100 Not Out

Something happened today. My 100th piece on The News Dump was published. It's here if you are interested.


My The News Dump journey started one Saturday afternoon back in April, when, just nine days after I finally decided I would pursue my desire to be a writer full time, I joined The British Comedy Guide (BCG) as a "pro" member. My motivation was to seek opportunities in the comedy writing world, whilst I was getting my script ready for a BBC submission window and the opportunities section of BCG provides just that for its members.  So at 1:30pm on that Saturday I paid for my annual membership; by 2pm I saw that "The News Dump" were looking for writers and by 2:45pm I sent them an e-mail with an example of what I could do (I doubled checked those times with the e-mail trail……I used to be a Quality Assurance Professional you know).


Monday morning there was an e-mail from The News Dump's creator and founder Adam Hunt, inviting me to chat a week later. I looked him up. He has quite an impressive CV. To cut a very long story short. One week later I was in and on the roster.


My first piece went live on the 16th April, it was a piece on the Notre Dame fire with a "Love It or List It"  angle  and since then I've covered….. well go look for yourselves. We live in 'fascinating' times and I thank my lucky stars every time Johnson, Corbyn, Farage, Trump, Rees-Mogg and the host of other Inadequates in power (elected and inherited) open their mouths. Researching the background to these people is fascinating. I encourage you all to do that for yourselves. As a consequence, my association with The News Dump has made me far more politically aware and informed, probably more than I have ever been.


Apart from giving myself an outlet for my "Comedy Muscles" as I call them, The News Dump has given me much more. I've met and come into contact with some fabulous writers, all doing what I'm doing, most are far more advanced in their careers than I am and I've learned a lot just by watching them. Writing can be a lonely business, but it's never felt that way for me because of the daily virtual contact and the amazing support of my peers. The News Dump has also given me the opportunity (and confidence) to spread my wings, in other areas. Firstly, through its sister venture "White Label Comedy"  (I wrote more about that here when WLC very kindly profiled me back in September), but also indirectly by learning from the other contributors about different outlets (e.g. BBC Scotland's 'Breaking The News', Pitch, Comedy Wire, Write Label and Maida Vale's excellent live show NewsRevue).


So thank you The News Dump. I'm one hundred not out and just getting going and if anyone else reading this is thinking about going "Pro" on their British Comedy Guide account, all I can say is that after seven months as a member, it has actually paid for itself many (I'm not saying how many), times over.