Technically this is not the first day of the rest of my life because i have been studying Journalism and Sociology (strange mix i know, i'll get onto it later) at the University of Salford for two years now and started my third year four weeks ago.
But in many ways this is the first day of the rest of my life because this blog will be updated daily, no matter what i have been doing. I have found in the last four weeks that i have done something towards becoming a journalist every single day and so it seemed an appropriate time to start a blog all about my journey along the road towards becoming a journalist.
So, as the title suggests, many people wonder why i have chosen a career that is often low-paid, gets little recognition unless you are either extremely talented or extremely opinionated and is one of the most hated professions in modern times. Well, unfortunately i cannot say that i am extremely talented; talent comes with experience and i have little in real terms, nor am i extremely opinionated. Opinionated yes, but not extremely. Not yet anyway!
The answer is simple- when other teenagers were outside riding bikes around the local park and playing kiss chase (i only played once and knocked my two front teeth right out, never again!), i was sat indoors creating a newspaper all about 'So Little Time'- Mary-Kate and Ashley Olson's attempt at teen drama before they became real teenagers and truly discovered the opposite sex! I have always loved to write. Of course, at the age of 13 i was adamant that i would write the next Harry Potter and would be insanely rich by the age of 21. I am 21 now and still waiting for the insane richness to kick in! I had a momentary lapse of judgement at 14 when i decided i wanted to be an air stewardess but it was short-lived when i was told i would have to study French and German at GCSE level. Never going to happen.
So i reverted back to my roots of writing. And it hasn't really stopped since. Reading and writing has been my escape from an otherwise mundane life so when the careers advisor asked me what i wanted to do with my life the obvious answer was writing. She soon set me straight about my chances of writing a best-selling novel before leaving school but lead me to journalism courses.
I chose Salford University because it offered Shorthand as part of the course (of course i didn't realise that was only if i did Journalism as a straight course) and the rest, as they say, is history! I chose Sociology because i had done at A-Level- there were no other viable options for me to pick in all honesty- and discovered i was actually quite good at it. So i figured why not continue being good at it? Turns out sociologists blame most of society's problems on media saturation and sensationalism, hence the clashing course but i have not been perturbed and stuck with it.
And so we come to now. I am in my third year. I have studied reviewing, public relations, feature writing, news writing, music journalism and journalism in the context of everyday life. I am also in the process of learning everything i need to know to take my NCTJ's (National Council for the Training of Journalists exam), including a whole new language in Shorthand. I am Features Editor of the university paper- Student Direct: Salford Edition- for the second year running, i contribute regularly to www.unitown.co.uk and now i have this blog, as well as my modules for my final year.
But it keeps me busy, on my toes and prepares me for the real-life, day-to-day schedule of a journalist so i am very happy. There isn't a day goes by where i don't do something towards being a journalist so everyday i will tell you what i did that day. You'd be surprised how much work goes into saying how you feel about something!!
Over and out for now!!
Gemma
No comments:
Post a Comment