From the ashes...

Hello everyone. It's been a while.

I've been meaning to resurrect this blog for ages, but it's taken me until now to actually sit down and write a blog post.

I'm still working at Souvenir Press - I'm on a 1 year contract and am making the most of my time there. I'm getting more involved with publicity work at the company, which is pretty cool, and so far the whole thing has been a really valuable experience. I'm due to finish in August, so I guess we'll see what happens.

I moved in with my boyfriend... and then we moved house. This is the second flat we've lived in, and we went from a furnished place to an unfurnished one, so we bought all our own furniture etc and the end result is a place that feels like our home. As a special treat for you, I'm going to post some photos. Of my bookshelves. Because they make me happy, and I'm sure you'll like them.

You'll notice two teddy bears and an easter egg on these shelves... There's a little bit of newly-found bookshelf space, and we needed some storage. The teddy bears are my boyfriend's from when he was little, but his parents are moving house right now so they've come back with us.

 All books here. As a rule, my favourite books go on the top two shelves. The third shelf here is poetry and books I don't really want - all of the orange Penguins here were given to me, and none of them really appeal, so they'll probably be read once and then taken to the charity shop (unless, of course, they end up being amazing).

And this is where living together means our bookshelves have combined. All of the computer/business books aren't mine. Or the DVDs. Lucky he doesn't have many books, really!

So, welcome back. Over the next few days I'm going to post a book review of my favourite book I've read each month so far this year, just as a way of catching up with myself, really. See you tomorrow (or... sometime in the next few days) for January's favourite!

All change please, all change.

You might've noticed that I've been a bit quiet on here for the last few weeks. I've had a lot of things going on, and today-tomorrow everything changes for me.

First off... I've got a job! I'll be working as Receptionist/Publishing assistant (Publicity and Marketing) at Souvenir Press. This is initially a one year contract to cover maternity leave, but who knows where this will lead. It's my first day tomorrow (Monday), so as I type I'm currently very excited-nervous. I feel like my job-hunt went on for ages, though really it was only a few months, I suppose. But it's such a relief to know it's over now, and that I can take a break from looking for jobs for a while! I'm also really thrilled to have this opportunity to join Souvenir Press - the company is celebrating its 60th year of independent publishing this year, which is quite a landmark! I'm looking forward to getting stuck in - fingers crossed tomorrow goes well!

The other big change round here is that I've properly moved in with my boyfriend. My parents brought me over to the flat this afternoon with a car-full of stuff (mainly books and clothes, if I'm honest), and I've spent most of my time since then trying to find space for everything. There's a home for most things at the minute, but we'll see how things go. I've just remembered that I need to go and rearrange my books in a bit, because my parents put them on the shelves, not realising that I at least have some sort of system...

Phew. So all this change is quite exhausting. I'm going to sort my books now.

Job-hunting updates

It's been quite an eventful couple of weeks, if I stop and think about it.

First of all, I got in contact with a woman who lives (as it turns out) just round the corner from me. She runs a one-woman literary agency, and I thought I might be able to help out. It turned out that she also works for a small independent publishing company, so I'm actually involved with that, though on an unpaid basis, because the company has virtually no money. This is sad, but it does mean that I'm getting to do quite a bit. For example, I'm currently putting together their schedule for the Frankfurt Book Fair which is showing that, despite what anyone else might say, I've actually got pretty good organisational skills. Hooray.

But my work with this company is entirely unpaid, and so it's on a very casual basis. I don't feel like I need to be working 9-5:30 every day. I'm working from home, too, which means it's not costing me anything, unlike when I was doing more formal internships in London which cost an arm and a leg... So it's quite enjoyable, and it's giving me something to do with my day.

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I also had an interview for a proper job today. One with a real salary, and everything. It would only be a year-long contract while someone was on maternity leave, but it would be a start, a step in the right direction. They're interviewing for a few more days, but in theory I should know one way or another by the end of next week. Fingers crossed, I guess!

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Other than that, things have been pretty quiet for me, which is why there haven't been many updates. I haven't even read that many books! It's crazy. I read a lot more when I'm working than when I'm not, just because I like to read on the train each day.

Anyway. Enough from me. I've got (possibly) conjunctivitis, my mum reckons. All I know is that my eye hurts, quite a lot. So staring at a screen isn't the best thing for it. So I'll stop typing........... now.

Creativity: Self-doubt

Do you remember the post a little while back where I was all like WAHEY I'M WRITING A NOVEL! No? Well, here it is, in case you forgot.

