even remember where, but it’s always been there, hovering in the background. One of the many reasons why it was important to pick a career and stick to it – something I was lucky enough to…
Freelance life – what happens when it doesn’t quite go according to plan
When people talk about freelancing, you hear a lot about the benefits. “I’m starting the day with a coffee on the sofa watching Netflix”, “I’m taking the day off because I can”, or “this is my office today”. I’m as guilty as the next person of loving the benefits of working for myself, keeping the…
Talking all things bloggers, influencers at stories in Mid & East Antrim
You may or may not know but as well as writing about food for a living, I do it for fun too. My blog Eat with Ellen has been going for quite some time and even got itself an award last year. I don’t really make any money from it, and that’s fine by me…
Goodbye 2018
And there we go. That’s 2018 done. And the fact I’ve only managed one blog post here since last year’s ‘end of year’ missive is quite telling. This year has disappeared in a whirlwind of work that some might describe as chaos (including me on a bad day) but I like to affectionately think of…
Reflecting on two years of freelancing
I realised at the weekend that it’s exactly two years since I started my freelance life. Two whole years. While anniversary day itself sort of passed me by, it seems fitting that this milestone comes as I’m about to take a break and go exploring Europe for a few weeks. It’s a good time to…
Happy New Year!
And so another year has passed – and also a long time since I wrote a blog on my own website which, in itself, is a good thing because 2017 was a busy old year! Going into it, it felt like I’d only taken the plunge to go freelance five minutes before and the learning…
A year of freelancing
Last week marked exactly one year since I said goodbye to employed life and embarked on what I reckon is probably one of the biggest adventures I’ve been on. Being your own boss, going freelance, going self-employed – no matter how you dress it up it’s pretty scary. No holiday pay, no sick pay, no…
Socially Shared’s Women in Business Conference
I don’t really tend to do ‘networking’ much – not the formal type anyway. As a journalist, networking is kind of your job. Meeting people, talking to them, finding out their stories, working with PR people to get results for both of you. All that is networking and it doesn’t really need a formal ‘networking group’…
Judging at the National Fish & Chip Awards
There’s times in a career like mine when you can’t quite believe the opportunities you’ve been given – like interviewing royalty, going to a warzone, covering the Olympics. Or being a judge at one of the biggest competitions of the culinary year – the National Fish & Chip Awards. Before you even start thinking about it, no…
Happy New Year!
Wow, is it 2017 already? I’m sure I’m not the only person to be saying that. It doesn’t seem like all that long ago that we were seeing in 2016 full of joy about what was to come. Of course, 2016 was a bit monumental wasn’t it. Political change on a scale we could never…
Thoughts On Becoming A Freelance Journalist
I wrote this for KettleMag, so thought I’d share it here…. I spent more than 12 years working as a staff reporter at a range of publications – from my local weekly paper to becoming the chief reporter at the Press Association. I had opportunities and experiences that saw me kicking myself to check I wasn’t…