I love books. But then, everyone who does this course says that, so let’s get a little more detailed. I’ve been a student of literature, with an MA in English Literature and an MLitt in Shakespeare Studies, both from theUniversity of St Andrews. I’ve also been a writer, with a Diploma in Creative Writing from the Open University. Can you sense a theme yet? I don’t just love books, and writing, I love studying books and writing! From both of these experiences, two things became obvious: 1) I get mad at any use of the phrase ‘very unique’ and 2) I am good at analysing texts and helping writers to recognise their strengths and weaknesses. So, having tried my hand at being a scholar and being a writer, I came to the decision that I could be a good and useful publisher and promptly applied to this course to learn how.
I’ve been part-time at the Centre for a year now, so I’ve completed around half of the course and so far I think coming here is one of the best decisions I’ve ever made. I’ve learned fascinating things about the publishing industry, I’ve met and listened to interesting, passionate publishers and I’ve managed to get some work experience, as a reader for Sandstone Press and for the most recent issue of One Throne Magazine, a new literary magazine. I’m also now assisting in developing a house style sheet for Sandstone, which is a really interesting and exciting opportunity. Finally, I’ve been lucky enough to have an article on Scottish Publishing and Independence published in the journal Logos. It’s been a really good year, here’s to the next one!