Journalism. That's the name of the game...

I've had a rather good couple of days (albeit for the silent but near-hysterical stressing out about my impending exams). I discovered that as a channel for finding stories, the power of the Facebook is not to be underestimated. It was, I admit, a rather lazy way of finding a story... but it made me appreciate how professional, articulate and incredibly clued-up some of my friends are (and they get extra brownie points for reading my updates).

The great thing about the last two days is that an interview that I did then wrote up for The Sunday Times is today pending publication, on the page mock-up at the last check... with a byline (how exciting!) So watch this space... it's not much, of course, but its a definite start.

ANOTHER great thing about this week is that I met Nick Davies today, the author of Flat Earth News (well, he did a speech at our college anyway). If you're thinking of getting into journalism and you ever get the chance to hear this guy talk about propaganda, distortion, falsehood, PR spin and the way that the commercial media operates... its a real eye-opener. I didn't know just how bad a struggle it was out there for fledgling journos like myself (not that I'm letting it dent my job-hunting determination). For example, Nick mentioned that compared to about 20 years ago, one journalist now does the work of three, and are expected to be even more efficient. I wonder how you're supposed to be accurate and creative if you're churning out eight or more stories a day? From the point of view of an obsessive perfectionist, like me, this is a terrifying prospect. Yet another aspect of my personality I'm clearly going to have to work on conquering unless something drastic changes... (along with my hypersensitivity to nasty people. Of course, I'm all for constructive criticism, but personal attack from people who don't even know me? That's something I have yet to get used to... fun times ahead).

So, all in all, it's a nerve-wracking time to be embarking on a journalism career, because nobody is quite sure where the industry is headed, but it's also an exciting time because...well...nobody is quite sure where the industry is headed!

Oh, and maybe I'll get started on my novel this year. Finally. That's my New Year's resolution. I've decided on that a week into 2009... about two minutes ago.

So apart from the stress of impending exams (and a never-ending residual cold). I'm feeling pretty much okay about things. I wonder how long it'll last. At least for the duration of this glass of wine... lovely. Ooh look! Celeb BB... Brilliant.