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29. November, 2010 Comment, Routes into journalism
This article has 13 comments

It’s lovely to meet you… I'm the new Hack

by The Maverick

Well hello…

I’m Alice Vincent, a.k.a The Maverick and newbie Wannabe Hack.

More specifically, a Wannabe magazine Hack. Starting at the lowest rung of a publication I intend to gain my trade the old school way: hands on, learning from my mistakes and being in the right place at the right time.

I’ve spent the past three months being the new girl in town, in New York so being the rookie in Wannabe Hacks feels like an excellent next step – except here my Home Counties accent is unlikely to get me into as many parties. On the flipside, I won’t have to talk as much about the Royal Wedding, either.

When I was a 16 year old kitchen monkey in my village pub the chef said, ‘you should be a music journalist’. In hindsight, taking advice to commence a rocky career path from someone who stuck a picture of his Weimaraner above the stove maybe wasn’t the best idea. But here I am – I’ve been writing solidly for three years, working in publications when I wasn’t studying and received less cash than the tips I did as a teenager for it.

Still, it’s a labour of love and I can’t think of anything worse than giving up. Becoming an official Wannabe Hack couldn’t prove this more so – while we’re on a constant diet of baked beans, may be working several extra jobs on the side and sliding ever further into debt, there’s a hell of a lot of us out there; the least we can do is have a proper chat about it.

The ratio of negative to positive comments regarding the future of journalism is certainly unequal, but that shouldn’t make it scary or a reason not to get involved if you think you have something to offer. We’re the Myspace, Facebook, Twitter generation – if anyone can bring journalism properly to the internet and make it a career, it’s us. Wannabe Hacks is just the beginning of what’s going to prove that and I can’t wait to see what we’ve all got to offer.

Oh and check out how to connect with us here…

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Gemma Blackman

Hi Alice,

Great to see a girl on the site, female perspective will certainly bring a new dimension to this. Your wit is fantastic, i'm definitely going to enjoy The Maverick posts.

Music Journalism isn't easy as i'm learning to my cost in my final year at university but perseverance is key and you prove that.

Welcome,

Gemma

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The Maverick

Such kind words, Gemma! Hope I can keep up with your expectations.

Hopefully will get some more specific music-journalism posts out in the very near future!

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Sam Parker

kitchen monkey? nice line. go alice!

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The Maverick

Thanks for saying hi! Looking forward to bringing another slant to the site and hearing how you're all making it into journalism.

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RedHeadFashionista

And that banner 'five young men' needs changing now!

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The Intern

The banner will be changed when we move to the new website (which should have been today) - no point changing something we will not be using after the move.

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Peter Demain

Also it's now two capital cities! Well, sort of. What about more Latin derived words?

"Five young homo sapiens. Five divergent job-related modus operandis. Two capital cities. All wannabe hacks."

Pete

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The Maverick

You're impressively attentive, Peter. It's actually my last proper day in New York (wasn't aware Washington DC had given over its title?!) today so it'll be back to just the one capital city within hours!

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RedHeadFashionista

Welcome Alice! Nice to see a nice bit of oestrogen added to the site, and good luck with the editorial dream (that I think we share!)

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Lauren Peel

A female wannabe hack, and a music journalist too!

Nice to meet you, I'm a British journalist student aiming to go into music journalism but also taking a big interest in contemporary news, struggling onwards looking for decent paid work.....

Looking forward to your posts!

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The Maverick

Hey Lauren!

News and music, nice work! It's great to see all the lady-loving that's coming out of this. Keep the comments coming!

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Ellie Broughton

A LADY! Aces. Hi Alice.

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Trackbacks

  1. The Progress Report: The Maverick post-graduation | Wannabe Hacks says:
    December 8, 2010 at 10:28 PM

    [...] 2010 – 10:28 PM I feel a bit of a fraud writing a Progress Report when I've only been a Hack for just over a week. I can, however, distinctly remember discovering Wannabe Hacks after they started following me on [...]





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