Okay, well it's a dark, rainy evening on Monday the 12th February 2007, and I am writing the first entry in this, my new biography-log thing or blog. I suppose everyone has a story on how or why they got a blog, so here's mine:
I am trying to break into journalism, and to be honest from where i'm sitting right now it seems like the only way i'm going to realistically manage that is if I actually broke into an editor's office and demanded a job at gun point...Which would probably put me in the spotlight, but not really for the right reasons.
In September 2006 I started at Greenhead College in Huddersfield with the plan of joining the college paper and doing some other journalism related enrichment courses to help me gather experience and connections that would help me be taken on for work experience in the summer at a local paper and thus help me prepare for the NCTJ prelim certificate.
Unfortuantly life has a habit of tripping you up and screwing up all your plans, and now i'm stuck at home on a year out, feeling ill and dizzy a lot of the time and the only noteable experience I've gained so far is what I've learnt on my hospital visits, which is basically - Receptionists are rude, porters are hypocrites, and if there was really a fire nobody would have a clue what to do and everyone would die.
Right now I feel totally useless, and though I've written an odd piece for my friend Bex's college paper, it doesn't feel like I've achieved anything this year so far, and more specifically - Won't at all.
My mum says to just relax and concentrate on getting well, but I am going insane, I just have to write and do something!
So that's why the other night I was researching online journalism courses, and I came up with a couple that sounded really good - But I can't do the hands on experience yet eventhough I'm not really doing anything (so infuriating) and each course is so expensive - I have a really poor income right now and there is now way I can spend £395 on the 6 months - 2 year course, and then £36 on 6 exams - however much I would like to...Plus I don't hold much faith in my shorthand ability but that is another problem I'll just have to deal with in time.
So I came to the conclusion I'll just have to wait till I'm back at college and my life is back on track as it were (though where that track is eventually going to lead I have no idea) for me to do anything about getting qualifications, but that doesn't stop me becoming a freelance journalist, working from home.
But I started thinking - Am I technically freelance when all I have to show is a just begun blog site and a couple of articles in someone else's college magazine? To be honest I have no idea, but if any editorial was willing to approach me with a job offer I certianly wouldn't be turning it down!
I do have a few things I could do though to try and prevent this year from being a total loss though:
1. Sign up officially with a site that represents freelance journalists. The most promising that I've seen will cost me £35 a year plus VAT, which doesn't seem bad at all, but I'll have to mull that one over a bit more.
2. Get in touch with my mum's friend Marion who has a DJing spot at Holme Valley Hospital, and see if I can do a music/talk show slot once a week for a couple of hours - I should be ok to do it, and it will be good practice. Plus I can see just how well I work in a media environment that is vocal because I do have a lisp which makes me a little unsure.
3. Get in early with learning shorthand. This will be no easy feat but I promise to try.
4. Pass my driving theory - Mum has actually banned me from trying to pass my actual driving test, in case I pass out and cause a pile up on the A64 or something...I see her point.
5. Try and get people interested in my blog so I can write my articles and thoughts, post them here and know people will read them instead of me just talking to myself - To be honest I don't care about money or anything, I'd just like to know that even if I'm not writing anything in a local paper or magazine, that my voice is still being heard and my opinions and stories might mean something to some of you out there in cyberland.
I feel like I've probably just written the longest post of absolute ranting rubbish ever, but after re-reading it I stand by every word, so I suppose that makes me either very honest, or possibly pretentious...I think I'll leave up to anyone reading to decide...
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2 comments:
I remember when my blog was new and thought I'd last about a week. Now I've written over a thousand posts and still feel like you do, that I may be just wasting mine and everyone's time. But I guess not.
I don't think your wasting everyone's time - we all have a right to be heard, we just need to get past the paranoid stages of thinking that no one else will want to hear us
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