In 2006, I graduated from the University of Edinburgh with a degree in Psychology and Sociology, and no idea what to do with it. Since then, I’ve been a wedding planner, a fine wines merchant, a facilitator, and a foster carer (and for several particularly exhausting months, all four at the once). I’ve always regarded the publishing industry with that particular wow-wouldn’t-it-be-amazing-to-do-that kind of awe many feel about MI5 or Hollywood, and it never occurred to me that real people get to work in this industry EVERY DAY. Last year, I took the plunge and walked away from my safe (read: unchallenging) and secure (read: dead-end) job in the events industry to take up an unpaid internship at a literary agency, and, figuring I didn’t have enough student debt to my name, applied for the MLitt earlier this year.

So far, the course has proved to be every bit as exciting, exhaustive and exhausting as I could have hoped for. Here’s to nine months of hell and high grammar, and a healthy, happy, baby career to make it worthwhile at the end of it all…