End of the Semester funk

I've been feeling horrible for most of the past 2 days. I skipped only one class though and managed to make it through yesterday's without being seriously unhappy. Then something like two hours of work in the Publishing IT room.

Time is running out (we have only two weeks left!) and we have a lot of group projects to hand in. Yesterday, I went to work early and finished putting in the pictures for our Design group's InDesign project. The assignment was to design a fashion book and my group picked Ethical Fashion. I was skeptical about our work at first but it's really come together. I did the page layout and inserted the pics. It's more work than it sounds really. However, there are two girls in my group (we're 4) who have very dominant personalities and basically they've taken over most of the work. They're not really teamworkers. Trouble is, we have to write a little about what we each did... It's not that I wasn't willing to do my share it's just that one of them stole most of my share. At least stuff gets done. There are groups out there who are way behind whereas we're practically done. It still is the most unpleasant of our projects (well, not counting marketing, haven't even started that yet!) but it's crazy how far we've come! It actually looks professional! Not very experienced maybe but definitely pro.

I can design a book!

In editorial class, we have to come up with a book proposal as if we were editors in some established UK company. We picked Random House because we wanted to do a book by Jacqueline Wilson. Easy you say. Not so much :) We picked something somewhat risky and interesting but that could pay big. A sex ed book for 9-11 year-olds. This is more like group work in that we each have a task we're expected to complete. Some work harder than others because they're more interested and it's coming a little bit slower than design but at least I don't dread every meeting (and it has nothing to do with my boyfriend being in the group). I have to do the costings. How many books should we print? How much of an advance do we offer the author? What percentage of royalties? How profitable is it likely to be? etc. Basically, is it worth the expense of using an author as expensive as Jacqueline Wilson?

It's very interesting but fairly labor intensive. I've been trying to get into the Nielsen BookScan online database but my name and password aren't working. A lot of people have been having trouble with the thing but it's got almost everything you could ask for, money wise anyway.

I also spent yesterday pm after class helping boyfriend out with photoshopping the cover art he made for the project. He doesn't know photoshop and I'd been using it for years. I'm no great digital artist but I can fiddle ok and they are looking better than okay if I may say so myself! He was geeking out on his covers :D More points for me, I hope.

See you soon

It's my birthday today, I'm now 23. By 19th century standards I am an old maid. I asked my parents to buy a house with an atic I can live in because we all know what happens to women who are not getting any (marital) sex.

We are leaving La Rochelle tomorrow. We'll spend one more night in Paris and then my parents and sister are flying back to Peru and I am going for a month in the Ninth Circle of Hell (ladies night at the Judecca Bar!).

I'll be spending all of August at my aunt's country house in Normandy, smack in the middle of nowhere. There is no internet, no cable TV and only my aunt for conversation (or in her case, conversion). What I'm trying to say is, I won't be updating the blog until September when I (finally!) go to England.

A bientôt!

Sony e-book reader

Nathan Bransford recently blogged that Sony will be opening up their reader to files by competitors. I've been secretly wanting an ebook reader since I found out they existed. I wanted a Kindle when they first came out although I think it is ugly but I'm thinking maybe the Sony.

At this point, it's just talking as I don't have 300$ to spend on a reader. It's still cheaper to buy actual books. Don't go thinking I don't like paper books, the smell, the feel... nothing makes a house look cozy like walls covered by bookshelves. Like all proper bookworms, I rewatch Disney's Beauty and the Beast for that scene where he gives her the huge library. I would have fallen in love with a much uglier creature if he'd given me that place.

But you have to admit, ebook readers, like iPods, are damned convenient. It's the diffence between carrying 30 CDs in your bag or 4 days worth of music in mp3. I know, I know, maybe it's illusory. Who reads 160 books at the same time anyway? Not me, I stick to three or four. But you never know when you might feel like reading something else. Or when you might need a quote. Imagine going to college with just the one tiny reader instead of the 3t textbooks? Think of the children!

Plus, for us future editors, having all the stuff we have to read on hand can't be bad. I just hope they don't start putting games on it or I'll never get any work done.

