It's been an insanely busy few weeks. I've been up to all my usual sex-writing stuff; a piece for the Daily Star on 'sexy May Day traditions', a piece for More! on 'Six explosive sex moves' and some sex newsletters.
My radio slot on LBC is now confirmed as regular; only ten minutes a fortnight but it's great fun. Had a nightmare last week though - was doing the slot as a phoner and my mobile reception sucked (I have the oldest phone on the planet which didn't help as it has a tendency to switch itself off.) Dr Pam Spurr handled it brilliantly but still felt really bad 'cos I'm sure it sounded terrible.
I've also landed a TV job on a new Sky Digital channel, Friendly TV. It's in soft-launch at the moment so probably doesn't have a huge audience, which is good for quelling my nerves. My show's called Under Covers and is a live text-in sex, love and relationship advice show. I have to wear glasses on the show to 'look older' which is odd.
I do between two and three shows a week, each of them an hour long. Having never done TV before, it's kind of nerve-wracking. On my second day, I had a dodgy earpiece which meant I couldn't hear the producer for the first 15 minutes of the show; something which is less than ideal as it meant I had no idea when the ad breaks were coming up.
The following day, the sound didn't work for the first 15 mins so there was chaos as the engineer ran round trying to figure out why. Technical problems when I'm still getting used to TV weren't good for the nerves!
At the start of each show, I do a sex news round-up, so I did my usual mail to PRs asking them to let me know what they'd got coming up that was worth a mention. There's some weird and wonderful stuff; a honey aphrodisiac drink, the Vielle orgasm booster (which won the inventor a prize in the Best Female Inventor awards) and yet more 'natural Viagras'. Realised when I was sorting through stuff at the flat that I've got about 300 condoms from various companies to review. Also have a load more sex toys being sent to me - ah, it's a hard life! Just need to figure out a way of getting free batteries...
Had my birthday party last week and everyone was intrigued by the contents of my office; namely, a gazillion condoms, various sex books and random toys (unused - keeping the ones I've already reviewed in the office would be kind of grim) Was a good ice-breaker for people who hadn't met before. Though the vodka jelly (with half a pint of vodka to half a pint of water) seemed to help in that regard too...
Sex aside, met up with a really interesting bloke yesterday who works on Media/open source projects for developing countries. Introduced him to some geek mates and looks like there could be some mutually useful stuff coming out of it. I'm going to write some 'marketing for free' factsheets for him, 'cos most of the principles are the same no matter where you are. I reckon he's dead brave - spends a lot of time in warzones - something I'd never have the guts to do.
Was interested to see the results of The Big Read. I've read 51 out of the 100 so figure I've got a fair bit of catching up to do. Was pleased to see some of my favorites in there though; 1984, Brave New World, Rebecca, Hitchhiker's Guide and a stash of ace kids books. My favourite kid's author wasn't there though; Nicholas Fiske - kind of junior sci-fi . Was surprised not to see any of Roald Dahl's writing for adults in the top 100 too - his kids stuff may rule but his adult stuff is beautifully chilling.
So, life goes on. It's good. It's busy. And I feel happy.