About Trying
Hello, I am Emma Barnett - an interviewer, broadcaster and journalist - usually found most weekdays in a radio studio, one hand clamped around a steaming hot tea and the other grasping for a chewed pen.
I am also trying. Aren’t we all?
Trying to live a good life; trying to be well; trying to be a decent wife, mother, daughter, friend and colleague; trying to eat good food; trying to move my body; trying to get enough sleep; trying to dance; trying to paint; trying to discover new music; and trying to book a holiday.
I started this newsletter in 2022 when I was in a pit. Because I was also trying. That one. The one most women do not talk about while they are attempting to bring new life into the world. Afterwards? Sure. But during? No. Not so much.
I decided to change that by going public with this cover piece in The Times and launching this newsletter. Thousands of you joined me and subscribed. To my immense relief and happy surprise.
I originally created this space because I was that person who, six years ago, only spoke about mine and my husband’s difficulties in conceiving a child after I had safely given birth to our son - following nearly three torrid years, which included a long overdue diagnosis of two debilitating menstrual conditions endometriosis and adenomyosis, and a round of IVF.
History is written by the victors, even on the fertility battlefield. Stories about IVF are usually told by people like me, for whom it has worked. In public, the gruelling journey almost always leads to the happy arrival of a baby.
In the 18 months before launching this newsletter, I had been struggling with secondary infertility. Five rounds of IVF, one miscarriage and more internal examinations than I care to recall - there was still no second baby.
Casting my mind back, I used to read those stories of women who had been able to endure and afford six, seven, or eight rounds of IVF and think how on earth could they keep going? That question was front of mind as I embarked on what was our 7th turn on the IVF merry-go-round. I never thought I would be amongst their ranks. And yet there I was.
Deep breath: I paused this newsletter in 2023 because I was preparing to give birth to our daughter. That seventh round? It worked. Now, I know how much that sentence will hurt, even burn, some people still in the throes of this terrible world and those who never got there, but desperately wanted to. But, as I have always tried to be, I must be honest. And I hope my story might also give some people heart and a reminder, that fertility treatment does also work, even after so many failed rounds of trying.
I am, finally, back. And it has been quite a ride - with a much longer hiatus than I planned. I tried to return several times. And failed. But here I am now. I hope that those of you who can, will stay. And for even more of us to huddle together in this corner of the internet.
Why subscribe?
The act of ‘trying’ continues to fascinate me - the art of it, the concept and psychology of ‘trying’ - not just a few times but again and again and again… expecting, or at least hoping for, a different result.
That is why I am putting some of my trying experiences here. My writing when I began this newsletter was never solely about trying for a life; although many pieces were. And I will still reflect on that time - in my life and other people’s. That experience will never leave me.
But I will explore trying across life. What gets people back into the ring? How do they know when to stop or carry on?
What are those things along the way that make the difference?
What is more trying that it ought to be?
And more. Much more.
I only hope that perhaps sharing my experiences may help someone else trying; failing and trying again, in whatever walk of life. And to learn from you too.
I am also looking forward to having a space once again to write and share some of my thoughts that I can’t easily put elsewhere.
That’s why I hope you will join me and subscribe. As a broadcaster - there will also be audio posts too. How could there not?
And only by trying, and trying again can we learn what works. I look forward to getting to know you and trying together. Are you with me? I hope so.
Hit this button.
About Emma Barnett
Emma Barnett is an award-winning broadcaster, journalist and author. She joined the Today programme, the BBC’s flagship breakfast news show, in May 2024 - as she assumed a wider role across BBC TV and News, fronting documentaries and exclusive interviews.
Emma was previously the proud presenter of Woman’s Hour on BBCRadio 4, the longest running women’s programme in the world - a show she took to become the BBC’s most downloaded podcast. She has twice been named the UK’s best speech radio presenter at the Radio Academy Awards and Interviewer of the Year at the British Journalism Awards.
Known for her agenda-setting interviews and scoops delivered in her warm but forensic manner, Emma has welcomed queens and prime ministers, pop stars and political prisoners to talk with her on the microphone - with many others along the way.
She previously presented the BBC's flagship current affairs TV programme Newsnight and her eponymous daily three-hour BBC 5 Live radio programme.
She wrote the book Period. It's About Bloody Time. This was primarily because she loathes how unwell her period makes her but also because there is something she loathes more: not being able to talk about it. Freely, funnily and honestly. Emma has another book out next year.
Emma pens a bi-weekly newspaper column for the iPaper.
Emma also presented a global interviews programme on Bloomberg TV - with high profile one-to-one interviews with international figures from across the world of politics, sport, culture, entertainment and technology.
Emma is a proud patron of Smartworks, a charity which helps economically disadvantaged women secure jobs through interview training and having the right outfit to make the best first impression.
Originally from Manchester, she now lives in London with her husband and their little boy and little girl.
