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…