Katy Hymas puts the word “multi” into “multi-tasking”

My day

6.30am: An unconventional, but effective, alarm clock kicks off the day; my four-year-old twin boys leap on me with Lego and the puppy bounds around wanting to see if next door’s tom cat has been prowling around her garden at night.

7.30am: Mummy café opens for breakfast; I take orders from the twins and wizz up a smoothie for me. I’d love to say it is all wheat grass shots and coconut water, but this under-slept single mum needs caffeine so while the kettle boils I check my BlackBerry and mentally prioritise the day’s to-do list.

8.30am: School-run time. Load the car up with boys and book bags and make sure my trusty BlackBerry is in my pocket. Usual Disney debate between the boys about which track we listen to en route to the playground ensues and the chosen song inevitably stays in my head till lunchtime.

9.30am: The first phone calls of the day are made on the dog walk; checking in with clients and following up enquiries (while trying not to sing the Toy Story sound track).

10.30am: Settle at my desk to sort emails and knuckle down to a copy writing session for a client’s exciting new website. Cherry Pie PR believes in a broad approach to PR; press relations are important, but they are just one element of the communications mix. We tackle anything from a press release to a product launch and as we love words, we frequently write content that strays beyond pure PR.

12.30pm: Email content over to the client for approval along with some new contacts that might yield mutually beneficial opportunities. Cherry Pie was re-orientated into all things baby after the birth of my twins and work/ life worlds merged in a very merry way; co-authoring the book, Twins for Dorling Kindersley and launching (and PR-ing, of course!) Mumlin has anchored Cherry Pie at the center of the parenting press, an industry that understands school run stipulations!

1.30pm: Confirm some exciting press meetings for Mumlin, a unique alternative to a muslin to protect your clothes when burping baby. PR-ing Mumlin since my twins were tiny stopped my PR CV from gathering dust, and clients benefit from my insight as both PR and PR-ed.

2.00pm: Draft a press release for a new client and collate key distribution list. Plans are afoot for a launch party but for now the brief is just an awareness email to whet the industry appetite!

2.45pm: Touch base with a design company who I’d like to partner with the new client, determined to get it ship shape and re-vamped before we start party planning!

3.00pm: Dash back to school to collect the boys and compare notes on our days so far at the park. I fail to resist the tempting mid-afternoon snacks I’d packed for them and remind myself about the benefits of quitting sugar, making a mental note to find a detox client!

4.00pm: Get the boys sorted with puzzles, colouring and (I admit it!) CBeebies, then dash upstairs to fire off a few more emails. Inevitably get interrupted by a search for a lost pen lid, or asked for help retrieving a piece of puzzle from the puppy. I abandon work in favour of cooking tea for three.

5.00pm: Having just about managed not to put my BlackBerry in the oven with the fish fingers I serve up peas and beans canteen style and then attempt to jazz it up with artfully arranged sliced tomatoes, which, I am reliably informed, do not resemble a flower or a sun. A client calls about the draft press release, and is happy which makes me happy. Best of all the boys were so absorbed in re-arranging their tomatoes they let me have the phone call in peace.

6.00pm: Boys bath time – and the puppy if she became inexplicably covered in beans, then it is wind down time (in theory).

7.00pm: Bed-time stories and snuggles with the boys and back to my Mac to polish copy, brainstorm, update clients on feedback and opportunities and plan tomorrow, when the whole thing starts again. Is it okay to admit that most days it is lights out for me before 10?

Katy Hymas, published author, creator of Mumlin and founder of Cherry Pie PR