Hi i’ve seen your stuff on The Sabotage Times and you’ve written for some really cool publications ipso facto I am now in awe of you and will bombard you with questions no one will answer for me haha. I kinda wanna be a journalist too and I was wondering how you went about it? And are most journalists in london broke mother fuckers? Should I bother doing journalism at City University London, do you go to cool parties? Should I bother trying to get work experience at places like NME? Thanks dude! -

erinnyess asked:
Hi i've seen your stuff on The Sabotage Times and you've written for some really cool publications ipso facto I am now in awe of you and will bombard you with questions no one will answer for me haha. I kinda wanna be a journalist too and I was wondering how you went about it? And are most journalists in london broke mother fuckers? Should I bother doing journalism at City University London, do you go to cool parties? Should I bother trying to get work experience at places like NME? Thanks dude!

Aghhagagagag, there’s really nothing to be in awe of…I’ll answer in bullet points because I can’t actually string sentences together.

- I didn’t plan going into journalism very well at all, I just liked writing and couldn’t think of anything else I’d realistically enjoy as a career. I was doing pretty terribly at university, so in my final year I decided I may as well spunk the rest of the student loan on unpaid interning. Eventually I got a junior job at Front magazine (fluke)…then got made redundant (lulz). After that I did loads of copywriting and bits of magazine work here and there. Honestly, it’s only since I got picked up by NME that the getting paid part has picked up momentum, which again was fluke and from being obnoxious online.

-Yes, so broke. I just had a sachet of ketchup for breakfast.

- City’s excellent, I was too thick to get on the course sadly. On the other hand, I personally don’t think an NCTJ qualification is that vital. I know loads of people that did and I’ve been better off than them in the long run by just keeping a modest portfolio and harassing the shit out of editors.

-Depends what you mean by cool parties. That girl with the large chin from Made In Chelsea once thought I was a cleaner at a bar.

-Yeah, definitely intern to understand how publications work on a daily basis but, y’know, don’t go cray over it. It’s not worth working for free for fucking months on end for a few shoddy bylines. Just get a foot in the door, make a butt-load of contacts and leave. I got my best breaks making dick jokes on Twitter, not from interning.

Hope this has kind of helped, lemme know what you end up doing.

x

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Posted on Tuesday, 31 January

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