Do you have something to say? We want to share your experiences and views! Diverse experiences and viewpoints can help add depth to the issues we talk about at LMK, bringing unique insights, developing our understanding and challenging taboos.
These guidelines explain what we’re looking for from blogs and how to pitch an idea to us.
Before you start
Think about what you want to share and whether you’re ready to share your views and experiences publically – even if you’re doing so anonymously. You might find it helpful to discuss it with a trusted friend.
Who do we want to hear from
LMK works with young people aged up to 24 years old and we’re particularly keen to hear from young people. We can only accept blog proposals from those aged over 18.
We’re also keen to hear from parents, teachers and youth workers or any supporters who might have advice or experience you’d like to share about why you support LMK.
If you need any adjustments to our process due to a disability, neurodiversity or any other reason, please get in touch on socialmedia@justletmeknow.org
What we want to hear about
We want our guest blogs to cover a diverse range of topics and experiences relating to relationships. We’ll consider proposals on any topic related to relationships. Possible topics might be:
- Your experiences of healthy and unhealthy relationships
- Experiences that relate to any of LMK’s 10 healthy or 10 unhealthy signs
- Your experience of relationship education
- Experiences of healthy and unhealthy breakups
- Sharing intimate images
- Consent
- Pornography
- Coercive control
- Financial abuse
- Social media
- Experiences related to relationship and:
- Being LGBTQ+
- Ethnicity or race
- Adultification of young black people
- Experience as a migrant, asylum seeker or refugee
- Gender
- Religion
- Neurodiversity
- Disability
- Intersectionality
Blogs generally engage with the audience better when they’re based on personal experience. We’re happy to receive pitches on opinion pieces, but ideally they’ll have a personal element/personal anecdotes too.
Our process
- Send your idea/pitch to to socialmedia@justletmeknow.org – this should be a few sentences/bullet points/a paragraph – aim for about 50 – 200 words if you can.
- We’ll get back to you within 2 weeks to let you know if we’re able to take your idea forward/if we’d like you to write a full blog for us.
- Not everyone likes writing, so if that’s you, we’d suggest using the text-to-speech feature on Word or Google docs. If these programmes don’t work for you, just let us know your preferred method, and we’ll work with that.
- Don’t worry about making your pitch (or a final blog) perfect. We can help with this. We edit all blogs for clarity, structure and usability/accessibility.
- Don’t be offended if we edit your blog. We edit nearly all blogs in some way. We’ll always try to keep your authentic voice and we’ll run our suggested edits by you to make sure you are happy with them.
- Once we’ve agreed on a final version, we’ll let you know the planned publication date (this may be subject to change – we’ll keep you informed). Sometimes it might take us a few months to schedule a blog depending on our content calendar.
- We may get more blog pitches than we’re able to move forward with, due to our capacity and budget. We hope you won’t be too disappointed if we’re unable to take your proposal forward.
Remember, if you need any adjustments to the process due to disability, neurodiversity or any other reason, just let us know.
Anonymity and safeguarding
- We can only accept blog proposals from those over 18.
- We will usually be able to publish your blog either anonymously or in your name, depending on your preference (there may be circumstances where we can only publish a blog anonymously if we feel there is a safety or defamation risk). If we publish in your name, we can include your social media account handles if you’d like us to.
- If you tell us something in your pitch or final blog that makes us concerned for your safety, this will be shared with our Designated Safeguarding Lead and may be shared with other agencies if necessary.
- If you change your mind about the publication of your blog after it has been published, we will take reasonable steps to remove it from our website and social media platforms, but please be aware that we cannot control information that has been shared more widely in the public domain.
Writing tips
- Blogs work best when the style is informal and conversational so write as if you were talking. Picture someone you’d like to tell this to, and imagine telling it to them as you write (text-to-speak functions work well for this!)
- Let your personality show in your writing. You need to be a ‘writer’ – just be yourself.
- Use plain English and avoid jargon. Short words are often better than long words, for example ‘start’ instead of ‘commence’.
- Use short sentences and short paragraphs.
Planning and structuring your blog
- Your opening sentence is important. Think about what will spark curiosity and draw your readers in? It doesn’t need to be shocking. It could be honest or interesting. It could be your own words or a quote that means something to you.
- Plan what you want to write about and keep it focused. It can be tempting to write your whole life story or to rush through many events or incidents. Think about what will have the most impact to get your point across. Sometimes less is more. It can be more impactful to talk about one or two events in interesting details than to rush through lots of events with no detail.
- Make it personal. Blogs that describe real-life events and experience tend to be more engaging than abstract ideas or opinion pieces. You can share your opinion, but try to link it to your experiences.
- Life is often messy and a work in progress so don’t feel your blog has to have a neat conclusion or happy ending. We want to share real experiences.
- Do you have any advice you’d like to share with someone going through a similar experience?
- Once you’ve finished writing, read through your blog from the perspective of a reader. Is it easy to understand? Will it make sense to someone who doesn’t know you? Edit it to make any changes/improvements you think are needed. If you find the editing process difficult, don’t worry. It doesn’t need to be perfect, and we can help with this.
- Aim for your blog to be between 800 and 1,200 words in length (but that’s not a hard rule – talk to us if you’re finding this difficult)
Take care of yourself.
If you find your experiences too painful to write about, it might be best to put the blog to one side until you feel more able to work on it. On the other hand, some people find writing helpful. Either way, your wellbeing comes first. Support is available if you need to talk.
Payment
If we move forwards with your pitch and ask you to write a blog, we will give you a £25 gift voucher after you submit your blog.