When I was growing up the intimidating question "What do I want to be when I'm older?" circulated my mind quite a lot. It was and understandably may still be a question that many other young people face too, so I'm not the only one. It's the sort of question that lingers in the back of your mind like that one incessant black cloud haunting the sky when the sun is trying to make its breakthrough.
I think if you get to your teenage years and you've worked out your answer then you're in the lucky minority. The pressure to decide is ceaseless and I for one especially felt like once I'd reached the age of sixteen and was beginning to make harder decisions, i.e. choosing my A-level subjects that would actually count towards something I should be achieving; like stuff was becoming real, frighteningly real. There is and always has been an enormous amount of pressure on young people to make that firm choice, get on the right road to their desired career-path and ultimately have their life planned out into each individual step like some sort of timeline.
The truth is though that it can't happen like that for everybody. Some are born into highly-achieving families, and are expected to carry on the family profession for reputation reasons. Some just know what they want to do instantly in life, and that's great. Some don't have any idea at all and find themselves desperately seeking their dream occupation by searching around for new roles to fill. And some discover it along the way; and that's definitely what I did.
All through my life up until this current point I've written a lot. It all started off with writing short illustrated stories in primary school competing for "Star Writer", and then it blossomed into coming up with stories in my own time at home and writing them up on Microsoft Word 2001 on my Dad's PC. Strangely my most written genre was horror, even though I hated watching or reading anything remotely scary. I wrote journals too, a lot of them. I used to try and document as many days of my life as I could in written form, even it was just half a page or so. I used to make my own magazines as well, ranging from the topic of puppets (yes, I'm serious) to beauty. I'd write all of the content and draw all of the images too, even though I wasn't a good artist in the slightest.
When I got to secondary school my flair for English and writing furthered. Whenever I got any homework that meant writing an essay, a short story, a poem or anything of the same nature I actually looked forward to it. I guess that must have been a creative spark coming through as I loved to come up with new ideas and get them down on paper. I took on the subject Media Studies later into my time at secondary school and from there I got involved with even more creative projects, like making my own proper magazine, DVD cover and print advertisements. It was then that it was beginning to occur to me that I definitely wanted to do something that involved writing.
College, in a nutshell, just reassured me that little bit more about what I wanted to do. Taking on English Language, Media Studies, English Literature and German (bit irrelevant but I thought I'd include it) meant that I got involved with more creative projects and achieved well, which obviously put into perspective that I couldn't be making a mistake with my choice. I actually wrote an essay in my final year of Media Studies comparing the two best-selling women's magazines Glamour and Cosmopolitan which got me an A* which I was so extremely proud of. Doing essays, short stories, articles and other projects made me realise that my passion for writing was diverse and that I had the ability to construct content that could fit many different purposes and demographics.
Writing is such a broad term, I know. That's why it's great, because if you can write and love to write there are endless opportunities. You could be an author, a journalist, a scriptwriter, a freelancer, a blogger, a poet or you could write for advertisements, PR, comic books, greetings cards and the list goes on. However I want to be a feature writer for a magazine or online publication. I'd love to write among the topics of travel, fashion, beauty, music, food, culture, films, books etc. There are a lot of things I love and would love to write about so the list is endless for me. I would rarely ever struggle with having something new to do an article on that's for sure.
So what I am I doing now where writing is concerned? And what is there in store for the future? The future I can't really predict, nor can I plan to any extent. But I'm hoping that what I achieve in the present will largely determine my future's outcome. Right now I'm going into my second year at university and I'm studying BA Hons Magazine Journalism. This degree is training me to becoming a journalist, it's teaching me how to write professional material, it's educating me on media law, the history of journalism, online news, the future of journalism and it's also teaching me the useful skill of shorthand which is not crucial but definitely admired in the industry.
As well as my degree I'm doing stuff on the side, I still write for my blog, Fashion North, Spark Sunderland and SR News (I've been a little lazy though recently, but I'm getting back on track) but I'm also hoping to expand who I write for. I'd love to send something off to regional publication and have it published as a freelancer, that's what I'd really like. But for now I'm still practicing my writing and perfecting it before I send any material off to a top Editor to look at. The thought of it scares me just a little bit right now...
I'm reading a great book at the moment which was written by the senior lecturer of Magazine Journalism, Jenny McKay, at the University of Sunderland called "The Magazine's Handbook". It's packed full of tips about making it as a magazine journalist, how and where to start writing, jobs in the industry and so much more. It actually inspired me to want to write about my chosen career-path as today's post. Reading the book reminded me of how sure I am that I want to write and how I haven't made a mistake in choosing to go to university to study a good journalism course, despite what people say about high tuition fees and employability afterwards. I've done enough research into my desired career to know that having a degree in this field is incredibly useful and valued, as well as having writing experience, which I'm working on.
As well as improving my writing skills and doing my degree I know it's also crucial to build contacts. These contacts will be useful for prospective face-to-face or phone interviews, quotes or sources for stories or if I'm lucky - a foot in the door. It's important to know what you know, but it's also useful to know who you know too.
I think that wraps things up nicely. So I have two more years left at university and plenty more years of writing left in me, and it's all part of my journey to journalism.
