How To Become a Journalist

It began when I heard about a grassroots fundraiser to help refugees in Calais.

A young woman had written a Facebook post explaining that they were looking for donations and volunteers. She wrote that they were going to take all the donations - food, clothes, tents, care packages - and were going to drive them from the Midlands all the way down to the refugee camp near the port of Calais.

I loved what they were doing so I did the typical like and share and left it at that.

After an hour or so it was still ruminating in my brain and I felt maybe I should go down there and actually try to help out. I’d never really done anything like that before but seeing the picture of the awful conditions at the refugee camp and realising I could do something to create a positive change really helped kick me into action.

The next morning I went down to help out and saw hundreds of people coming together and donating old clothes, money, and food parcels. I was struck by the beauty of it all — we always hear negative stories about refugees in the British media — so to see so many kind hearted folk, doing the right thing helped reaffirm my faith in the general public.

For some reason there were no journalists around to report on the story.

Because I’d written a few times for my student magazine and because I thought it was a great piece of news to tell - I made the decision, then and there, to write about it and share the story online.

I began taking photos of everything that was happening and then after I'd gotten a dozen or so I began asking questions. People were kind enough to take a few minutes to talk to me. I nervously recorded the conversations on my phone to grab a few quotes and bungled my way through them as best as I could.

After I’d gotten the interviews and the photos I stuck around for the last hour or so and helped box the final donations before it was taken away.

When it was all over I raced home to type it all up while it was still fresh.

I felt elated to see so many good people come together for a worthy cause and I just wanted to share it. The article poured out of me; beginning with the facts before focusing on the stories of the people behind the event.

After two hours it was done - the meat and bones of the article were there. I spent another hour editing and trying to make the story come alive before I felt like it was ready to send out.

I only intended to send it to my student magazine, but then it hit me that the local newspaper hadn’t picked up on the story, and that maybe it was worth pitching them the story.

I found the editor's email online, googled how to pitch an article, borrowed the format and sent it off within an hour. I even broke the cardinal rule of freelance writing and sent the whole completed article along with the dozen or so photos I’d taken during the day.

I expected nothing back — I wasn’t a professional writer at the time and I figured it would just be dismissed — but after two hours the editor responded and accepted the pitch, and even offered me their standard freelance fee.

The next day the story was published and I’d suddenly become a paid writer.

For me, it felt like the greatest twenty-four hours possible. To help such a good cause, to spread such a positive story, and to finally become a paid and published writer.

On a professional level it taught me I didn’t need to study writing or journalism to do or be either. All I needed is a good story, an ability to write, and the courage to pitch the work and get it out there.