That project stalled, which is why you haven't heard much more about it. I couldn't make the idea work in a way that I wanted it to, if you know what I mean.

I'm having trouble with my writing at the minute. Yesterday I read through a few of my poems that I wrote last year, and they were (if you don't mind me saying) pretty damn good. And I very rarely feel that way about a piece of fiction that I write. Definitely not a piece of extended fiction. So: I feel like my poetry is of a better standard than my fiction. But the thing is, I don't want to write poetry.

There was a time when I really wanted to write poems. I wanted to publish a collection (only ever one collection, mind). I wanted to write poem after poem, and I did, for a while. Now though - by which I mean in the past six months or so - I have absolutely no desire whatsoever to write poems. None at all. And no poetic thoughts or inspiration. It's strange. But I'm happy this way.

What I really want to do is write a novel. So I'm trying again. The idea mentioned in that earlier post has been... re-worked, let's put it that way. There were mermaids in it, and now all the mermaids are gone and now it's just people. There has been vague planning and structuring, and I'm busy playing around with the narrative perspectives and such like. I have a prologue that I'm happy to work with for now. I just need to get my teeth into the main body of it all, don't I.

So, in the words of a certain sports brand: Just Do It.

Cleaning off the cyber-dust

Oh dear. I'm not very good at keeping track of things.

As you may already know, I run an online magazine called Sparkbright. It publishes every six months, in June and December. Since putting out our sixth issue back in June, I've done absolutely nothing towards the upkeep of the site (so, 650-odd spam comments to get rid of...), the twitter site, the blog... nothing. So I should probably get back on that!

I'm trying to be more organised in general, and actually keep track of what's going on with regards to my internet activity. That includes: this blog; the Sparkbright website; the Sparkbright blog (on the site); the Sparkbright twitter account; my personal twitter account; the Sparkbright facebook page; my facebook page and several email accounts.

I'm going to try and post here at least once a week, so you can look forward (er, maybe) to seeing a bit more of me round here. And I really do need to do some work for Sparkbright.

This 'trying to be organised' thing is all part of my day zero project: 101 goals in 1001 days. My list is here, if you're interested, but I'll be back soon enough to tell you more about it.

Ciao for now!

Post-interview thoughts.

I had my first Real Job Interview on Tuesday, for an Editorial Assistant position in a London-based publishing company. I wanted to put down some thoughts about the process and how I think it went.

Before the interview I'd been sent a copy of their latest catalogue to have a look through, which was very interesting and stylistically similar to something I'd worked on in a previous internship, which I found encouraging and made the whole thing seem slightly less scary. I emailed a couple of people I've recently worked with asking for advice, and had spent a lot of time on Google and reading The Bookseller looking for recent news on the company etc.

I feel like I prepared as well as I could have. As it was, they interviewed me for about 45 minutes, including a proof-reading test. While I was talking to them, they seemed very positive, and even though I asked a couple of, er, difficult questions regarding the state of the market and the state of the company they were very honest with me throughout. I left with a good idea of what the job would (realistically) entail and the nature of the company. I also left feeling that I had given a good account of myself. Of course, I also left with lots of self-doubt: was I enthusiastic enough/too nervous/ too inquisitive/ too shy/ too modest etc. etc.

(And when I say I left with lots of self-doubt I mean that I left with enough doubt to reduce me to tears later that evening which probably puzzled my boyfriend quite a lot, especially when I'd already told him that I thought the interview had gone pretty well.)

But enough of that. Overall, I felt that the interview went reasonably well. I couldn't have prepared any better than I did, but I think that I need to learn to control my nerves so that I can be enthusiastic about what I'm talking about, rather than terrified. With regards to the job, I know that I would be good at it. I know it won't pay so well, but it's something I really want to do, and with a company that had a very nice feel to it. I desperately want this job, but at the moment I have to wait to hear if they want me back for a second interview.

I'm keeping my fingers (and toes) crossed. I guess I just have to wait and see.

What a difference a day makes!

When I woke up this morning I was all ready to write a blog for you about the changing nature of my job-hunt. I was getting to the point where I was sure I wouldn't be ending up in a publishing-related job this time, and had already been expanding my job search to include more local jobs, admin or receptionist type work as I've got plenty of experience.

This is still very much the case. But then mid-afternoon I had a response for a job I applied for about a month ago, and had almost assumed a rejection. Instead I was invited to the "first round" of interviews, which immediately made me very excited and very nervous. This is the first interview for a "real job" that I've had since leaving university. And while I've had job interviews before, they've all been for short-term/temporary positions, rather than a full-time, permanent vacancy like the one I'm going for now.

