Mummascribbles – Mummascribbles meets…Notaneffingfairytaleblog – Mummascribbles
This week we meet the brilliant Notaneffingfairytaleblog. Thanks so much for taking part 🙂
Tell me a little bit about yourself and your family
When my only child was 11 years old, I thought it would be lovely to have another baby. Fast forward two and a half years and I now have a toddler and a teenager who throw tandem tantrums (one throwing toys and one slamming doors and telling me they hate me). Can you imagine the fun? I have a husband, two cats and an 80-year-old father who thinks he is Tom Jones and has all the old ladies chasing him. We live in Ealing, London in a house that has been totally ripped off from Instagram – every room was inspired by a bout of jealousy from seeing a post on interiors.
What do you like doing to be you, when you are not parenting, working (if you do), or blogging?
I like to garden. I want to be the female version of Tom from the Good life, but my track record with vegetables is atrocious. I am on a gardening high at the moment however: I managed to grow eight carrots so I now think I am Alan Titchmarsh and am giving ‘advice’ across many gardening forums. Because, you know, growing eight carrots totally makes me an expert.
What is your biggest achievement to date?
You mean apart from the carrots? It would have to be backpacking around the world with my some when he was ages 5-7. It was awesome and without sounding like too much of a twat, it changed the way I think about the world and people in general.
From your own experiences, what do you find the hardest part of parenting and what is the easiest/most rewarding part?
The hardest part is getting up in the morning and knowing you have the whole day to get through. No matter how much you love your children, parenting brings its own worries and stresses, born out of that love for them. Certain stages are worse than others – toddler tantrums make me weep. The most rewarding part is when they get a bit older and they start to want to actually get to know you. They realise you are not just mum/dad but a person. I am going though that with my teen now and it’s really lovely.
Parenting in itself is no mean feat; how do you juggle everything you need to in order to get everything done on a daily basis?
I don’t! Luckily I work from home as a freelance writer, so I only have to work a few hours a day, but I don’t send my toddler to pre school, so it’s sometimes quite a feat. My greatest motivation to work is an upcoming deadline.
Alongside that I do all the house things/shopping/cooking/admin too. I just try to do everything the best I can and I find that alcohol helps me not care if I’ve not got everything done at the end of the day.
Why did you decide to start blogging?
I have been writing for a long time, around 15 years. I did a stint as a stand up comic, and then went on to write and edit comedy scripts before selling my soul to the internet and writing web copy for a penny a word.
I started blogging so I could carry on telling funny stories that hopefully other parents can relate to.
Tell me a bit about your blog?
No body wants to read about my glamorous life of going to Sainsbury’s and arguing with a two year old, so I decided to steer clear of a diary type blog.
My blog is more a collection of funny stories, relating to parenthood, lifestyle and travel. Most of it is tongue in cheek, and it’s all based on experiences that have happened to me in life and the things I have learned along the way.
The failed stand up in me is always trying to escape, so most of what I write actually starts life as notes for a stand up routine on a subject and ends up becoming a blog piece.
What do you want your blog to achieve and where do you hope to see it go as it grows?
I just want to make people laugh and to make other parents feel better about the mistakes we all make sometimes. I have no idea where I want it to go, just people reading my words is lovely enough at the moment – and unlike stand up, I can just delete any nasty comments and I don’t have to deal with real life hecklers!
What advice would you give someone who is thinking about starting a blog?
Make sure you write about what interests you and write in your ‘voice’. There is nothing harder than trying to write in a style that is not authentic to you, your outlook or your feelings.
If you could have dinner with three people (dead or alive), who would it be and why?
1. Ricky Gervais – I have a huge crush on him, so it wouldn’t just be dinner. I’d lock him in the shed afterwards until he develops Stockholm Syndrome and loved me back.
2. Tom Cruise – Just because he’s brilliantly batshit crazy. I would love to slowly wind him up about Scientology and tell him off if he jumped all over my sofa like a toddler. I’d probably lock him in the shed too (after asking him to lend me a tenner), but for different reasons.
3. JFK – I want to know everything about what was going on in the USA in the 1960’s and what he knew as a president about all the secrets.
Tell me three random facts about you
1. I used to work for Simon Cowell when I was a teenager
2. I’ve slept on the Great Wall of China
3. I can fly a plane
Along with the blog www.notaneffingfairytaleblog.com, you can also visit Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.