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!

Domestic Violence + Lent

*DISCLAIMER- This may offend the deeply religious among you, but it is just my opinion, so, sorry.*

In order to fully understand what I was undertaking by giving up cake for Lent I went off on the Internet in search of the basis for it. I have always been an atheist, reluctant to believe in anything bigger because I think that life is ultimately in our own hands and we make of it what we will.

Don't worry I know the basics- six days, day of rest, Jesus was born, there was a donkey, he died, he came back again etc, but Lent was one of the stories that I had never fully known. And for those of you that are in the same boat (surely i'm not the only one?!) here it goes...

Lent lasts for 40 days and 40 nights because that is how long it is said that Jesus spent wandering through the desert. So for 40 days and nights people are meant to give up something very tough for them so they can understand the trials and tribulations of being Jesus. Or something like that. Except, whatever we choose to give up we can indulge in to our hearts content on a Sunday because apparently every 7 days Jesus was allowed some water.

As i've made clear, i'm not all that religious, but I really don't understand this part of Lent. I can understand with Ramadan that they can eat once the sun has set because they have to eat. But the point of Lent is to understand the suffering and surely everyone would understand it better if they couldn't indulge in a sneaky cigarette at the end of each week?

So, for Lent, as some of you may have read, I am giving up cake and doughnuts, baking and eating. Which is a lot tougher for me than it sounds. But by my reckoning it's going to be very easy if I am allowed to bake and eat an entire cake each Sunday! So my house mate and I have agreed that we will not have cakes, even on Sunday. So we're actually going to have to go 47 days without cake. So technically, we're going to be better than Jesus yeah?

Unfortunately for me, Lent has come at a very bad time. In the next three weeks I have three assignments due which add up to almost 9000 words. And they are all Sociology so it's a lot of reading, a lot of understanding and not a lot of enjoyment on my part since I have completely lost the "buzz" for sociology.

I am currently in the middle of reading up on domestic violence and why it happens and if there is one thing you need after a day of reading about how "all men are potential rapists" it's a cup of tea and a slice of homemade Victoria Sponge. So, needless to say, i've been finding the challenge of Lent very difficult, especially since we have some cupcakes left over from our last baking session that I am not allowed to eat!

But I am determined to complete this challenge. I am well-known for being a person who gives up, unless it is something that i desperately want. For example, when i was 11 and had to choose which secondary school I went to I would only let my parents put one school on the list which was a grammar school, for which I of course had to pass an 11 plus to get into. But, because I wanted it badly enough, I did it and got in.

When it came to making the decision about what I wanted to be when I grew up, as the name of the blog suggests, I was determined that my future was in writing and journalism was the home for me. And here I am several years later, still holding on to that dream no matter how many people try to shake me off it!

Now, I may not have the same amount of determination about this cake business as I did about my education but I am determined enough that when a cupcake is waved in my face to say no (some people are as determined to see me fail!).

But it is only Day 2 so we shall see!!!

Gemma

Lent and the F.U.T.U.R.E

In three months I graduate from university. The plan for my life is to then get a job as a junior reporter, slowly climbing the ladder until someone lets me into Features and I eventually become an Editor. The reality is journalism jobs are dwindling, but more people are turning to it as a profession. Which means that for every job opening there are hundreds of applications. And much as I hate to admit it, my CV would not stand out.

So, I need a new plan for the future. And here's where my problem lies. There is a very good opportunity for a very good job as the Editor of the the university newspaper. I have been involved in the paper for two years now and the previous Editor told me I should go for it and at the time I really wanted to. But a year has passed since then, I've seen from the current Editor how much work the job is which i'm not sure it is the ideal job straight out of university.

I am also unsure I want to be an Editor, it was never part of my plan to do Editor first then go back to reporter. I'm not even sure that would be possible. I don't want to get pigeon-holed into an Editor position without ever having the experience of court reporting or a junior reporter. This is how people get their contacts and their tales and these are the experiences which shape you as a writer. I really don't want to miss out on that.

But the alternative is to get any job that will pay the bills and freelance until someone realises my potential which could be years and I might lose the thrill of journalism. Something else which I definitely don't want to happen. So i'm going to at least go for it- what's the phrase? "Throw my hat in"?

That was a whole lot of rambling for a decision wasn't it?!

Today is Pancake Day, so I had the customary body weight in pancakes, sugar and lemon juice. That makes tomorrow Ash Wednesday and the start of Lent. I've never been much of a Lent person. I don't have any addictions, nothing which I could really do with cutting out of my life so my usual Lent line is "I'm giving up giving up, i'm very good at it."

This year however i am partaking in Lent in order to help out a friend. My friend wants to quit smoking but he can never manage it. So my housemate and I have decided that we will give up baking and eating cakes, including doughnuts, if he gives up cigarettes. Nobody quite understands what cakes mean to us.

Almost every weekend since the beginning of third year we have made a cake. If we are bored, or meant to be working, or there is something to celebrate, we make a cake. It's not the face that we then eat them that is the hard part, I can cope with not buying a flapjack when I go to my Monday lecture. But baking is my stress relief and final year is a lot of stress!

In the next 47 days (Lent, it turns out, doesn't count on Sundays) I have four deadlines. So ordinarily that would be 8 cakes, one while reading and preparing, one whilst writing or finishing. So I am officially in the market for a new stress release. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Well, that's me for the night!

