'You've got your hands full'

Urgent request for help: Do you have Press Gazette from last May?

I'VE been asked to submit a number of freelance articles to an awards scheme and one of them is a piece by me that went into Press Gazette, published in May last year, about depression in journalists.

But according to the rules of entry, I need to be able to submit a PDF version of the piece as published by 5pm on Monday March 29. I can't find my copy and would very much appreciate any help you can give me in being able to meet this requirement.

If anyone has this issue of Press Gazette, please please can they scan in a copy of my piece and email it to me?

My email is linda[at]passionatemedia.co.uk

I'm leading a workshop today and have a job interview on Monday. Please do not hesitate to email me with any queries. I've contacted the team at Press Gazette but as it's Saturday morning thought I should also ask around.

Thank you so much to anyone who can help. Have a great weekend.

John Barrowman arrives as Patrick Logan in Desperate Housewives

SUCH a long way from the Birmingham Hippodrome but I love it!

Twins and tantrums - media request, help needed today

JOURNALIST and blogger Lisa Burn is working on an online feature and needs to talk to parents of twins about tantrums.

She wants hear from parents whose children had tantrums when they were toddlers, or still are,  and how you coped/cope with them.

Please email Lisa: lisaburn.freelance[at]virgin.net if you would like to help.

Lisa needs help today, I'm also hopefully taking part in the piece, but now my girls are 11 I have managed to wipe any recollection of any trantrums clean from my mind!

(Urgent) Media requests: Magazine features and TV documentary

LIZ Jarvis is on the look out for a woman who now lives the 'good life' after moving to the country. Before her move she should have been quite wealthy or materialistic.

This is for a quality women's magazine and the deadline or getting in touch with Liz is tomorrow. Please email Lizjarvis1[at]yahoo.co.uk if you can help with either request.

Liz is also looking for a lady who got divorced online. This is also for a glossy women's magazine. Please get in touch with Liz by Friday March 26 if you can help.

Channel 4's Cutting Edge is looking for expectant mums in their teens or aged 37 or older in the hope they may be able to be featured in an upcoming documentary. Their babies should be due around May time, please email mums@betty.co.uk if you'd like more details. Or call Daisy on 0207 290 0535.

Media request: Did you fall out with your friend or sister re children at a wedding?

A DAILY paper is looking for two women friends or sisters who fell out over children being invited/not invited the other's wedding.

Please contact me Linda[at]passionatemedia.co.uk if you think you can help and I will pass on details.

Author's request: Mums returning to work

FROM Anne Gulland

I'M writing a book - it's about going back to work after taking time out to have kids. I'm looking to interview mothers who have taken a period off (minimum of two years) and then are relaunching themselves again. I'm a freelance journalist and have written for the Guardian and lots of different trade magazines. This is my first book. Thanks very much in advance.

You can email Anne on  <annecgulland[at]yahoo.co.uk>

What's your favourite piece of writing...by you?

AS I'm adding examples of previous writing to this blog, I wanted to include this one. I don't know why but it has always stayed with me. I hope you like it and would love to know what your favourite thing you've written is. This post has been prompted by Josie at Sleep is for the weak too.

Mourners gather to remember victims of repression

EVERY year on September 5 relatives and friends of victims of Stalin's murderous political repression gather at a modest plinth in the shadow of St Petersburg's Peter and Paul Fortress to commemorate the start of the Red Terror.  Linda Jones reports.

They came not only to remember their dead, but to remind the living of their loss.  Some were decorated with medals, others with photos of loved-ones who had perished on the whim of a tyrant. Some cried openly, while many more were lost in a silent world of darkness and grief.

Natalia Konstantinova was nine years old when her father was shot. He had been arrested seven months earlier, accused of designing a bomb to assassinate Stalin.

Remember this? Mike Reid: "Runaround......Now!"

AS I have brought you two grown men being a chicken and the genius of Freddie Parrot Face Davies, I thought I'd make it a trio of fellas that I remember fondly with Mike Reid on the fantastic Runaround.

I later interviewed Mike for a newspaper and did an impression of him saying 'Runaround' to his face. I'm sure you can guess how that went down...

Media request: Did you have a premature baby?

FROM Jane Yettram:

Did you have a premature baby?

I am writing a birth story piece for a glossy monthly parenting magazine and am looking for a mum who had a prem baby. If you’d like to share your story, please email some good quality pictures of you and your baby just after the birth, plus a few details of how it went, to jane.yettram[at]ajjn.freeserve.co.uk. Looking forward to hearing from you! Jane x

Media request: The fibs mums tell

I'VE just been passed this message which has originally come through Response Source. Please note the deadline and please contact the journalist direct if you would like to help.

From Melanie Smith at the Press Association:

URGENT! Please ask your friends, family, colleagues!I'm still looking for a few more women to reveal their fibs for a feature I'm writing about the fibs mums tell their children.

Please help if you can.  I'm especially looking for women, aged 20-50, who live across the UK (especially the Midlands and the north) who would be happy to reveal their fibs, their name, age, location and a head shot
photograph of themselves.