Opportunity Knocks

Okay so I know I said it would be a few days until I wrote again but my life is VERY hectic at the moment so once again my apologies!

In the time I have been away from my blogging duties I have had several journalism opportunities practically land at my feet. My mother always used to say to me "Jobs don't just come knocking on your door" but the past week would beg to differ I would say!

The final two days of work experience were really good. I feel like the week really gave me some insight into my future and I definitely liked what I saw! I got to finish up early on the Friday because there was another work experience guy so there weren't enough press releases to go around! Chris, the man who gave me the opportunity in the first place, was really kind when he left, said it had been nice working with me and saying I should email him the week after to find out if any of my byline requests on lead stories were granted.

Well I emailed him a few days ago and hey presto! I have a couple of lead stories so he is sending me a copy of last week's paper and I will have some actual proper newspaper clippings! Not to say that the uni paper isn't real, it just doesn't have a big readership like the Sale and Altrincham Messenger!

So that was one opportunity knocking- the opportunity to improve my portfolio, which I also need to sort out with Steve because that is one component of my NCTJ Diploma which I have completely ignored! It will also improve my CV. Since graduation is looming "It'll look good on your CV" seems to be everyone's favourite phrase! Maybe they should have started using it at the beginning of university because then our CV's would be outstanding! Although mine doesn't look too shabby I reckon!

Another opportunity that came knocking was in the form of an email from a young woman inviting me to blog on a Manchester based student blog, much like the unitown website opportunity in the summer. Apparently my blog gets read by more than just my most loyal friends on Facebook as they read this and asked if i'd like to write for them. It's always a nice boost when someone thinks my writing is good enough for their own project. I know how protective I would be if I were setting up a multi-writer blog so i'm touched.

The third opportunity was one I had completely forgotten i'd applied for in all honesty! On one of my days of panic where I thought I wans't doing enough to realise my dream I applied for work experience at ITV, not really expecting to hear anything back because TV isn't what I want to do. However, there were chances to do writing behind the scenes so I applied with no expectations. That was probably six weeks ago and yesterday, in the same batch of emails as the blog opportunity, was one from ITV saying I had got through to the second stage of the work experience selection process.

Now it is yet more waiting, they have workshops in June in Leeds, Manchester and London and in the first week of June I will find out if I have a place. The best thing about this is, my friend Hayley from my course also applied and she also got through! So June could be a very busy but very exciting month!!

The final opportunity is obviously the best. Although something which I thought inevitable (not being big-headed but I did fulfill all application criteria), it has been confirmed- I have an interview for Editor of the uni newspaper on May 6th. The interview includes a 45 minute written test which seems to alarm people when I tell them but that's the part of the interview I know I can do! If i've learnt nothing else about myself in the past three years, i've learnt that I CAN WRITE!

I always used to think I had no talent so now I know that I do i'm hopefully never going to doubt it again! My worry is in the interview. I tend to say the wrong thing, can't describe what I mean, and get a bit flustered. Hopefully i'll be calm because this is something I do genuinely believe I can do, and can do well! But I know how nervous I get before interviews so i'm not certain!

One other thing, which is much less good news... I didn't win Student Journalist of the Year. I was disappointed because I did feel like I had a good chance this year but I did get awarded Gold colours for my dedication to the paper so I can't complain too much :D

The next few weeks will be dedicated to writing my final two assignments of my degree and revising for my final degree exam, as well as the rest of my NCTJ exams. So now I have a reason for not blogging for a few weeks!!

Over and out!

Work Experience Week

Firstly another apology that I didn't keep up with the writing every day this week as I said I hoped I would. But I did make no promises!

It doesn't make much difference actually because i've had three days of pretty much the same experience and press releases are now my friend!! I don't mean that the same thing was a bad experience, in fact the opposite is true. Writing fillers for 90% of my time is really making me hone my writing skills. Having to fit an entire press release into 50-100 words is tough. Okay so some of the fillers were a little dull but journalism can't always be about police chases and bombs going off.

Someone has to be left behind at the office filling the rest of the pages with things people need to know, and this week, that's me. I am really enjoying the experience, the time goes very fast, I am almost always busy and when i'm not writing i'm talking to the other people in the office about their stories, or last nights football (aside- SO happy Real Madrid showed Tottenham why they should stick to position 4-8 in the Premiership, they needed putting back in their place!)

