A short history of my career as a non, but aspiring to be, professional writer.

I started journalism in 2010 at UOW after a year of studying law. It was not what I expected. I had imagined spending hours, writing about things that interested me, getting creative with my photography and chasing stories from around the world. What actually happened was that I realized what interested me did not interest everyone else. My understanding of digital cameras was minimal at best and chasing stories from around the world required actual journalistic skills that I did not, yet have.

In my first journalism subject, where I wrote my first ever news story, I received only a low credit. Disappointing is the worlds biggest understatement. I almost quit on the spot. Until that point, I had always considered myself a good writer and I assumed everyone else did too. Although I was heartbroken at the time, I can look back now and see that this terrible mark, was the kick in the pants I needed to want to improve my writing. That is what I have been trying to do ever since.

I started a blog. It began as a pathetic pathway to express my university woes. I would write when I wanted to procrastinate from studying for law subjects and by default, this meant I was writing every day. As my studies continued, I began to practice journalism on my blog. I would have friends and family read my journalism assessments on there, before I submitted them. I would use it as a means to write about local news stories, or comment on worldly ones. I was writing reviews for restaurants, movies and books. Writing about these things was how I practiced writing for an audience, and writing in language that they could understand. Coming from a legal background where the bigger the word the better the mark, I found this difficult.

My understanding of professional writing is someone who gets paid to write. I found, while I was studying feature writing, that what I want to get paid for, is writing about food. I like to visit restaurants, then pretend I am A.A Gills, the worlds harshest, funniest and most sued for defamation food critic, and write reviews. 

I learnt that the most entertaining reviews, do not use words that take 10 minutes to pronounce because you need to look up their meaning and pronunciation in a dictionary, then check the pronunciation again online through a sound file so you can double check you’re saying it right. The best food reviews are written in simple, clear language.  They make you laugh, cringe or vomit because you understand exactly what they are trying to say. These skills apply to all professional writing and they are skills I still need to be working on continually.

I am realizing every day that I still have a long way to go if I want to be a professional writer.  I need to vary my writing, I need to write more often and I need to get some practical experience in writing for someone other than myself in order to graduate with a degree in journalism and professional writing.

I have learnt not to be selfish when I write. I have learnt that law jargon is unacceptable in news stories. I have learnt that newswriting is not for me. Although journalism was not what I expected, this is what makes it exciting. I know that I need to read more and stop bursting into tears when someone tells me they don’t like my writing if I ever want to make it as a professional. That is what I will be working on until graduation.