The bitch is back

Oh dear. I look like a fair weather blogger because my last post was nearly a month ago.

I have neglected my blog, this is true. But it just so happens that I've had a crazy month. An interview, temping at a car garage, two weeks in London on The Independent - and now I'm back.

I got the job I interviewed for. It was a reporter's job on the Halifax Courier. Foolishly, I turned it down. It came at the same time I was offered a couple of weeks at The Indy, and I was kind of rushed into making a decision because I didn't want to mess them about. So I called them and let them know all was going well in London.

But it wasn't.

Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed my two weeks there and got a few by-lines. But I suddenly became aware of how inexperienced I am, and how perfect a job like the one I turned down would be in terms of a good grounding in news reporting. But by now it was too late. The Halifax job had gone, and I was at that familiar place, Unemployment Street.

The Independent is a great paper. But there were loads of work experience people there at the same time I was trying to get a few shifts. There was nowhere for me to sit on the newsdesk, so I wasn't able to constantly pester them to send me out and give me things to do.

I've since learnt from a reliable source that a good way to establish yourself in situations like this is to re-write stories off the Press Association wire to show them that you're 'solid' (ie, that you can string a sentence together on paper). But I only found this out at the end of the two weeks. My source must have forgotten to tell me any earlier.

And you know what? If that's how you start in London, then I'd rather begin my long, illustrious career on a well established regional, where you can do all the things you've been trained to do straightaway - scouting round for local gossip, wheedling stories out of councillors, deathknocks - that's what I've gone into this business for. You're in the middle of people's lives, getting paid for having a genuine interest in people.

So, that's where I'm at. I'm going to learn my craft on a regional paper (if they'll have me), and move to London in a couple of years when I'm in a position to be respected. Hopefully, by that point, I'll be able to bring the exclusives in and hit the ground running. Doing it this way, I get to be right at the centre of a newsroom, actively contributing every single day. I'd rather do that than re-write wire copy, hoping that someone will notice my talent for rehashing someone else's story.

The other factor in my decision? Money. Or lack of it in London. God, it's expensive. I want to live there when I'm in a position to command a good wage, which isn't yet. But give me time. You've not seen the last of me.