Gemma

Journalism vs Sociology

Oh dear- it has been an entire month since I last wrote my blog. And I have hardly any excuses. In mid February I had my NCTJ Essential Law exam and the NCTJ Reporting exam a day later. But apart from that I have frivolously wasted away my time, neglecting my poor blog for more exciting reading and writing, such as my experience of speed dating (I did it for my career and I won't hear any more about it!).

So the Essential Law exam... Honestly it has been that long that I've forgotten what happened with it! There were a couple of short answer questions which I had never known the answer to- the head of the judiciary and what "taking the silk" means. But thankfully I feel like the other questions were passable at the very least. In the week leading up to the exam my brain had no capacity for anything other than McNae and even on the day of the exam I felt like I had not done enough. But the questions fell in my favour and I feel i've done enough for the pass at the very least.

The next day was the NCTJ Reporting exam and what a kerfuffle that was! The problem was we needed computers for the exam, obviously, and apparently had not booked a free computer room. Thirty minutes after the exam was meant to start we were still trekking round the maze that is the media building at Salford University trying to find a room to do it in. Eventually we came across a room of Mac's and with one guy in the group owning one we were soon all set up. This was a 2 and a half hour exam and after 90 minutes I was finishing up, went to add a header to this (bearing in mind I don't know how to use a Mac) and the computer crashed. I had saved it after the first of two questions, but not since so I had a major, but silent, meltdown. Thankfully the technician came and saved the majority of it, missing off the last ten minutes of work. So I finished up and got out of there before anything more could go wrong!

Since then I have thrown myself into my final semester which consists of entirely Sociology modules, apart from shorthand. Unfortunately I chose to do a course including sociology on a whim because I had discovered I was good at it during A-Levels. Let me tell you, for a journalist who wants to be writing news stories and features, not essays, five years of sociology is too much! It is becoming harder and harder to switch my brain between writing stories and writing essays and the harder it becomes the less I wish to do it.

Since the exams I have learnt that I passed my NCTJ Court Reporting exam. With a low mark but a pass is still a pass and that's all that matters. It worries me slightly that the one I was confident on came back with a lower mark than I was expecting, makes me nervous about the other law exam which I am far less confident about. But only time will tell now!

As for shorthand. Well! I had originally planned to take my first exam tomorrow, the 3rd of March. Unfortunately, despite my commitment to working at home this semester, I still do not feel ready, still yet to continually complete passages at 60 words per minute. So my teacher and I have agreed to postpone my first exam by a month, by which time I am hoping to sit the 70 instead of the 60. Then the 80 in May and 100 in June. Right? Right!

Anyway, very little to report, unless you want me to rant about the unreliability of Arsenal but I'm sure you don't want to hear about that!!

Progress

As much as i would love this to be about the new Take That album, it is not. No, this is about my progress. Because journalism was such a huge learning curve for me, having written essays all my life then being told i had to throw all the rules of essay writing out of the window for articles, any progress is a huge achievement for me.

When i first started learning shorthand i thought it was going to be impossible for me to ever be able to write it fluently. But the strangest thing is happening. As i am writing this the outlines are popping up in my head, i'm hearing people talk and in my head i am writing the outline. Many would think that this was simply me being slightly mental but for the shorthand elite out there i'm sure you can understand how important this is. In the past two days i have had 6 hours of shorthand and although it has been exhausting it has also finally started to click the whole language into place.

After two and a half hours of shorthand today my brain was shutting down and my mood was darkening.So instead of forcing onwards i sat back for ten minutes, watched others in class doing dictation and writing the outlines in my head and taking note of the words i couldn't work out quickly enough. Then i decided to try the last piece of dictation. We started at 60 words per minute and ordinarily, due to lack of regular dictation, i have big gaps where i have forgotten what was said. But this time it flowed. Words which would usually catch me out just wrote themselves. I was writing the word as it was being said which is a very new experience for me. Then we tried it at 80 words per minute and again i completed the whole passage. Finally we tried it at 100 words per minute and to my complete and utter shock i completed that one without any gaps. Admittedly upon the third time of hearing the passage i am bound to remember it better but the fact that i could still be on the pace is a huge step forward for me.

Now all i need is for everyone to take down the exam passage ten minutes before me then for me to do it since it was that which cleared my head!!

Next week sees the long awaited return of the Student Direct: Salford Edition and i get to write my favourite article of the year- an opinion piece on how much i hate Valentine's Day!! This year i have even more reason than usual to hate it, other than the usual being alone and the commercialism of the whole thing. This year i have an exam on the day of the cursed "holiday" AND the day after as well. So even if i wanted to celebrate it, i couldn't possibly.

Still, I am very much looking forward to suggesting to the readers the top ten things to do on your anti-Valentine's night. Any suggestions are welcome :)

I read on Twitter today a tweet saying that in a journalism class of 40, when asked who knew nothing about what was happening Egypt, 20 students raised their hands. Half the class of future media professionals had no clue about the huge uproar against the dictatorship, about the fatalities and the constant riots. I find that absolutely shocking. I admit sometimes news stories pass me by, i have a long day at university and the last thing i want to do is trawl through several newspapers or websites to find out what i missed but i never fail to catch the BBC News at 6 or 10 and i always try to read the top stories before i go to bed. I urge anyone that is reading this and wants to be a journalist to follow suit because there is nothing more embarrassing than admitting you don't know what is going on in the world you live in.

Thanks for reading, follow me on Twitter @gemmathejourno

:)