Hang on to your hats…

So last Saturday was the Eurovision Song Contest Grand Final, and next Thursday is the launch of my second book. Right now I feel like I’m in the quiet space in between, still coming down from the incredible high of Eurovision, but also trying to build up to my new book being out in the world. And, of course, doing my normal job, which is a whole other thing.

It’s a strange thing, wearing all these hats. Last Saturday I was in the thick of liveblogging the Eurovision final, a job that I’ve done for various outlets for thirteen years. It used to be a one-night thing for me, but now it’s a two week job that throws me into the thick of backstage, generating over 100 hours of live content from the host city. After the UK claimed an extraordinary second place I went to the UK afterparty in a cellar bar in Turin and had a lovely time until about 6am, at which point I crawled back to my hotel, stuffed two weeks of dirty washing into a suitcase, closed my eyes for the sum total of one hour and then got on a coach to the airport. Worst trip home ever, but totally worth it.

Twenty-four hours later I had a different hat on – working as Head of Strategy for a marketing agency in Bristol. It’s a career I’ve been pursuing for over twenty years, and the rest of the team are really supportive of me taking time off to pursue unconventional sidelines, even if they do find it a bit confusing and/or amusing. Very occasionally I’ll meet a new client and they ask ‘Are you the same Heidi Stephens who…?’, but it doesn’t happen very often. I’m glad, because sometimes it’s hard to get people to see you as a serious business professional when they know you spend your autumn weekends being paid to watch Strictly Come Dancing.  

And now this weekend I’m wearing my third hat – author of commercial fiction, with a second book out on Thursday and big dreams and ambitions for the future. It’s a hat I’m still getting used to wearing, but I’m loving every minute and it fits a little better with every passing month.

Of course, at some point one of these three hats is going to have to go – I’m really conscious that I’m juggling three professions alongside all the day-to-day domestic stuff, and at times it all feels a bit much. No idea which one I’ll drop first, but for now I’m just going to keep styling it out…