Alice's First Adventure in Londonland

Firstly, I have discovered there is nothing like turning up to a very trendy and exclusive party in London with a badge that says 'Journalist and freelance author' to make you feel way more important than you actually are. Aside from the free bar (which was in hindsight, probably not so good), there was just so much free STUFF (I haven't done so much squealing with delight since I saw the Spice Girls). Clearly, although it's a tough world out there in the media world of "selling yourself" (in a literary sense), I feel that the freebies go part of the way, or indeed sometimes a lot of the way, towards making you smile in periods of muchly-diminished cash flow. Like now. Or maybe I'm wrong. Maybe this will all get incredibly tedious after a while, like it seemed to be for all the important people I saw standing around in designer suits not talking to anyone, their facial expressions emanating clear "I'm only here because I'm very important" vibes.

Or, maybe, just maybe, I'm still very much in the 'university student survival' mindset that loves everything that's free simply because it's free, no matter what it might be (ginormous posters, tiny ice cream samplers, mini cans of coke, new celebrity-endorsed pasta sauces, little pots of hummus on a tasting counter in Sainsbury's...).

Anyway. Yes. Very trendy party in Camden. Open bar. Free cosmetics (yay!). . Meeting very cool people working for painfully cool companies... Am I milking this a little too much? Okay, I know. But of course, all of this leads to the rather tremendous perk of being able to write and talk as my JOB and (eventually, hopefully) get paid for doing what I love most.... ahem... did that sound a little too much like a MasterCard advert?

Of course, I'm under no delusions, everything I've done in the last six years that relates in any way to my career has been done for free (but I've loved it) or I've physically paid for it (like my degree, like this course I'm doing now...) And I'm guessing that for a good time yet everything I do in this crazy world of the meed-yah will be for free. I'm just relying on having as much fun as possible (for free also) along the way to keep me going. That, and of course working my arse off as I do it.