Parental Support is Nice

I've been looking around the web to figure out how I can pay for university without using up my parents' savings.

We're lucky to have travelled so much during most of my life (we started moving about when I was 6), especially living mainly in third world countries. The pay is much better than if my mother had taken us to France. There, we would have had a pretty hard time, instead, my sisters and I have been pretty spoiled. I love being an expat's kid.

Canada was a bit expensive but still much better than France so my mom paid for my undergrad degree. The advantage there was that as a French student in Quebec, I was allowed by a treaty to pay like Canadian students. So, I have no undergrad debts to pay off.

Now, my mom wants to pay for my post-grad. Heck, she'd pay my way through a Ph.D. if I asked her to. Let's be realistic though, she's retiring in a year or two and going back to France with a pathetic pension to thank her for over 30 years of working for the government. I also have two sisters, one of which is not out of secondary school yet and my father who takes med for his heart and who get an even lamer pension from France for being the spouse of an expat (which has prevented him from working on his own).

So, I'm considering a student loan. My mom refuses to listen and I'm too far from Europe and I guess ignorant to take one on my own. I guess the downside to following my mom around the world is that I'm not familiar with how things work in Europe. She's terrified of me starting out my life in debt. I don't like the idea much myself but I wouldn't be the first person to do it. I did apply for a scholarship through Brookes, we'll see how that goes next month. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

It's a good thing that one thing you do find online is info on student loans. Everyone is talking about it.

If I do end up letting my mother pay for my master's, I can always pay her back over time and I'll have my aunt spy on her and dad (she'd like that) so I know when they need a little extra help because I know them, they'd never tell me. I won't be making a lot at first, but I don't need a lot either. I like a lot. But I can live well from little. Except books, I need books.

Peru is Hard to Leave

I swear this country is trying to make it harder and harder for me to leave.

I went to the gym yesterday evening because I'm in serious need of a workout. I was feeling a litte dizzy when I was done so I went to the snack bar downstairs. It's more like a little restaurant, really, and they make delicious food (Peruvians are to food what Don Juan was to women). It's all very simple, cheap fare. Anyway, I asked for a glass of milk and some crackers (thereby ruining my diet, but whatever). It took them a while but they brought me a cup of hot milk and...get this...they warmed my crackers and presented them prettily!

Wow! I've never had anyone warm my crackers! I may not have asked for caviar and Champagne but still, I appreciate them going that extra step.

Here's a bit of an embarassing confession:

I love crackers and milk! It's the two things I am not willing to completely give up forever. Anyone who knows me knows that I love fine cuisine, exotic dishes, the more complicated the better. I'll give them up for a lifetime supply of soda crackers and milk. Oh, and the milk here? Really good! Nothing like the cartons of milk in North America. It actually tastes like milk. I'm hoping to find a nice farmer's market or a farm around Oxford that will sell me good, unadulterated-by-the-industry milk.

I'm trying to experience as much of this country as I can before I leave because I don't know for sure that I'll come back to visit. Now, I just have to taste Alpaca and Cuy (guinea pig).

Choices, so many choices...

So, back to my favorite topic: me.

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Once I realized I was going to go for a Master's after all, the decision came down to what was I going to do. It never really entered my mind to go for a more traditional English degree. I mean, I looooove nineteenth century fiction by women and gothic novels. I could totally have done an M.A. in that and enjoyed it a lot.

But where would that have landed me? I can very well study that stuff all on my own, and sure, I won't have a fancy paper after a year or two, but I wouldn't have had to write a bunch of essays for the same pleasure of reading and learning. Also, why go for an M.A. in English when I have a perfectly acceptable M.A. in Publishing which will get me the same job I would have applied to after my M.A. in English much more easily (I hope)?

So, I applied to three places. I don't feel entirely comfortable saying where, actually. It feels rude to the people who accepted me and I had to reject. But, I'll say it anyway because you might as well know.

The first place was City University London, their M.A. in Publishing.

