June 2020 has basically consisted of another month in lockdown with non-stop journalism, binge-watching TV shows, reading stories from my childhood and enjoying the return of football.
Freelance journalism
As I mentioned in April and May, I’ve been making the most of virtual training courses and workshops while in lockdown. I have continued this throughout June 2020.
This month I signed up to a four-week course looking at Audience Engagement Strategies run by digital journalist Adam Timworth. The course included five 90-minute Zoom sessions and countless of further reading (which I’m yet to start reading through). In a nutshell, the course consists of numerous strategies to engage audiences as journalists, bloggers, broadcasters and other roles in communication.
I also attended a number of webinars that included:
- Using surveys and polls in journalism
- How to use economic in journalism
- Alternative storytelling
- Pitch non-coronavirus stories
You may have also seen I’ve created a profile on Journo Portfolio that contains links to all my published work from over the past eight years. Please go check it out and share.
As well as all this, I have of course been publishing content on this blog and Disability Horizons.
Football
“It has come home, it has come home… Football has come home!” Yes, football has returned – well the top leagues have. As a Portsmouth fan, I am disappointed League One could not finish the season, but I’m relieved we reached the play-offs and still have a chance to get promoted to the Championship.
Although Pompey won’t play until July, I’ve still enjoyed listening to Premiere League games on the radio. I was curious to hear the artificial atmosphere and some have sounded great and others not so much. When the home team are winning it sounds livelier but when it is the away team winning, there is little or no reaction at all.
And a big congratulations to Liverpool for winning the Premiere League. Very well deserved and a long time coming.
Music
This month I was supposed to see The Killers and My Chemical Romance play live but thanks to this stupid pandemic, they have been postponed until next summer.
Also, I was really gutted to find out that The Lion King musical, which I was due to see in September, has been postponed until 2022.
I’m really starting to miss live music now, but I understand it could be a long time before we are able to return. I’d rather go back knowing it is 100% safe and not risk my life though.
On the plus side, I have found an alternative way to enjoy live music in the meantime. I have created a live music playlist filled with loads of live recordings of previous performances from across the years, which includes Kasabian, Courteeners, Foo Fighters, Queen and many more.
Books
This month I went back to my childhood and read the complete series of the Tracy Beaker books by Jacqueline Wilson. I was inspired to do this when I discovered there was a new book released late last year.
The first three books are about Tracy as a child living at the Dumping Ground and the last two books are about Tracy grown up and being a mother to her daughter Jess.
I found all five books very enjoyable and I actually don’t remember some of them, but it was nice to find out more about Tracy from the books.
TV
Because I was reading the Tracy Beaker books, I then decided to look through BBC iPlayer to see if the TV series was available as I loved watching it when I was younger. Thankfully the complete series is available and I am currently binge watching it all again. It is still as good now as it was when I was a child.
I also finished watching the third series of Killing Eve but I was sadly disappointed. It did appear to have a weird cliff-hanger, so I’m assuming there’s a new series but I’m slightly concerned there’s not much more left they can do to the story. I think it should’ve stopped at series 2 to be honest.
In addition, I discovered a new one-off series on BBC iPlayer called Staged, starring Michael Sheen and David Tennant. It’s basically a lockdown programme about actors trying to rehearse a play on Zoom. It was very entertaining and amusing.
Audio Description petition
This month, my audio description petition has received an additional 65 signatures, making the total 555 signatures, which is great!
But I’m eager to reach thousands. The more signatures we get, the more likely changes could be made within the TV & films industries. Please, please, PLEASE continue to sign & share!
Guest Bloggers Wanted
I’m still eager to collaborate with even more bloggers in 2020. So, if you’re a lifestyle, disability and/or music blogger, send me your blog stories. Plus let me know if you’d like me to feature on your blog as a guest blogger.
I’m flexible with any type of blog posts; life story, disability awareness, music event, musician promotion – basically anything to do with life, disability or music!
Blog post roundup
In case you missed any of my blog posts this month, here is a roundup of them:
- Music Interview: The KillerHertz
- 73 questions with Emma Purcell
- Music Interview: Katya Richardson
- 6 funny Facebook statuses 2014 – 2019
- Music Interview: Tradmrkd
- The challenges of suprapubic catheter care
- Music Interview: Fanni Mayer
5 Favourite Blog Posts
Here are my 5 favourite blog posts I’ve read this month:
- DIVERSITY, DISABILITY AND INCLUSION IN PUBLISHING – A CHAT WITH KYANNE STENNETTat Life of Pippa
- As a disabled person, I’m not ready for lockdown to end by Chloe Tear
- There needs to be a whole scale revolution not just for people of colour but for ALL disadvantaged groups at Diary of a Painfully Shy Introvert
- YOU DON’T HAVE TO PROVE YOURSELF by Kerry Thompson
- I Am A Wheelchair User, And Walking Is Not My Goal at Gin & Lemonade
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