Conville & Walsh

Last week I completed a two-week internship with the above-named literary agency, based in Soho, London. It was a short placement, unpaid [for details on the debate regarding unpaid placements with a particular focus on the publishing industry, see here], and very different from previous placements I'd done in the industry.

First, a little background on what I've done:

• A one week placement at A.P. Watt - mainly admin work. Interesting first insight into the industry, made me realise this is the area I wanted to work in.
• A six week placement at Andrew Nurnberg Associates. A long placement with a varied, interesting workload. Well-organised and informative, supportive staff members during a difficult period of my personal life.
• A four week placement at Oxford University Press. Great fun, came into the team at a critical time in their year, when they had a staff shortage for various reasons, so got to do lots of hands-on stuff and get heavily involved in various projects.

Now that's out of the way, some thoughts on this latest two-week placement.

I started at C&W the week of the London Book Fair. This meant that for the first three days of my placement there were only two of us in the main office (plus the lovely finance guy but he was two floors up...). It was a very quiet few days filled with bizarre tasks - making party bags and buying olives, for example. But it gave me a chance to get to know the office, work out the postal system and where everything went, and I had the fantastic opportunity one evening to attend a party for S.J. Watson, author of BEFORE I GO TO SLEEP (released today).

If I'm honest, the party was one of the highlights of the placement. It gave me the chance to chat to previous interns (all of whom gave very positive comments regarding C&W), to other people in the industry, and it let me see a side of the job that I'd not had a chance to before. While I realise things like that won't be happening every day, it was certainly interesting to see that things like that go on, and how they tend to work.

Parties and merriment aside, I also spent a lot of time reading unsolicited manuscripts. There was one I read that I really liked (it was about clowns...), that wasn't right for the agent who had it, but I persuaded her not to disregard it completely and it was then passed over to another agent. I don't know what has become of it, but I was pleased that my opinions were valued.

I was able to get involved with some of the follow-up from the LBF, too. Lots of putting notes onto the computer system, complete with a crash-course in how NOT to make notes. Tip: make them legible! And then in my last couple of days I got to do some editorial work - one of the agents has a book coming out, and I was responsible for making the edits on the document in question. Again, a crash-course in handwriting translation.

In comparison to others I've done, it felt very short, particularly as my second week was only four days, due to it leading up to the Easter weekend. It was also completely unpaid, with no contribution at all made towards travel expenses. I was also irritated by the fact that, as they have an intern in every week of the year, they use them as a receptionist, managing the switchboard as appropriate. Perhaps it was just that I was used to larger agencies that had their own receptionist. But at the time I felt that they were taking the 'unpaid work experience' thing a little too far.

Minor qualms, anyway. Ultimately I enjoyed the placement, and was glad to be back in that environment, involved with the industry again. It re-enforced my desire to find a permanent job in the publishing industry, and everyone I spoke to there said I was going about it the right way. I guess I just have to keep my fingers crossed, and my eyes open.

To finish, I should say a big thank you to Conville & Walsh. They were great to work with, if only for a couple of weeks.

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!

End of an era...

Or the beginning of one.

Only time will tell.

Tomorrow I finish up at university. I have one piece of coursework that's due in, in May, but other than that I'm completely finished. No more classes, no more exams. I'm averaging a nice solid 2:1, which is pleasing. So I'm heading home on Saturday, not knowing if I'll be coming back, and that makes me sad. I mean sure, I'll be back for graduation, but that's just one day...

But enough doom and gloom. In more exciting news, I've got a work placement starting on Monday. It's only a two week placement, but there's also a job vacancy at this place that I've applied for, and I'm planning to use these two weeks as a kind of extended interview process, where I'll make everyone love me and they'll start to think they can't manage without me, and then they'll give me a job.

OK, it might not happen exactly like that, but I'm still hoping that I'll do well on this placement. They offered me a placement last summer, but I was already committed to working at another place, so I had to say no, so I'm glad I'm getting a second chance to go and work with them. It'll be quite strange though - for the first few days the office will be practically empty while the Book Fair's on, and then I guess it'll be incredibly busy once the Fair is over...

I'm sad I won't manage to get to the London Book Fair this year - I went last year and it was an interesting (but daunting!) experience. But I'm excited to see how things look from the other side.

Wish me luck!

Dresses. Pretty, pretty dresses.

Well you all seemed quite interested in my off-topic, "I don't understand clothes" post the other day.

I nearly had to post a follow-up. My boyfriend got me a ticket to a summer ball that they're having at his university, and my first thought was "oh god, what am I going to wear?!"

But actually, I got really lucky. I was feeling a bit rubbish yesterday so decided to head into the city to clear my head and get some fresh air... and I came home with a dress. It's really pretty, and it was only £20! (And it's got the boyfriend's approval, so it's nice to know I won't look like a fool...)

I'm not one to put photos of myself up all over the place, but I might make an exception, because I'm really excited about it. And I'm kind of proud of myself for solving this dilemma all by myself. Normally I drag my mum out... or rather, she drags me out and I get stressed because I can't find anything I like, or I feel really fat in everything, or they don't have the right size, or.... well, you get the picture. I'm not good at buying dresses, let's put it that way.

I will probably need some clothes advice soon though. I'm starting a work experience placement at a literary agency in London on Monday, and have NO idea what to wear. It's complicated by the fact that there's a party in the evening... Ugh. I'm really excited about it though. I'd done quite a lot of work in literary agencies last year, and so it'll be nice to get back into the office, you know?

All that aside, this is my pretty dress. Isn't it lovely.

(Apologies for the bad-quality photo. My housemate took it for me on my phone. That's a comment on my phone's quality as a camera, rather than my housemate's quality as a photographer, by the way...)

(Also, apologies for my horrendously smelly slippers that are trying to get in on the action. They're not the prettiest things in the world, are they.)

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!

Confession...

Today, I read The Bookseller for the first time. (Online, I might add, but it still counts.)

For the past couple of years I've been wanting to get into publishing. I've done a selection of work placements, had lots of email contact with companies all over Europe as part of these placements, been to the London Book Fair, been to a couple of SYP events... I've even been regularly using thebookseller.com in recent weeks/months to check for job vacancies.

And yet I'd never thought to actually read any of the news articles on there. Isn't that strange?

So I read up about a bit of what went on this year in Bologna, and then read a bit of pre-LBF gossip... and it was actually really interesting. More-so now than if I'd started reading it a year or so ago. Now I have an active interest in at least a couple of companies - ones I've previously worked with, ones I'm due to work with soon etc. and I've generally been paying more attention to the industry, I guess.

Maybe I'll make a habit of it.

Happy Saturday, everyone! As you may have noticed, I'm having a very quiet weekend. I hope yours are more exciting!