In the end, Christmas was great fun. Three works parties within five days testified to the spirit within those I've known over the past 17 years at Fort Dunlop while a three-day family Christmas hit just the right note on which to set off on my new career direction.
I leave BPM Media (Midlands) on Thursday and will wake up on January 1 to a new year and a new life. What am I doing? At the moment, I have a 96-page quarterly magazine to edit (first marketing meeting next week), some subbing shifts at another news factory in the Midlands (just to keep my hand in) and the possibility of some marketing work, which will be a fascinating new direction, if nothing else.
And that's it. I have to see the bank next week, I already have an appointment with an accountant (I never thought I'd need one of those) and I have a name for my new business, Martin Warrillow Publishing Services. All I need now is some more work.
I am telling everyone I know that I am setting up as a freelance writer/sub-editor and I can see January being a whirl of networking.
I know it will be hard work, but after 23 years working for big media, I am convinced about the new direction I am taking. Scared? You bet. Enthusiastic? You bet. And I haven't said that about my working life for far too long.
Tuesday 29 December 2009
Monday 21 December 2009
The office - the final countdown
Tonight sees my final Birmingham Post & Mail (I still can't get used to BPM Media (Midlands)) office party before I step out into the brave new world. There was a time when these were wild affairs where what seemed like several hundred journalists would cram into a city centre pub, drink it dry, then the sports desk contingent would end up being locked in a dodgy hostelry somewhere on the Coventry Road until 4am.
But the general mood isn't like that any more and it would be most unwise for me to try, given the side-effects of my anti-epilepsy tablets.
So instead, it'll probably be a steady drink or four over a plate of curry before getting the last train home. I won't enjoy it any less, though, as it gives me the chance to say a first farewell to people with whom I've spent more hours than I care to remember over the last 17 years. There will, of course, be a proper leaving party of my own early in 2010 but first I want to get the festivities over and my new life under way.
Let's hope tonight's a good one, as the song almost says - and at least they sell real ale.
But the general mood isn't like that any more and it would be most unwise for me to try, given the side-effects of my anti-epilepsy tablets.
So instead, it'll probably be a steady drink or four over a plate of curry before getting the last train home. I won't enjoy it any less, though, as it gives me the chance to say a first farewell to people with whom I've spent more hours than I care to remember over the last 17 years. There will, of course, be a proper leaving party of my own early in 2010 but first I want to get the festivities over and my new life under way.
Let's hope tonight's a good one, as the song almost says - and at least they sell real ale.
Thursday 17 December 2009
If you want to walk on water, you've got to get out of the boat
After 23 years working in the warming bosom of big media businesses, I've decided to venture out on my own - and this blog is one of my big steps into the unknown.
Those 23 years, spent with the Tamworth Herald (4), the Sutton Coldfield Observer (2) and the Birmingham Post & Mail (the last 17), have given me wide experience of the newspaper world. I've been a sports writer and sub-editor, I've managed sports and news desks, I've written travel and news features and reviews.
For the last four years, I've been the joint-father of the National Union of Journalists chapel at the Post & Mail and a member of the staff forum.
Outside work, I'm a loyal supporter of Tamworth Football Club (I write a column in the matchday programme called "Behind The Away Dugout"), a former editor of the branch magazine for the Lichfield, Sutton and Tamworth branch of the Campaign for Real Ale, a keen sports fan and observer of politics.
I'm looking on my new venture as the kind of career opportunity that doesn't happen very often. It's up to me to make the most of it, but knowing that someone out there is reading these ramblings would be a start.
Those 23 years, spent with the Tamworth Herald (4), the Sutton Coldfield Observer (2) and the Birmingham Post & Mail (the last 17), have given me wide experience of the newspaper world. I've been a sports writer and sub-editor, I've managed sports and news desks, I've written travel and news features and reviews.
For the last four years, I've been the joint-father of the National Union of Journalists chapel at the Post & Mail and a member of the staff forum.
Outside work, I'm a loyal supporter of Tamworth Football Club (I write a column in the matchday programme called "Behind The Away Dugout"), a former editor of the branch magazine for the Lichfield, Sutton and Tamworth branch of the Campaign for Real Ale, a keen sports fan and observer of politics.
I'm looking on my new venture as the kind of career opportunity that doesn't happen very often. It's up to me to make the most of it, but knowing that someone out there is reading these ramblings would be a start.
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