Tucked away at the foot of a column in this week's Reporter, comes an interesting snippet - the news that Adam Wolstenholme (Esq!) is leaving the 'paper to take up a career as an English teacher. I'm sure there's a related link somewhere, but it's not Adam's future career path that concerns me, but my own.
5 months hence and allowing myself to dream that I would actually be fully qualified, this would be the perfect opportunity. It would be a massive pay cut from what I currently earn, and I'd be back to reporting on cats stuck up trees and Nellie Jones' 110th birthday party, but I would actually be doing the one thing I've strived 15 years for: writing for a living.
As it is, there is no way a paper would look twice at a local boy, from the same town, who has a million and one contacts within the local area, who has previously worked for the self same paper, and who has a talent for writing. Why? Because I don't have the right piece of paper that says I can do it.
However, given the turn over of staff in that office, this may not be the last opportunity to turn up down on Wellington Street. Some of us have somewhat higher aspirations anyway.
Sunday 29 August 2010
Thursday 26 August 2010
Contacts and my little black book
Pleasantly surprised to find an email in my inbox this morning from Mr W, one of my old editors. Found him through Linkedin, which was suggested to me by my cousin. If you’ve not used it then think of Facebook for professionals.
The aforementioned Mr W gave me my first ever front page story (and my second as well), plus gifted me my own column in the Dewsbury Reporter for a few years. All about whist drives, happiness clubs and bingo from what I recall. We lost touch for a while, think 3 years of university hedonism in a different part of the country may have had a part to play in that. Ironic that I’m enrolling on this NCTJ fast track course now as Mr W and I had many a discussion about me doing such a course instead of going to uni in the first place. But no regrets, like a cat that falls off a wall and lands on its paws, I get there eventually.
Mr W was actually the second editor that I submitted work for, but the first one has slipped somewhat into notoriety so doesn’t get mentioned much these days…well, in private he does, and only in certain circles!
Also been put in touch with the Deputy Editor of Sky Sports Radio – another one that needs following up, even if he did rip my CV to pieces. Ho Hum.
Now, where did I put that little black book – knowing my luck my computer will crash and I’ll lose these contacts that I’ve just reignited.
The aforementioned Mr W gave me my first ever front page story (and my second as well), plus gifted me my own column in the Dewsbury Reporter for a few years. All about whist drives, happiness clubs and bingo from what I recall. We lost touch for a while, think 3 years of university hedonism in a different part of the country may have had a part to play in that. Ironic that I’m enrolling on this NCTJ fast track course now as Mr W and I had many a discussion about me doing such a course instead of going to uni in the first place. But no regrets, like a cat that falls off a wall and lands on its paws, I get there eventually.
Mr W was actually the second editor that I submitted work for, but the first one has slipped somewhat into notoriety so doesn’t get mentioned much these days…well, in private he does, and only in certain circles!
Also been put in touch with the Deputy Editor of Sky Sports Radio – another one that needs following up, even if he did rip my CV to pieces. Ho Hum.
Now, where did I put that little black book – knowing my luck my computer will crash and I’ll lose these contacts that I’ve just reignited.
Tuesday 24 August 2010
Heading for the startline
The groundsmen are painting the white lines and the nets are being tested; as I stand here in the empty stadium, just days before kick off, I can at last see the newly laid turf of the field upon which the next chapter of my life will play out. I say life, and not career, because for so long (since the age of 10), they have been intertwined. I don't write to get paid, or because it's a job - I write because I love writing, and everything good in my life tends to spark creative thoughts in my brain which usually end up on paper in one way or another.
It's taken a long time and a three year hiatus moonlighting as a university recruiter, but finally I'm about to go back to my first love - journalism! I'm staying true to my Northern roots but for four days a week I will betray the White Rose county as the express of trans pennine speeds me over the tops, through the dark stone walls and grey towns of Marsden, Stalybridge and beyond, to land me on t'other side of the flowerbed.
The first textbook has already dropped through the letterbox and trying to comprehend understanding every page of this legal tome in 5 short months has already scared me enough into wrapping the book back up in the Amazon recycled cardboard and hiding it under the bed!
It's taken a long time and a three year hiatus moonlighting as a university recruiter, but finally I'm about to go back to my first love - journalism! I'm staying true to my Northern roots but for four days a week I will betray the White Rose county as the express of trans pennine speeds me over the tops, through the dark stone walls and grey towns of Marsden, Stalybridge and beyond, to land me on t'other side of the flowerbed.
The first textbook has already dropped through the letterbox and trying to comprehend understanding every page of this legal tome in 5 short months has already scared me enough into wrapping the book back up in the Amazon recycled cardboard and hiding it under the bed!
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