Writing is my passion.
Luckily, working for a small Edinburgh web design agency with various high-profile clients, I’m able to write (and edit, film, blog, tweet…you name it, I probably do it) every day, covering a range of subjects including health issues, education, tourism, charity work and the arts.
A few years ago, alongside my 9-5 work, I decided to start blogging, previewing and reviewing some of the most exciting arts and entertainment events taking place in my home city while also taking a look at television old and new.
Of course blogging has its pitfalls.
In the past, anyone who wrote, edited and published their own work, avoiding the traditional process of having an editor commission and comment on their work, was dubbed a “vanity publisher”.
This is also the danger of blogging. While I’m well aware that there are plenty of of us doing an excellent job outwith the strict confines of larger organisations, advertisers and editors, there’s still a perception among many people that bloggers aren’t “proper” writers or journalists.
Wary of only publishing my own work and following occasional articles for university newspaper Veritas and a regular film blog for local arts magazine The Skinny, 2008 saw the Edinburgh Evening News invite me to cover the Edinburgh International Film Festival.
This was followed by theatre, music and comedy reviewing during the rest of the year for the paper.
Now, with a weekly film column in the Evening News reaching around 50,000 readers a week alongside regular DVD, theatre and book reviewing for my old Veritas editor at the Pink Paper, my writing is reaching a wider audience and my ambitions are growing daily.
I’ve also record a monthly film slot on local radio station Leith FM and a new blog has spun-off from my Evening News column.
I plan to write irregular columns for this blog covering online communications and freelance writing.
I hope you enjoy the site and come back again to see what I’ve been up to.