My Day at More! Magazine!!!

As you may remember, I have blogged before about featuring in More! magazine in various features including going topless for them for Breast Cancer Awareness and partying with Tinchy Stryder in a London Nightclub! I also just recently finished a 3 month stint guest blogging for the Magazine's website which was amazing and such a great opportunity!

A week and a half ago More! put up a post on their (very popular) Facebook page, advertising a great chance to go and help out with the production of their Facebook Fan Issue. I entered as soon as I saw it, writing my entry as fast as my fingers could type, I wanted it that badly. I didn't think I would ever get picked though as I knew a lot of people would enter, and I had just finished doing my Blog for them so I figured that might count me out...

So I was very shocked to receive an email from Laura at More! saying that I had been picked by the editor Channy to be one of five 'Superfans'. I didn't see the email until the evening of the Friday though, and instantly panicked that I had left it to late as the email had said to ring Laura back as soon as possible... So came an unsure weekend of waiting, not wanting to tell anyone what I was doing because I was unsure whether I was going to be able to, and also unsure as to whether I was meant to even tell people (the email hadn't said and More! hadn't announced the identity of the winners on their Facebook page).

Bright and early on the Monday (bearing in mind the superfan event was on the Tuesday) I rang up the More! offices and spoke to Laura. Luckily it was not too late and we got to arranging my travel. I decided to go by coach as it meant no changes. The only coach I could get to get to 'work' on time was at 5am! I hate travelling at the best of times, and especially hate travelling in London, and alone, but I sucked it up because I really wanted this! And when Laura informed me that I would not have to get on the dreaded tube as they were arranging for cars to come and pick us up, I wanted to reach through the phone and hug her! With the travel all booked up I was finally able to get excited. I started planning what to wear, which was quite hard as I had no idea what the weather was going to be like, the weather forecasts kept telling me different things! Eventually I settled on something a bit smart, but with my gorgeous black heart top and suede shoe boots. Cameron had been quite unwell as well, so it was still a bit hit and miss up until the evening  before I left as to whether I would be unable to go after all.

Luckily he was feeling a lot better on the Monday night so at half four in the morning on Tuesday I got up, got dressed and went to get my 5am coach into London armed with my I Heart Hollywood book. I had a weird pervert sat next to me all the way there which was....pleasant... luckily I just read my book and it's such a good book I didn't notice him much. I was getting really excited by the time I reached London, and didn't even mind that I had to hang around Victoria station for an hour until the car came to pick me up. Despite a bit of a mix up with the car, I arrived at the More offices in one piece, very excited and the first person I met was Beth, a fellow superfan, who was lovely! We chatted a bit about what we thought would happen throughout the day, the other girls who would be coming, and the Facebook page that had got us all there to start with.

We were greeted by a lovely cameraman who told us the day would be filmed for special videos to be put up on Facebook which made me pretty self conscious! After a few more minutes we were met by Laura and Louise from More, and a third superfan arrived, Nadine. She was really bubbly and had an infectious smile and soon we were heading up to the office itself to meet Channy and some of the team. We had a brief introduction before being whisked into hair and makeup. I already had a lot of makeup on because I had been up so early and had tried to hide the bags under my eyes, but the lovely makeup artist worked her magic and made me up with lovely black flicked eyeliner and pink eyeshadow. She also fluffed up my hair and made it look ten times better than I ever manage to!

Once we had finished, we were taken upstairs to have our headshots taken in the studio. I absolutely love posing for photos so was in my element as they took test shots and then the actual photos. It was a bit weird to actually smile though, as I am used to just pouting! We went back downstairs and were given copies of the current issue to flick through and then we were divided up into different areas. I went with another superfan Jessica to Beauty and was given a pink bag full of beauty products to test for the beauty section. I loved testing them out and writing about them.



The cameraman came and videod my writing my notes and asked for me to spray the root lifting dry shampoo onto his (afro) hair! It made it go massive which was quite amusing. After I had sent my words to Hannah from Beauty, I joined back up  with Jessica and we were invited to sit in on a Features meeting and discuss what should go into the What to watch/listen to/see at cinema section of the magazine. It was great to be so involved in a discussion and have our ideas used for the issue. It was really relaxed and informal and everyone seemed to love their jobs which was great to see. There are some genuinely lovely girls on the team. We also got to look at some of the papparazzi photos that they get sent everyday to choose from. There were some really interesting shots!