The Times Good Universities Guide had them among the top universities for employability and that was very important to me. I don't particularly like their website but they have a good reputation in journalism and business. I found close to no information on their publishing program though. That was very annoying and no reviews about the M.A itself. The reviews I did find were mainly for journalism and they made me worry. They'd go on and on about how bad the student union is, how the facilities leave a lot to be desired, etc. On the other hand, the reviews were barely literate at times so not very reliable.

On the other hand, they have a decent list of more or less known alumni and of course, that employability score. It also seems to be a very international school. Reviews were from people from all over the globe. Now, I'm French, but I've lived all over the world and I enjoy being around people from cultures vastly different from my own so this was a very big plus for me.

So I followed my gut feeling and applied. Response time was UNBELIEVABLE! I kid you not, the same week I sent my application in (through DHL, I was applying rather late), I got a call from Mary Ann Kernan who interviewed me on the spot and basically offered me a place right there and then. I don't know if it's just that my application and interview skills are that good or if something just resonated with her particularly well (I like to think it's because I'm that awesome). Anyway, I liked her immediately. Very nice and informal and just overall cool. Gave me a good feeling about the place.

Also, the university is in London which is drool-worthy by itself. The problem is it's too expensive for me. NOTE: Even if you're an EU national, you won't get the lower fee if you have not lived at least the three previous years in the EU. I did my B.A. in Canada. Mary Ann tried very hard to try and get me those fees though so extra points.

Information-wise, it was more or less the same for Brookes. Finding reviews was hard but it also rated okay on the Times. They are consistently called the best new university. I did hear a lot of good things about it's student union. I'm not much for socialising but it's a good thing to keep in mind any way. It's in Oxford, which is like student dream-town I guess and still close enough to London to go there and enjoy. Somewhat cheaper, although I don't delude myself. It's not Peru where a taxi will get you anywhere for less than the price of a cup of coffee. The campus looks good and I'm told the facilities are very good too. It also has an international flavor although it seems less so than City. Like City, it's also more professions oriented as a former polytechnic.

I was interviewed by one of the lecturers, Sheila Lambie. Also, very likeable on the phone. I have to say, if everyone in publishing is like Mary Ann, Sheila and Rosalyn Ockwell (the Senior Tutor), I'm gonna like it even more than I thought! It's nice to work with and for good, relaxed people. Internships are apparently very important at Brookes, which is huge for me as I have no professional experience in anything. Sheila really put to rest a lot of the things that were worrying me. I felt a lot more confident after talking to her. I recommend anyone thinking of going to university and who has misgivings to just call them. There were no particular questions I had, but the way she talked about the program and the school did a lot to tip the balance, aside from the lesser cost of the city. I just had a very good gut feeling.

The last place was King's College London but it was an M.A. in Cultural and Creative Industries. It sounded fascinating but I wanted something a little more specific in spite of the College's excellent reputation. I also had a gut feeling I wouldn't be happy there. It sounds a little silly but really, trust your gut. I've never been wrong to follow my instincts, only the times when I did not.

So, although I didn't have as much info about Brookes as I would have wanted, I felt that the scales were well tipped in its favor. I still agonized over whether I had made the right decision for a while. I think I did. I hope I did. We'll see in September, I'll tell you all about it.

There, I hope that made some sense. I'm sorry I don't have anything more specific at the moment. When I was doing my research I didn't think of saving the links. I hadn't planned on starting a blog. In fact, it's only when I started thinking back on all my anguish that I realized I could at least provide some relief by being a guinea pig for other (is it a bad omen that many South Americans eat guinea pigs?). It might not help too much if you needed this info for this year (sorry!) but it might help those who are planning to join the ranks next year. I'll see if I can retrace my cyber steps and come up with some interesting links to post at some point.

Edumacation is goode fer yuu

Note: On the subject of how often I plan on posting, I'm thinking three times a week (Monday, Wednesday and Friday) until September when all the fun and interesting stuff should start. I'll post daily then unless I don't.

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I figured I'd talk about the different choices I could have made and how I came to decide to go to Oxford Brookes. It's not the most fascinating subject ever (who am I kidding? I'm awesome!) but you can see how my life is ruled by my gut.