I'm also perfecting the use of is and are, which and who. I've always given company's an identity and said "The Red Cross, who helped people in Libya" when what I should write is "The Red Cross, WHICH helped people in Libya" so it's good to be sorting these things now, when people are expecting me to not be perfect. Let's hope i've actually got that right here now!!

And it's not all been fillers, i've had few side bars, a couple of sport, some business and even two page leads, with a possible byline! I've even had to call a few people which is helping with my fear of the phone, always good to conquer it early on. And when I get a bit down that i'm writing non-stop and most of the stories will never be able to be credited to me i just tell myself that the reason i'm doing this is so that i have the best chance of getting my very own newspaper. Not just a story, column or section- the whole thing! And that most definitely perks me up. The thought doesn't even scare me any more so I guess I really have grown up!

In other news, the Graduation Ball is really coming along. A very successful meeting on Monday saw decisions on venue, price, date and DJ which is all promising. I am now in the middle of bossing someone else around who is very kindly designing the tickets and poster for it so by the weekend we will be selling tickets and it's crunch time- will it be a success? Will we sell enough tickets? Will anyone really want to come or are 405 members of the group just joining for a laugh? EEK!!!

Tonight is the USSU awards where it will be announced who has won Student Journalist of the Year and i'm laying in bed waiting for someone to tell me if I win!! Not that I am expecting to- I was in the collective that voted on the winners and although there was no discussion, if I hadn't been in the running I would have voted for Mark. He's a first year, already News Editor and he really has done wonders for the news section. He deserves it at least as much as I do!!

I'll report back in a few days to let you know if I am an award-winning journalist (!!) and how the rest of the week goes. Thanks for reading.

Gemma

Growing Up

It's once again been a long time since last wrote but i have very valid reasons this time.

The last few weeks my stress levels have been through the roof! I had three assignments back to back and rather than cleverly plan ahead I thought I could do the impossible by starting each one a week before it was due in. Start, research, write and finish three 3000 word assignments in a week each.

The most amazing part of this decision is that I managed it! I'm not sure I had enough references on one of them, definitely didn't have enough analysis on the second but the third one, which I found the hardest to begin with, I was really pleased with. Of course this means that i've probably got the worst mark on that one! But that's a worry for another week.

Two days before the final assignment was due in I went to a house party (I know, I should have been at home working but, well, I wasn't). And it was there that I decided to take on yet another task which I probably don't have time for, and definitely not organised enough to handle but that I simply could not ignore:

I am organising the University of Salford Graduation Ball 2011.

And before you ask, yes, I am mad! A friend of mine helped organise last years and I love balls. I love an excuse to go out and buy a brand new dress. I love having a three course meal and a night out which I can guarantee won't get messy. So when I found out that the Students Union weren't organising one for us this year, and hadn't for a few years, I was outraged.

Finishing university without the grand send off is like doing 50 years in the same job and being given a card rather than a gold watch! It's just not on. So I, somewhat drunkenly, decided I would make the ball happen myself.

That was a week ago and since then we've decided dates, looked round venues, met with events managers, rung round chocolate fountain rentals, begged for sponsorship and informed everyone of the news. I honestly believe i've done more growing up in the last week than I have ever done before.

Ordinarily I am terrified of phones, it's the unknown of what will be said on the other end that scares me. But this week i've just done it without hesitation. I also get nervous when meeting a stranger. This week i've met a stranger every day and survived. I've grown in confidence, something which was essential to getting good deal offers from the various venues, and i'm now prepared to go into the unknown until the ball happens.

In the next two months I will meet strangers, make dozens of phone calls, beg for money from anyone I think will sponsor the event, haggle costs with several different people and take charge of hundreds of students until they each buy a ticket. If you'd told me that's what i'd be doing this time last month I would have laughed in your face or hidden behind the sofa.

And next week I get even more grown up- I get to do work experience with the Sale and Altrincham Messenger all week. This is more growing up still because it's early mornings for an entire week, something I haven't done for almost three years, travelling to unknown areas of Greater Manchester, and I can imagine there are going to be many phone calls throughout the week.

This time next week I will be unrecognisable from the version of me that started the year! And the other difference might possibly be that I will be an award winning journalist... Yes, that's right! I am up for Student Journalist of the Year once again, having lost it to a good friend of mine last year. I don't expect to win it, the team on the Salford Direct this year have been fantastic and they all deserve an award but it's possible!

Since work experience next week is very journalism-related I will be trying to do a blog every evening of next week but I make no promises so keep your eyes open!