The Reason for this Blog's existence

Here's what happened. About 10 years ago I decided that I would quite like to write for a living. I fluked a job working for a magazine on the photo desk and thought that was a way in; that once I was there I would be able to switch roles. What happened was that after learning the ropes on the photo desk for a year my boss left and they asked me to take her job as Photo Editor. Given that I was working for a 'Gentleman's Lifestyle' magazine this meant doing shoots with girls mostly in either underwear or bikinis and also the occasional famous person. And more money to boot. I was 27 years old and quickly forgot about writing for a living as, to be honest, I was having too much fun. Three years later I was bored of it so I quit and went travelling for a year. On my return to the UK I started freelancing as a picture researcher and after about a year I ended up getting a staff job at the Mail on Sunday. You're probably starting to realise that I seem to end up working for titles with very dubious ethics. The silver lining to all this is that, when I got made unemployed at the end of April, I got some cash to tide me over. So for the next few months I've decided I'm going to give writing for a living a good go. Join me for the ups and the downs. Hopefully there'll be more of the former and not so much of the latter. And feel free to offer advice along the way. I'm new to this remember.