Writing, waiting and too many cups of tea

Today I've been very disciplined (if I may say so myself). I decided that I was going to conduct myself like a proper freelancer (albeit an unpaid one) and work from home: proper office hours, 9am-6pm. So technically, I'm still working. As far as I'm concerned blogging, however self-indulgent, is still writing and writing = work.

Okay, so my professional journalist image is ever-so-slightly compromised by the fact that it's almost 5 o'clock and I've thus far done an entire day's work in my pyjamas with season three of Angel on in the background. But hey, I've been productive. Although, I'm slowly realising that a massive part of being a journalist is waiting. Waiting for people to call back, waiting for people to return e-mails...

Having finally got over my fear of calling people (thanks to my brilliant telephone gadget showing me that actually, I do sound okay on the phone), I'm slowly developing a dread of waiting. I'm not the most patient person in the world, so that's another skill I have to work on. Although, I'm managing to channel my tension in productive ways: hence the blogging here and at Le Petit Bookworm (check it out!)

Copious amounts of tea help the productiveness too. I do wonder sometimes whether the amount of tea I drink on a daily basis is healthy. When I don't have a cup of tea in my hand, I feel almost like I can't concentrate, I guess my humungous mug acts like a security blanket. I can quite happily drink anywhere in between 10 and 15 cups a day, sometimes more (although a lot of the time I get so absorbed in work they just go cold). Herbal tea is probably more healthy, but nothing beats a good strong cup of English tea builder stylee - strong, but milky.

Ahhh... I think it's time for another cuppa. And another episode of Angel.

Am I a journalist yet? Well, I'm published at least.

Living in shared house with three messy boys and writing features in the time that I'm not holding down an almost full-time call centre job is not a lifestyle which is particularly conducive to feeling like a professional adult.

In fact, whenever I sit down to write a feature it feels like I'm doing a university assignment that I'm waiting to be graded, just to prove to myself and to whoever I'm writing for that I'm worthy of a journalism qualification. I wonder when that's going to go away?

On the plus side, I have my first feature published in 3SIXTY magazine. If you're nosy/a friend/a follower/a fan (I wish), then you can download the current issue here: http://www.3sixtymag.co.uk/index.php?s=downloads

This week I've been mostly working on another feature for 3SIXTY and having to face one of my biggest fears: Telephone interviews with important people. I wonder if there's a name for this particular phobia? Probably not. Given the fact that I'm qualified as a journalist, I was trained in public speaking and I work in an outbound call centre, this fear clearly makes no sense.

I also have an irrational fear of answering machines. They just make me gabble like a possessed, crazy person. If I need to leave a message on somebody's answer machine, I have to actually write down what I'm going to say, and have it in front of me as a script. Is that pathetic? Or have a I just worked in too many call centres?

In an attempt to fight my fear and minimise note-taking-induced flustering, I got an exciting new toy today... an in-ear microphone. It's actually incredible. It fits in your ear like an ear-phone, but it's a microphone so you can record your telephone interviews. I coveted the one that I got to use for the week I was at The Sunday Times, so I bought my own. I'd recommend it - it beats balancing the phone in between your shoulder and your head so you can take shorthand notes.

Also, and finally, I have been invited to contribute to a book review blog, http://lepetitbookworm.wordpress.com/, by a fellow blogger JoWrites (aka BigMouthBlogGirl), so I can finally indulge myself and put my English Literature degree to good use at the same time. Fabulous.