After the meeting me and Jessica joined the others in a meeting room where they were writing up some fashion pages, and we got given lots of sweets, chocolate and other yummy things to snack on whilst we finished up, and whilst the Facebook fans online got to choose where the Editors were taking us out for lunch! We also signed some confidentiality papers so that we wouldn't tell people the content of the issue before it came out (I have been assured that I am now able to speak about it as the issue is on sale!). The fans chose for us to be taken to Zizzis. I had never been before, but it was a great choice and the staff seemed on very good terms with the Editors.

I ordered a margherita pizza which was yummy, and settled down to chat with Laura who was sat opposite me. I have got to know Laura over the last few months as she was my contact at More for the mini blogs. She is lovely and was asking all about Cameron, I even brought some photos of him to show her, and Channy had a look as well. They both said how lovely he is, and I have to agree, he does me proud! We also chatted about journalism as a career, my degree, the Facebook page and the magazine itself. It was great to chat to these women whose careers I envy! Louise was also there, but further down the table so I didn't get a chance to speak to her.

After lunch we went back to the office and I was put with Abbie, working on Position of the Week. I was so happy because I have chatted to Abbie before over a possible article I was going to be in, as well as liasing with her over email when me and an ex did POTW ages ago, and for an article I had a comment published for this week. She is so lovely and her job is exactly my dream job if I were to work for the magazine! Talk about star struck! Abbie is genuinely lovely and we got right into things, trying to rename the position as the original idea had been used before. We just started shouting out random rude phrases, one of which I was informed the magazine was not allowed to print (whoops!) before I suggest Pay-per-screw and Abbie loved it!

We went to see it being changed on the computer and then got back to work, planning the positions for the next few weeks. It was so amazing to see how much goes into each week's position, and of course it was great fun playing with the barbies, putting them into dodgy positions all in the name of research... I had a great time and didn't want to leave when I was taken over to the Sub-Editor Fern's desk with the others, to have a photo taken and to help write our opening piece about our day at the magazine.



After we had done this, it was time to have our individual video interviews done which was quite nerve wracking (though having now seen the video clip I think it could have gone a lot worse, though I do end up sounding a little sex obsessed!). After the video was taken, we went to help put our opinions in on some of Cheryl Cole's iconic styles, I had to grin and bear it as I hate Cheryl, trying to find anything positive to say about her clothing which I just thought looked cheap and tacky.. Luckily the other girls seemed to like her more! I stayed behind and chatted with the girl writing the article, another Emma, about what kind of work I could go into in magazines. She was really inspiring and I loved being able to talk to someone with so much passion and drive for her work!
 


We got shown around the fashion cupboard, which was a lot smaller than I thought it would have been, and then we were asked to stand at the front of the office, with everyone gathered around and everyone thanked us for coming and for helping out. We were given champagne, which was pink! I only had a glass as I am such a lightweight and didn't want to make a fool of myself! We were then presented with a goody bag from Beauty and from Fashion... best thing ever!! There were so many lovely things in the bags, I was in heaven! I was also given the pink bag with the items I had reviewed, I was so happy! I especially loved the root spray so just for having that it was amazing.

 We had a final chance to talk with the editors and then it was time to say our goodbyes. Louise showed us out, and the cameraman filmed us all getting into the cars and leaving. It was the end of an amazing day! In the car on the way to the station, I was with Jessica and we spoke a bit about how great an experience it had been. All the other girls were so lovely, as were the staff at More! I had an hour to kill at the station so I looked through my goody bags, wanting to try everything out at once. On the coach I read my book again, logging onto Facebook on my iPhone a couple of times to catch up with all the gossip. I was absolutely knackered by the time I got back home around 9pm, 16 hours after I had left!

It was a wonderful day though and I was so excited to see the issue I helped create today when it came out, that I went down the shops at 9am, even though I am really unwell... I loved the issue, especially the parts I helped on, and I also loved seeing the video of my experience (though it was not officially put up when I saw it!). I cannot thank More enough for picking me to be a superfan, and for having me in their offices! I am now going to have to decide whether I want to still go into events, or follow my other dream of writing, possibly in magazines after seeing how great a job it is!