So yet to be discovered as the next David Bailey and with a little bit of money left, I bought myself a brand spanking new iMac, replacing the battered and bruised Blueberry iMac used purely for iTunes and emails. Considering I've been working on, let's give them their proper title, AppleMacs since they were first introduced to the UK (yes, I'm that old) I thought it was time I made my money this way. With 20 years experience in the creative industry it was only right I give it a go.
Being one of those, what I like to call, 'creative types' my once glitzy 'dressing room' morphed into my home 'office'. The idea being that as sole carer for Autumn I should start thinking about staying in to work - as opposed to going out to work, see what I did there?
Starting off as 'WFH Creative' I had some success but not wanting to make excuses, it's flipping hard to concentrate on a project when you have a two year old wanting your attention, demanding food and bottom-wiping (her's not mine). Then there were two cats to kick (I jest) and a house to keep tidy. Don't get me wrong, Andy is well domesticated and house-trained (he'll love me for that) and not your typical male stereotype - he'd make do with a cold belly-pork sandwich after a long day at work, he's Northern remember. A couple of projects down the line and my yearning for success grew. I do have a fair few ideas whizzing round my cerebral cortex so am often found talking out loud then maniacally searching for a "goddamn pen and bit of paper for gawd's sake!"
One of my very first projects was to come up with a new cider. Not as easy as it sounds, and now looking back I'm sure we would have been trounced by Stella Artois' Cidre, but it was fun all the same and proved that I was still capable of coming up with original creativity. Another project that didn't take off sadly was for a friend's refrigeration company and I feel, especially after announcing it here, that the strapline will follow me around for years to come. The brief was to come up with a catchy slogan about inexpensive cold storage appliances. I cringe as I type this but all the same, it's funny, sort of clever and once Curry's see this they'll be biting my hand off for copyright: 'Thrilling Prices for Chilling Devices'.
With my thirst for branding and marketing reawakened, it was about this time that I discovered 'comping' on Facebook. It got so bad that I'd wake up in the night thinking of winning slogans and captions. Andy used to tell me off for going on the computer every day. I'd say I was taking some washing up or making the beds or cleaning the shower (that's when he knew I was fibbing). There were times when I was actually working too. Like I said, when you have no childcare you have to grab as much time as possible to do the things you think will make a difference to your family. I've been entering competitions and giveaways on Facebook since September last year and have won 70 prizes so far. Ranging from the inevitable cuddly toy to Disneyland Paris breaks, oh did I mention ankle supports?
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| "All because the Lady loves...ankle supports?" |
Having an inquisitive and tech-savvy daughter means that I'm often elbowing said child off my Mac and have now installed a chair at the PC behind me. Autumn has her own desk and enjoys doing 'her work' on Cbeebies but she says she prefers my computer and I don't blame her! I've just been working on a branding project for Word files. The expletives coming out of the office were record-breaking, I even managed to create some new swear words. Copyright pending of course.
