Nick Duerden in the Guardian - His wife "leaves me fully alone with my daughter for the first time" at 16 months!

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piece

Is this normal, for a father to not be left with their child alone until they are over a year old?

Zoe Williams, to be fair, does not seek the sympathy of her readership for the plight of being a mother.

Where is he then, hiding in the toilets??

Very slow typist for a journalist isn't he?

Hello policywonk. I like the Guardian Family section. I like to read about other people's lives, I suppose, and the fact that they are mostly first person means that they can't, and won't, necessarily appeal to all people, but should ring certain bells somewhere. If you found my piece arse gravy, then that's a shame!

The extract, by the way, was taken from three separate chapters, totalling somewhere in the region of 15,000 words. The article was just over 2000 words.

And, yes, my website is terrible. Somebody once said they were trying to track me down to give me work and that I had no "web presence". I had no idea what web presence was, and I had neither the strength nor the interest to maintain a website (which is ironic, given how much I admire other people's websites - but then, as you all know, I'm an almost full-time parent, up to my ears in it, etc). My web presence, then, is simply that page, a way for people to reach me if they want to give me work. And, yes, terrible colour scheme. My friend did it, an artist and graphic designer, by all accounts. Something tells me he didn't give it his full attention...

I'm with PW - do you think they'd let us guest edit a Family Guardian? Would be far more entertaining than what the current fare is. Sorry Nick, am not maligning you, I appreciate how editing down from a book can provide a strange balance. But do you see from some of the posts why we're a bit huffy?

Thank you, Nick

I don't think your piece was arse gravy, sorry to give that impression! It's just what I think of the FG as a whole.

" I like to read about other people's lives, I suppose, and the fact that they are mostly first person means that they can't,"

but it's not other peoples lives is it? you have just come on here and told us that your article is made up of bits and been taken out of context.

And, quite frankly, the Guardian Family section is just middle class North London Meeja types lives.

What a BRILLIANT idea about MN guest editing the Family Guardian. Lots and lots of MN journos. And, ahem, the searingly witty amongst us could do a small turn

Aside from the arse gravy comments here - and, my personal favourite, cocksniffer - I received a bunch of e-mails from acquaintances and total strangers to say that they really empathised with me having read the piece. I actually got much the same response from the newspaper articles I wrote before the Guardian piece, not just from readers but also the editors who, with one exception, were women...

Ooh, guest editing the FG!

JUSTINE!!

I don't think he was saying that Libras - to be fair, I think he was saying editing it down gives it an uneven keel sometimes. Or maybe I'm wrong..

"the idea being that they hopefully conveyed how I went from initially reluctant father to a willing, and very happy, one"

well why were you actively trying to conceive then? what would have happened it you hadnt changed into a willing happy one?

"The extract, by the way, was taken from three separate chapters, totalling somewhere in the region of 15,000 words. The article was just over 2000 words."

But did you extract it and put it togther like that or did someone else? And, as has already been asked, do you think it worked as a stand-alone piece? What message did it convey?

i think everyone can empathise with feeling fearful about the whole parenting lark ...

I just think he over-egged the pudding a bit.

There is quite a nice story there - man scared of having kid-man looks after kid-man has near miss with kid-kid loves man anyway-man loves kid.

I know the above in itself does not a book make, but by overplaying the metaphors as he did in the extract, it detracted from the simplicity of what is essentially a falling-in-love story between dad and child.

I like Nick's direct style on this thread. I just wish he had carried a more 'real' voice over to the book....

"I actually got much the same response from the newspaper articles I wrote before the Guardian piece, not just from readers but also the editors who, with one exception, were women... "

Sorry which bit were they empathising about?

Also the all other women in the world love my work might work on netmums but not here.

Could we approach the Guardian and ask if a posse of Mumsnetters could put together an alternative Family section to be published as well as their own offering.

"I received a bunch of e-mails from acquaintances and total strangers to say that they really empathised with me having read the piece. I actually got much the same response from the newspaper articles I wrote before the Guardian piece, not just from readers but also the editors who, with one exception, were women"

And yet here are a bunch of women who, almost to a person, think your article was self indulgent drivel. Which group are you going to believe?

Actually, I just wonder if you can quote mumsnet on your book jacket...

"so true to life" Nick's editor

"Self indulgent drivel" Mumsnet.

No, Libras, the Guardian piece was an extract from my book, and so I stitched these three separate segments together, from three separate chapters, in order to give an idea of - at the risk of sounding like an American self-help wanker - my journey into fatherhood. So it's not taken out of context at all, and it all is first person...

I may be meeja, Slug, but I don't live in North London. Have you seen those house

What's the popoulation of MN compared to the population of other websites who think MN is a nest of vipers? Slug's book jacket might actually help sales

Thanks shineon - that's exactly what I was getting at! (You is more real than me!)