When I was a child I yearned to be an actress; stage, screen
– you name it. And after much performance training and long ballet classes, as
well as GCSE’s and a BTEC in Performing Arts I decided I wasn’t as competitive as
the profession needed me to be (however, I do still belt out the Musical
Theatre classics in the shower). Acting
and musicals were my childhood; my grandma and I used to spend Saturdays (and
her pension) visiting West End Musicals and I still have a giant box of
programs collected over the years. My adolescence was spent performing in
college shows and enjoying Amateur Dramatics with Second To None Theatre
Company, based in Kent, but when I came to University that all changed.
At Winchester University, I never took a dance class, I
never joined the Performing Arts society – I started writing, editing and
writing and editing, and writing and editing. It’s only now that I’ve realised,
post-degree, that the writing-world is very similar to that of the
acting/performance world. Everyone thinks they can do it, very few can. I am
still yet to know if I can do the writing thing. However, I did take on my
first freelance job last week. Not something I’d planned to do, but enjoyable
and beneficial nonetheless.
A friend, Simon, runs a Television Studio company and he’s
putting on an event in Boston this September. His PA is currently on holiday,
and his ‘people’ surprised him by asking for their Health & Safety
document, complete with schedule and risk assessment, three weeks too early.
This is where I came in, Simon is a friend of a friend, and our mutual friend
Cassi suggested me to help him out.
With no previous Health & Safety knowledge, I was
incredibly dubious and nervous to even agree to help – I just didn’t want to
let either Cassi or Simon down. However, I turned up eager and ready to work. A
semi-stressful day and a half later and the work was finished and I was really
happy with the work I’d put into the document.
Even though Health & Safety isn’t something that I want
to do, and it’s not as ‘creative’ as I’d like to be writing, I am eternally grateful
for the experience (and the pay, believe me!). I am also so glad that there were people
around who thought that I could do it, even when I thought I couldn’t. Who am I to be writing about Health &
Safety? I am perpetually smashing things and I’m always peppered by black and
blue bruises. A bull in a china shop comes to mind, actually. A bull in a china shop, whilst copywriting.
So, although it’s not my writing-world ‘big-break’ it’s
certainly a step in the right direction. It’s inspired me to get on with my own
stuff; to blog more regularly, to read more, to learn more – all so I have more
to offer, more knowledge, more opinions and more practise under my belt. If something
is true of both acting and writing worlds it’s that if you have a spare moment;
practise. Practise doesn’t always make perfect, but it makes better than the
time before. That’s pretty much all I can offer at this stage in the game, that
I am better at life than I was yesterday, and here’s hoping that that’s good
enough.
I’ve copied in some useful websites and things that keep me inspired
and interested just because I know how shit it is to be ‘stuck’.
Ideas Tap is a completely free website that lists job opportunities,
information and inspirational videos and articles to keep things fresh in your
mind.
You The Designer is an awesome, slightly more visual, creative
inspiration space that provides ideas on typography, graphic design as well as
downloadable freebies.
And last, for today, Pinterest. Be it with interior design,
quotes, fashion or recipes this website is awash with bright ideas and creative
inspirations that keep me awake for hours when I really should be sleeping.
