During the summer of my second year at university, I managed to get a whole load of work experience placements (weeks and weeks of coffee getting and interview transcribing for free - yay me). Fortunately, one of them, at a magazine called Total DVD, went really well and I got a couple of film reviews published in the mag - which was really exciting for me.
Even more thrilling: they asked me to stay on as temporary staff writer for the rest of the summer, and they were going to pay me! Score.
So I worked for about two months, churning out the reviews, interviews and features which now make up the majority of my portfolio. And then... no money. They kept saying that they were putting the invoices through, but by the time I returned to uni, I hadn't seen any payment. All I had were some email IOUs.
A couple of months later the magazine went into liquidation. I put in my claim, but three years on, nothing! So that was a shame, but at least I got lots of work published, right?
Next: My first job. This was working at a publishing company who produced supermassive books on obscure topics for wealthy peeps. It turned out to be my dream job; researching and writing features and articles for these books which are incredibly detailed and beautifully designed.
I loved working there, but sadly, they were only able to keep me on as a freelancer, which meant... no long-term contract. They could only let me know about my employment for a month or two in advance. And then it was coming up to my wedding. My husband is a medical student, so we needed to have at least one steady income. So I had to tell my boss that I'd be forced to leave and take a more secure job unless they could give me something more permanent. He tried, but it couldn't be done. So I took the youth job I'm just finishing now because it offered a fairly good salary and promised job security.
I've spent the past year wishing I could go back to working on amazing books. But I believe they are still unable to hire any more full-time editorial staff, so while I hope they'll one day give me THE CALL, I can't hold my breath.
Third disappointment. A few months ago I replied to a job ad asking for writers. 'I'm a writer,' I thought, so I sent in my CV. I got through to the final email interview round and then was told I should pitch for one of four book projects to write. I pitched for an unoffical fan's guide to Indiana Jones. And lo and behold, I got the commission!
So I set to work, having received a contract (I'd learnt my lesson there!) and was a third of the way through writing the book when I get an email telling me that the project has been scrapped, there are too many issues because of the impending fourth Indy film about to hit cinemas. So I had to stop. Surprisingly, they did actually pay me for the work I'd done, which was nice, but in this case I was more excited about the prospect of writing a book. Then, I could call myself an author!
Such a shame when things like that happen. I tried to pitch the book to various publishing companies, but to no avail. So now I have a third of an Indy guide written. Useful.
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