Journalism
I've been a journalist for 25 years and I love my job - I love chatting to people and hearing about their lives and I love writing. I also like news and gossip (receiving it, analysing it and especially the delicious feeling of passing it on!). I'm also a regular judge at the North East Press Awards.
I freelance for the Daily Express, the Sunday Express and the Daily Telegraph, and I cover health, parenting, dieting and relationships, but I also do human interest features for magazines and other papers now and then. Over the 16 years I've been freelance my work has appeared in Woman, Woman's Own, SHE, Best, Bella, The Mirror, The People, That's Life, Pick Me Up, Yours and Love It and I was acting Parenting Editor for the Sunday Express in 2007.
No two days are the same in my job and I love that. Not long ago I interviewed Mike Hare, a businessman who lost 15st and started running marathons, then I went to a manifestation workshop led by another runner - Julia Armstrong, who taught us how to visualise and draw what we want. It all sounded a bit wacky until wishes began to come true and then it was just plain spooky.
More recently I've been chatting to Emma Wimhurst, author of BOOM! a business book, and now a business mentor and speaker, who made her mark in cosmetics. That's where I'm going wrong. Emma made her million in cosmetics whereas I spend millions on them!
I also get to do some travel writing which means reviewing hotels and sampling holidays - a dream job for any Sagittarian. I've become a contributor to worldreviewer.com, a great travel website which seems to have something on everywhere in the world.
This year I've also been a spa spy, reviewing gorgeous places like Titanic Spa in West Yorkshire, and Verbena Spa at Helmsley, North Yorkshire - both restful, lovely and serene. When I'm Prime Minister all women will spend a day a week at a spa!
Online
- "Wave goodbye to bad clutter habits forever", Daily Express, 19/10/2009
- "Inspiring man who ran off 15st", Sunday Express, 27/09/2009
- "How I made it as a credit crunch cook", Daily Express, 27/08/2009
- "Think your way to a happier life", Daily Express, 27/07/2009
- "How a brain trainer can change your life", Daily Express, 20/04/2009
- "To make friends, first find out who you are...", Daily Express, 15/09/2008
- "Moving? Child's play", Daily Telegraph Weekend section, 13/09/2008
- "Island holidays", The Northern Echo, 02/02/2008
- "Life coaches: A guide in the field of dreams", Daily Telegraph, 29/12/2007
- "Our husbands had never seen us slim", Daily Express, 19/11/2007
- "We refused to be fat at 40", Daily Express, 17/09/2007
- "If I can lose weight, you can too", Daily Express, 26/02/2007
- "Monkey business", The Northern Echo, 27/01/2007
Offline
- "Break that clutter cycle", Daily Express, 09/02/2009
- "When it comes to giving gifts to children, less is more", Sunday Express, 18/03/2007
- "Could text-speak really spell the end for good grammar?", Sunday Express, 11/03/2007
- "Licensed to thrill", Sunday Express, 02/01/2005