And while I'm being very realistic (or, if you prefer, pessimistic) here and thinking that I'll be up against a lot of excellent candidates, and that it's very unlikely I'll get the first job I interview for, it has done my confidence and enthusiasm a world of good.

If you've been job-hunting for a while (I'm up to a few months now, though in that time I have been busy doing work experience placements), and you've repeatedly failed to even get to interview stage, you'll know how disheartening it can become. So even if I don't get this job, this will all be worth it for helping to boost my enthusiasm for the whole job-hunting process once again.

So. I'm busy trying to balance optimism with realism and excitement with nerves, and the interview isn't until next Tuesday.

If anyone's got any super interview advice and/or tips, I'd love to hear them! And in the meantime, I'll be going preparation-crazy in the next few days.

No more internships!

Last Friday I finished up at what is my last publishing-related internship that I have planned for the near future. While I love the industry, I can't afford to keep doing all this unpaid work with no guarantees of a job at the end of it.

I completed two weeks at a Camden-based literary agency. I signed a confidentiality agreement on my first day, so I won't name them, and I won't tell you much about what I did there. However, I will tell you that I was slightly disappointed. I'd heard good things about them, but once I was there I became more or less a glorified receptionist. The way it was meant to work was that they'd have two interns at one time (which they did) and the two interns would alternate days providing reception cover. For some reason this never happened, so for two weeks I was there as a receptionist first, and then doing odd bits of reading and writing reports when I could grab some spare time between phone calls and dealing with the post etc.

So that was unfortunate. But most of the people there were very lovely, and I did get to read a couple of fabulous manuscripts that I need to make a note of. One was the first book in a longer series, and of course I now want to know what happens in the rest of the series, so I'll have to keep an eye out over the next couple of years, I guess...

But now I'm finished with internships, and I don't really know what to do. I've got about four months worth of experience in total, and am keen to find a full-time job, but there aren't many out there at the minute and so I'm back home looking for other work. We'll see what happens. I'm still waiting to hear back from a couple of jobs in the industry, so I'll keep my fingers crossed. And if nothing happens there I'll have to find myself something else to be doing in the meantime, and also keep my eyes on the industry so I know if/when the vacancies open up.

Lots to think about. My brain is currently very scared by the big expanse of time that's opening up in front of me, with nothing to fill it.

Hmm. Something will turn up.

Johnson & Alcock

Yes, this is another internship-related post. I was actually at Johnson & Alcock a couple of weeks ago, right at the start of the month, but I've been a bit quiet on all fronts lately and forgot to do any kind of follow-up post.

I was there for two weeks, in their offices in Clerkenwell Green, London. I'd actually worked in the same building with another literary agency last summer, so it was nice to know the commute and the area (and the Krispy Kreme doughnut stand in the Tesco at the end of the road!) before I started. This was another unpaid position, though they did make a contribution of £10/day towards travel expenses.

Johnson & Alcock is the smallest company I've done any work experience with. I've had the opportunity to work in a small team before, during my time at Oxford University Press, but obviously it's very different working in a small team that's part of a much larger organisation, to working in a very small team. There were six members of staff at J&A, one of whom only worked half the week. The office had a very nice feel to it and you could tell that everyone got on well with each other, making for a very pleasant work place to go into.

The majority of my time was spent reading unsolicited manuscripts, sending out rejections and passing things I thought were good onto the agents. I also got to read something that one of the agents was considering, and provided her with a report on it giving my thoughts. I helped sort out some rights reversions, and wrote a couple of pieces to go on their website, which provided a nice break from the reading!

One of the best things, though, was that I got to sit down and properly read through a contract, and then I had a short, sit-down meeting with one of the agents where I had the opportunity to ask about anything I didn't understand. It was a very valuable morning, and gave me a much better insight into how a literary agency functions at the business end. We also had a chat about e-books, from which I came to realise that actually, no-one really has a clue about what they mean for the future of the industry..!

So while this placement involved doing lots of things I'd done before, it also gave me lots of new opportunities. I really enjoyed my time at J&A; the staff were friendly and welcoming, and I was sad to leave after only two weeks.

A big thank you to everyone at J&A - it was wonderful to have the chance to work with you, and hopefully our paths will cross again in the not-too-distant future.

300!

It's been a while. I more-or-less fell off the face of the planet, into a deep, dark void comprising mainly of an essay about "Poetry after Modernism", a faltering job-hunt, and the beginnings of a flat-hunt with my boyfriend.

