Thank goodness I'm not an 'A' lister

This week has been National Adoption Week in the UK and the British Association of Adoption and Fostering (BAAF) has been working hard with individuals and the media to get the message out that Every Child Deserves a Family. 
For anyone that has read my blog previously you will know that I am adopted and also relinquished a baby in my late teens so know first hand about two sides of adoption. 


As part of National Adoption Week I volunteered to be an Adption Champion for BAAF which meant I would be willing to talk to others about my experience.  I wasn't quite sure how this would develop until I got a call from a freelance journalist saying that The Daily Mirror would like to run an article on my experiences. 


I agreed to an interview followed by a photoshoot and the article appeared as a centre page spread on Nov 2nd.


I must say I was very pleased with how the article appeared and it was well received by friends and family and my twitter followers. 


There then followed a quite frenetic and slightly surreal day as the story was picked up by other publications keen to run with it. The phone was like a hot brick as I had 4 different women's magazines wanting to do a feature. My head was in a bit of a whirl as I wasn't quite sure what the protocol was for this. I could have done with a Max Clifford type to assist me! 


Anyway I agreed that I'd do something with one magazine to start with. No sooner had I agreed and the phone goes again and Radio 5 Live want to do an interview too . I happily agree to this, as I'd like to get the message out to people about the depth of emotion around the issue of adoption. Of course nothing is straight forward is it? 


After agreeing the radio interview there is a knock on the front door and this guy shoves an envelope in my hand and says I need to sign something and return it to him. It was very surreal like something one sees on TV!  Anyway it's a contract from the magazine stating they want an exclusive and I'm not able to talk to any other journalists or media until 7 days after the publication of the article.  I am slightly amazed at the speed of it all as the contract arrived at my front door about half an hour after I'd agreed to the feature. It had been faxed to a courier who then popped around to have me sign it. 
I then have to phone the producer at Radio 5 Live and say I'm contractually bound and can't do the interview with them!  


I can't imagine for the life of me what A listers have to put up with when negotiating their mega bucks deals with magazines and TV etc but I'm glad I'm not one of them!