I have always loved writing and in my late teens, early 20s (pre-internet) I dabbled in freelance journalism and even had a few articles published. However, due to a lack of confidence I never pursued it as a career path and ended up taking a Business Studies/Secretarial Diploma at college.
Over the years, the writing ‘itch’ never quite went away. (Age 39 I even did a week’s work experience in Record Collector magazine) as I love writing about music. Finally, in 2014, in my 40s, a friend of mine, got an article published in a national. I was so proud of her and this sparked the urge to give it another go. I then got an article published in The Guardian on My Dad’s Cars. http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2015/apr/18/family-life-summers-with-nanny-dads-cars-and-luncheon-meat-pie
From here I started contributing for an online music webzine xsnoize.com. I was given the chance to interview a few bands, write occasional features and record reviews.
www.xsnoize.com/strawberry-studios-forever-the-abbey-road-of-the-north/
www.xsnoize.com/wasting-away-and-wondering-teenage-dreams-at-a-cardiff-record-store/
www.xsnoize.com/cage-the-elephant-interview-with-matt-schutlz/
www.xsnoize.com/the-lapsed-clubber-exhibition-what-became-of-what-we-used-to-be/
This is when my confidence in writing grew. I decided to do the course as I had always wanted to get a formal qualification in journalism and learn more about the profession. I was worried I would struggle but I found the staff and the tutor I was assigned to extremely helpful and positive. As part of an assignment, I wrote an article on how British girls’ comics are returning. The tutor gave constructive feedback on how to make it more ‘saleable’.
After some editing and passing the assignment, I sent it to Best of British nostalgia magazine which got accepted! This completely spurred me on. The course was invaluable in my getting the article published as it gave step-by-step detailed information in each tutorial.
It was a very thorough and professional course that gave me some good insights into the business and also how to approach editors with your ideas. Since completing the course in May this year I have had another article published in Best of British (August issue) tracing the history of the pattern paisley. My plan is to approach other editors with pitches so I can hopefully write regularly for a magazine. I still refer back to the tutorials for reference.
I would definitely recommend this course to anyone interested in freelance journalism. The support has been brilliant and has given me invaluable skills to further my journalism career.