I hadn't originally planned to do a Master's degree right after finishing my Bachelor's (in English Studies if you must know). I wanted to take a couple of years off school to get some real world work experience. I also was tired to tears of essays, pocket-busting textbooks and having to get dressed and go out when I really don't feel like it.
I wanted to move to the UK so at least that much of my plan remains. And then I made the mistake of coming to visit my parents in Peru. The moment you're with your folks again in a very affordable country, all your plans will be invariably screwed up. Peru's just so damned comfortable!

Mom, after four months of me not living at home (I live in the halls of residence for my last term) didn't want to let me go and she's the one with the money. The only way I was going to get out of here was by applying to an university, that way she'd feel secure enough (she's the one who needs security?) to let me go all alone into the big bad world.

I figured I wanted to work in publishing anyway so I might as well do an M.A. in that. Plus, internships! I'd applied before for some but didn't get a response. Most likely due to me being in the wrong country and not asking for school credit. I can deal with that. Only fair that those who need credits get the jobs. And to be perfectly honest, I really do like school (all together now: GEEEEEEK!).

I read up on it online A LOT! I was obsessed and the things I read were NOT encouraging. I don't know if they were honest opinions or that whole "oh, education, I don't believe in it" crap I seem to run into regularly. Also, none of the people talking about said university degrees had one. I wanted an opinion from someone who knew what they were talking about. The best I found was from someone working in publishing who basically said "it can't hurt".

Bah! Unhelpful.

I'm a firm believer in education. When someone tells me "A diploma? Yeah, that and a dollar will get you a cup of coffee" (which it won't, I only drink expensive luxury lattes), I have a hard time stopping my inner ninja from doing some serious kung-fu damage.
In my experience, it's usually losers without a job OR a diploma who say that or those who wanted one but couldn't get it and were fortunate or persistent enough to make it okay in life but are still bitter that they didn't get their diploma. Diploma-envy, wish Freud had written about that.

But the truth is, most employers do care at least a little that you've studied something. The official take is you don't really need one to get into publishing but unofficially they will tell you "we still notice". All employers do whether in publishing or anything else. Granted, you don't need a single, specific degree to work in publishing, just the ability to read and figure out what needs a little more kung-pow. I can already do that but since I already know what I want to do with my life, getting a degree specifically on publishing is not a "I need a job, train me" decision but a "I'm gonna do this anyway, I might as well know all I can about it beforehand" thing.

Mandatory Intro Post

Oh hai! I want to be an editor.

I'm a wannabe fiction writer (by which I mean I have never been published and have a hard time applying BIC-HOK). I write mainly YA fantasy lately. I also write short-stories for adults (not that kind of adult stuff - SFF and Horror mainly - mind out of the gutter!).

My writing is very important to me though and I am determined to be published some day. In the mean time, I need a job that will keep me clothed and fed. In fact, writing kind of takes second place to survival although some of my writer friends may disagree.

Why, why, why would I want to go to the Dark Side? My fellow writers might ask.

A: I can't imagine doing anything else (not quite true, if they offered me a job on the International Space Station, I'd drop everything and go). I'm sure you other authors out there as well as those of you who come here because you are contemplating going to university to do the same thing understand implicitly why I am attracted to the business. I'm not romantic about it. Being paid breadcrumbs is...well...hard on my Atkins. I've always been crazy about books, I can't walk past a bookstore without stopping in even for just a quick look. What better job than one that allows you to make books? I know, I know... as an editor you don't really have time to read for pleasure... but it's better than nothing and certainly better than most other jobs I'm qualified to do.

There are loads of blogs by writers, editors and agents out there with a huge amount of very good advice. This blog though is mainly about the things I learn that the pros already in the business don't even think about anymore. It is about my ascent into the Mountains of Madness* and subsequent Descent into Evil. It is also for those who like me, had a hard time making their final decision because there isn't as much info about studying publishing as there is for say Medicine. Is it worth it? Will it land you the job you want? Will it make you sexy and help you score with the men (or women)?

I'll find out for you.

* That's from Lovecraft, btw.