When it all becomes to much...

pinno

Violins in the background. In the foreground its me - laughing my socks off with the thought of "Cleat eastwood: Cycling Bhuddist, "In case of accident - call a Lama" tattood on his arm.

Look, 2 things: Come up to Scotland, bring a tent - we have acres of space to put it up in and I will sort your tooth out whilst your here. Both things real cheap and a chance of a holiday, once you get over the pain of extraction.
There's an offer you can't refuse. I know Leicester and I would be feeling the same as you if I were there- f*cking sh1t.
PM me if your serious. I can also prevent the in-laws from coming as we will be 'fully booked', ha ha.

LeicesterLad

Hoopdriver wrote:

LeicesterLad wrote:

Hoopdriver wrote:

Fair enough too. You mention follwing your dream and forging a writin career in your OP. what did you try doing? And what kind of a writin career did you try?

Hi Roff

I spent 6 months prior to the last general election writing a political analysis style blog which actually got quite alot of recognition, voted in the top 50 political blogs in the country and featured on the Beeb and in the Guardian, unfortunately post election I had some real issues to deal with and the blog took a backburner, fading into obscurity - I lost all interest in politics, and trying to convey my opinion got tiresome and made me quite angry. So the failure of that is mainly my own fault.

I spent a good year submitting magazine articles and pitching ideas to editors of varying magazines to do with Countryside/Wildlife/Folklore/Nature/Environment of which i was given plenty of feedback, had some published in smaller national magazines and niche magazines but for the effort put in the reward was very small and I couldn't sustain it at a level to make it work as well as hold down a full time job. In the end the rejection letter got more and more and i submitted less and less.

I know this is your sector so maybe you might have a take on this?

It is genuinely tough. I was a feature writer for a couple of big papers in Australia, and a senior writer for Time Magazine, and although I have been freelancing for 16 years since leaving Time, and write mainly for National Geographic who know me very well by now, it is still genuinely tough to land commissions. So do not take your dificulties to heart. It is a tough market even with a lot of experience and credits behind you. Obviously you have to eat and earn money, but if you want to make it in the game you can. It takes perseverence and a willingness to put in hours writing even after your regular day job is done. Think up ideas, knock on doors. I've read your blog. You can write and report. And you're only 25 so you've plenty of time. When I was 25 I thought it would never happen, writing as a career that is. Do not give up if that is your dream, or let anyone tell you it's impossible.

Feel free to PM me and if I can give you any useful advice I'll be glad to try. A lot of people were awfully good to me when I was starting out, and I'd be pleased to have a chance to put something back.

Pardon the typs. I am writing n an iPad screen, something I've not mastered!

I would like to give it another crack, I'm enjoying writing the blog at the minute, which is more for my own benefit than anything else, but for anything serious its just finding the time. Expect to receive a PM at some point from me Roff!

Matt, Jez, VeryLongLegs and all the others who have replied since my last 'thanks', again I appreciate everything that's been said and suggested. Its apparent that there is a fountain of knowledge and understanding on here and everyone i'm sure has faced their own problems at some time in their lives. Its been good to just get it off my chest on here and hear everyones opinion and experiences to be honest.

I've had a sit down with the missus tonight and discussed things and hopefully some changes will be made in the very near future. As it stands I feel much better now than I did prior to posting this this morning, so thanks everyone!

Also had some heartfelt PM's from some of you, so cheers for that! much appreciated!

Cleat Eastwood

pinarello001 wrote:

Violins in the background. In the foreground its me - laughing my socks off with the thought of "Cleat eastwood: Cycling Bhuddist, "In case of accident - call a Lama" tattood on his arm.

.

Drat you actually read the whole thread - i thought posting on page one no one would notice. I'm actually half buddist half jew....I'm a Boo.

pinno

No you are'nt, you're a BooJoo, ha ha. I bet you been called lots of things, but not that.