A hiatus explained

Er...hello again.  It's been a while.  Looking good though.... I like what you've done with your hair.

You may have noticed that I have not blogged for five months.  There is a good reason for this, and it is called disillusionment.

I spent some time working for a PR company, and was put on the list of journalists and bloggers wanting products sent.  I was absolutely staggered by the amount of product that gets sent out and never receives any coverage.  I was also staggered that my press release would just be repeated verbatim, with no indication as to whether the product I had sent had actually been trialled or not and therefore the reader had no way of knowing whether s/he should buy the stuff or not.  I realised that people thought my blog was probably the same thing...this was brought home to me when I had sacrificed an afternoon's work to spend it with a PR who wanted to talk to me about the range of products she represented.  I listened dutifully for two hours, making notes, and then at the end she said with a sigh "I've often thought about just setting up my own blog.  I could do with loads of moisturiser."  This depressed me a great deal and irritated me even more.  I was then told of a make up company who was contacted every week by a blogger who 'called in' (the phrase that is used to mean a product request for a magazine') endless make-up.  Once she was sussed under one name she simply changed it and carried on ringing.

All this made me want to give up.  I then had dinner with Melanie (aka Buffy) and explained the situation to her.  She said "but that is why you SHOULD carry on with yours.  I have to read yours to find out what actually works."

So I am going to carry on.  I am going to play a game of last man standing - hopefully my blog will be valued because it does tell the truth, because I throw away press releases and prices when they come through the post without looking at them so I can concentrate on the efficacy of the product, and because I am not a six zero 21 year old who can go out for three nights running and still look fabulous.  I need help, and like most of the women in this country, despite the impression one gets from reading women's magazines, can't afford to waste money on products that don't work.