Late last summer, Jane Brunning put out a a call for volunteer guest editors for the Lancashire Writing Hub. I had no idea what the job would involve, but I’d been webmaster for a charity webpage for over ten years, and I’d just set up my own WordPress blog, so I thought about it for about five minutes before replying that I would be interested. At my age, a month comes and goes in a flash, so I volunteered to do a three month stint; and as the end of the year is a fairly quiet time for me, I offered to do the first three months of the job.
Over three months later, with two days of my guest editorship to go, it’s time to look back on the experience and tell you all that it’s been fun. More than fun, it’s been an interesting and enjoyable project.
I am new to the literary world, my background is science, manufacturing, marketing, education and charity work, but for the last eight years or so, my hobby has been writing fiction. A tidal wave of about a million words swept me towards the Lancashire Writing Hub eighteen months ago, and I found a hitherto unknown world of live poetry and literature readings at Word Soup. The chance to edit the Hub was a chance to get involved, meet people, and introduce myself to this new world.
The three main aspects to the Guest Editor job seemed to be keeping the place tidy, finding and writing news stories, reviews and interviews, and writing my own articles. Luckily, all three aspects appealed to me. I’m a bit obsessive when it comes to keeping websites tidy and up to date, and I loved reading and scheduling the ‘New Writing’ submissions, making sure that there was always something new for the Hub’s readers. As for the ‘news’ aspect, at first, most of my news articles came from press releases, but I started to actively look for stories, once I’d got the idea of the kind of things the Hub should be covering. This opened up a whole new world for me, I had no idea that there were so many poetry nights, literary festivals and book signings going on in Lancashire and the North West.
Interviews and reviews started to come in from Hub volunteers, and I can happily report that they did not need to be edited, the quality of submissions was very high and the Hub’s writers are a lively and committed group of people (I did, of course, read all interviews and reviews carefully before publishing them.).
The third aspect, writing my own articles, should have been the easiest to do, but I tend to leave the fun things until last, as you can see from the publication dates of my own pieces. Having read so many wonderful reviews of books and live literature, and several fascinating interviews with published writers, I regret that I didn’t give myself the time or opportunity to organise an interview, but although my Guest Editorship is done, I hope to remain a contributor to the Lancashire Writing Hub and Word Soup for a long time to come.
Last thoughts? I have thoroughly enjoyed doing this job, and have learned a lot about the local writing scene whilst doing it. I’ve enjoyed the research, the chance to work regularly on a very active WordPress site with a lot of features, and the discipline of working to deadlines. I’ve also learned a few things about running a news website, which will be useful in my charity work and in publicising my own fiction. Many, many thanks to Jane Brunning for trusting me with the website and giving me advice and guidance. Good luck and best wishes to my successor, Claire Sharples. And finally, may 2012 bring happiness, good health and success to you all.
And you’ve got the Guest Editor placements off to a cracking start too, Jeanette! Completely professional and focused throughout – a fabulous job, so thank YOU!
You’re going to be a hard act to follow! I’m pleased you enjoyed it and I’m looking forward to my stint over the next month. I may be in touch with questions! He he, C x