But the good news is that I'm back. (And that my essay is nearly finished, but you don't want to hear about that.) Yesterday I had my 300th blog-view, or whatever you want to call it. So that's pretty sweet, considering I've not been around much.

I have lots of updates for you. Not least the fact that I have just finished reading ANIMAL FARM, which was one of those books that I'd always pretended to have read, because I knew the gist of what it was about, and could never be bothered to read it. And now I actually have. I haven't read much else recently though, guess I've been busy doing other things.

Anyway. Later I will write up my thoughts on my last work placement. I am starting another one next week, so it will be nice to compare the two. This post is just to let you all know that I'm not dead, although I am (bizarrely) quite busy, but busy in that slow-moving way that involves little outside involvement, but a whole load of internal thought-processes.

Until later, then. :-)

Catching up

Phew. This has been a busy week. I've been doing work experience at a literary agency in London, so I've been commuting in, leaving the house at 8:30am and getting back at about 7:00pm. After the student life, and five hours of classes a week, it's quite a lifestyle change! I'm enjoying it, anyway. I've got another week there, though it's only a four-day week because of the Easter Bank Holiday weekend coming up.

I'll probably do a round-up post of this placement once I've finished, with some thoughts on the process, and taking a look at what I've learnt, so you can expect that next weekend. Until then, here's a couple of things I wanted to post this week but didn't have time for.

The Orange Prize for Fiction shortlist is out, which you can see here. I've only read two of the books shortlisted; I want to read ANNABEL but last time I checked it was only available in hardback, and I haven't really got space for many more books on my shelves so I'd better wait until it's out in paperback. The prize isn't awarded until 8th June, though, so I might try and get through the shortlist by then. It's only four books, to be fair, so I'll see what happens. Looking back to the longlist, I just finished reading REPEAT IT TODAY WITH TEARS by Anna Piele, which I really enjoyed. I would review it, but I've got hardly any time at the minute. I need to write a report for work tomorrow and an essay for university, so I think I've got plenty to be getting on with!

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It was the London Book Fair this week. I hoped to get there for at least one of the days, but unfortunately didn't manage it as I was working. From the sounds of things, though, it was a nice busy fair, much better than last year which was disrupted by the ash cloud... But everyone I'm working with at the minute seemed very happy after the fair. Happy and exhausted. So I guess that's a good sign. You can see a report from The Bookseller here. I wish I'd been able to go, but perhaps next year I'll be able to go as an employee of one of the publishing companies, rather than just as a student. Fingers crossed.

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Hopefully I'll get a chance to post a few things later in the week. Now I need to write my essay. Eek!

Off-topic

This post has nothing to do with books, publishing, or anything else literature-related. Just sayin'.

...And on with the show.

I have a good friend, who I've known since secondary school, who told me at the start of the year that this would be the year she would reinvent herself. I asked her what she meant, and she said that she needed a new look. Now, at the time I was slightly puzzled by this. I didn't see anything wrong with her old look. But recently, I'm starting to get it.

You know that feeling when you get up in the morning and you feel like you've got nothing to wear? Well that's how I'm feeling at the minute. Except it's pretty much every day that I'll be feeling like this. I'm not a vain person, really. I don't spend hours planning my outfits and then hours getting ready. But I like to look good, you know?

I should mention that I'm also not, uh, the most fashion-savvy person in the world. My sister, well, I think she got the fashion genes. Or jeans, if you will. (Haha, Emily you're so funny. Yeah, I know. Thanks guys!)

ANYWAY. Essentially I'm at a stage in my life where I feel like I want to give my look a major overlook. By which I mean my wardrobe, not the rest of me. I'm just coming to the end of university, and since I've been here my wardrobe has consisted mainly of hoodies and the thickest jumpers I can find. Jeans that may or may not fit properly. And, er, that's about it. I don't know how to layer my clothes so that they look good, and I don't know how to accessorise properly. I own like, two belts (er, and a couple that don't fit me, and should probably be thrown away..!). I don't have any 'fashion jewellery'. My wardrobe is, in a word, boring.

Now, bearing in mind that I don't have much money at the minute, what do you think would be a good starting point with my wardrobe? I'm thinking maybe some cute accessories. Some jewellery, maybe. Long necklaces and bracelets, I always think they look cute - on other people, but not me, for some reason. I dunno. I should also probably go through and throw out anything that doesn't fit and/or I haven't worn for over a year...

And if you guys have any tips... I'd be thrilled. This fashion-challenged chica needs all the help she can get!