Your opinions needed please....

[anniebear]

Most of you know I have twin Girls one of whom had Meningitis when she was 8 months and now (they are now 4 and a half) has special needs

There is the possibility of our story going in a mag or paper

Hubby isn't too keen, My Friend isn't so sure

I am 100% for it!! Here is one of the e mails off the man (I contacted him after he put a notice on a well known parenting site)

Hi Angie
I have had a read of your excellent site and it is interesting reading about the girls. Is it possible to leave it with me and I can see if we can get your story told somewhere?
it would be an interesting piece abut you as a mum feel having twins who are at such different stages of their development.
Leave it with me if that's OK,
All the best

The girls would be so excited being in the paper!! Ellie has already been in the local one and Grace was gutted as she wasnt

I think it's good for people to read about other peoples lives, and see that it's not as easy for everyone

what do you think?

Thanks

Why are your husband & friend unsure?

Not too sure...

DH I think is just not keen on the idea of everyone being told about Ellie I suppose

My Friend can see it's a good idea and that it is a story that people would love to read, but she isn't sure, she said her DH would think it was exploitation

I can't see why we would be being exploited, I will have agreed to it and if we got any money from it, it would be spent on the girls anyway

I feel the same as you. I would be really interested to read your story and I'm sure others would too. And as you say if any money comes out of it - bonus spoil the girls. Do you think your husband is a bit shy? Doesn't want the publicity?

you asked!!!!!...

mysite.wanadoo-members.co.uk/EllieOurSpecialGirl

This time 4 years ago, she was on a life support machine fighting for ehr life

OMG how scary!

I would certainly get some money for it. You must have an enormous amount of extra expenses that you don't get help for and it would certainly help cover those. I also think that it has to be helpful for other parents of children with stories even somewhat similar to yours, to know that their are others out their withthe same problems. And also if you have any hints about how to deal with things, that would be helpful to publicize as well.

Woudl it make your dh felel better if they used fake names?

Anniebear - I work in PR so have a bit of experience of dealing with journalists doing this kind of thing.

My advice would be, if you want to go ahead do, but you should be a bit careful about how you do it.

Firstly, is this guy a freelancer? If so, I would ask him who he is going to approach. Different mags/papers have very different styles and it depends how you want your story to be told. Some publications have a tendancy to rather sensationalise stories. This may or may not bother you.

Two - you could expect some payment but probably not a huge amount. Worth asking. Also bear in mind if a freelance person writes your story they will be getting paid by the publication.

I would say that you want copy approval i.e you want to see the story before it is submitted and if possible before it goes to press (though this is often v.hard to get). But a good freelance should be prepared to show you the article they have written before it is submitted. If you have copy approval it won't necessarily mean you can change everything that is written but you should be able to have some say about what is said, and especially make sure you are happy with any direct quotes.

I think raising awareness is a great thing - if it were me, my only reservation really would be that any journalist is going to take an angle on it all, so be prepared that you may not get across 'your message' if you have one. You have a better chance of doing this by making sure you really get on with the journalist and feel that they 'get' you and your family.

Hope that helps

Thanks HITC

I will jot all that down, thank you

He suggested it an article on how I have have found it having twins who are devloping differently

I am not bothered about the money, but then as he is getting it....so should I!!!

Might never hear from him again!

Hi, Have you thought about writing the story yourself and approaching one of the mags or newspapers. That way you get the fee and you get whatever slant you want on the article. It will be altered and copy read of course, but at least it will be your story. Thats what i am going to do when i ahve the time, what about approaching mother and baby mags or parenting style mags. they always have adverts that ask if you ahve story to submit