Monday: 3rd November 2008

Task: The Ladder of Potential

The title of this task sounds a little like something out of a corny self help book, and to be completely honest, at the start, it felt precisely like that. We had to print off a ladder and fill in each rung with how we’d like our career to progress, the idea being that at the end, we’d have a clear and concise set of steps that we can take to our dream job, we could then look at the avenues we can follow in order to immediately start climbing this metaphorical ladder.

As a mature student, I see the value of this exercise because it’s useful to think about what you want to achieve in life. It wasn’t however particularly relevant to me because I’ve known for some time where I want to get to and that is precisely why I am here at Bath Spa University studying Creative Writing. Ironically, I don’t really want to make a career out of writing, not now at any rate, I see my future in television. I’d either like to have ideas for music videos and adverts and see them through to fruition, or I’d like to work in television in some other capacity. Almost everything I do, the modules I choose, the volunteer work and work experience I’ve been doing has been orientated around this eventual goal. I’ve already applied to work for the BBC a couple of times, and my brother and I had a script rejected by Writer’s Room. Undeterred, I continue to apply for work experience positions, whilst at all times collecting valuable experience that I hope will make my application more attractive than my rivals. Reviewing amateur dramatics has been a fantastic addition, as has volunteering for the local hospital radio which is something I do every Monday evening. On my Creative Writing course I’ve written scripts, short stories and made short films. All of this creative practise, I hope, will eventually help me get my foot into the front door of the BBC studios.

I have recently been on the BBC website and have begun filling out two work experience forms for next June. My preferred one is working on Blue Peter. Annoyingly however, in order to complete the form, I need to watch quite a few more episodes so that is precisely what I’m doing at the moment.

In the long term, I would love to write a book for children, and this is one of the main reasons I found Steve Voake’s lecture so inspiring. I can’t imagine a career sat at a desk, typing away on a computer sixteen or so hours a day, I would go insane, but I can imagine working a book around a career. I think Steve Voake represents those people who want to make it in the industry, whilst at the same time fulfilling other ambitions. I am under no illusions that this process doesn’t happen overnight, but I’ve got time and I’m very ambitious.