The Beginning, kinda

I am so extremely eager to take you along as I embark on my journey through the world of beautifully constructed sentences, aesthetically pleasing photographs, unbelievable video images and sensational flowing words through the mic; all defining qualities of journalism. In reference to the title, technically it is the beginning of my writing career path, but not the first time I have pursued a branch of the media. I will explain in depth what the sole purpose of this blog is in my next post, but I figured background information is vital to understanding why I am at this point in my life. My passion for journalism began when I was only young, my father (Max Thorburn) is a well known journo in the Mildura area, and in specific fields is known internationally. I began to ask my father his story, to add in here as an insight into his success, but it was incredibly lengthy so I've decided to write that in a separate post. He began his career at the mere age of 12, and has done everything that is imaginable in the journalism world; Television, Radio, Print, Magazine, and commentated every sport you possibly can. 2016 has been a milestone year for him, being his 50th year involved in grand final football commentating, and also his 50th year doing race calling. He is a man of many talents, and I get a lot of my knowledge and passion from him. I look up to him, and he is my idol. When I was a child, I had always aspired to do some form of journalism. It began when I was probably in year 1, when we did weekly spelling tests. I discovered my love for words. I was always amazed that there is always a new word you can learn, and how some words can mean different things but be spelt the same. As the years went on, short stories were introduced to me, and it's all I wanted to do. I was accepted into an advanced writing class in year 4, and spent my lunch times writing short stories to enter in numerous competitions. Back then, I loved to be creative, but as I got older, I figured it wasn't really wasn't my forte. But then came the news. This is where I found my true passion lies, informing. My years 7-9 I slacked off a little at school, I got too caught up in the social side. But year 10 I was school vice captain, and re entered the world of words. I started by writing speeches for different functions, and extended that love of writing to my family business. The Mildura Independent Star was a free Sunday newspaper that my family ran, I began finding an interest in this when I was at a young age, but even more so when it switched to online only when I was in high school. I began writing some stories here and there, some of which were published. In year 10, I travelled to Sydney to do work experience at the Today show; 2 days learning the ins and outs of the camera crew and backstage (the 3am wake up didn't go down very well) and then 2 days in the office. This is where I found what I was destined to do. Write. I sat at a desk and went through emails to find potential stories to air. I returned home with my newfound love, and went into year 11 pursuing this. Apart from writing, I also did radio every week. The top 100 Country Countdown was my start up gig. I sat in the studio from 9am-5pm and back announced songs. I also did 5-7 express on a Wednesday night, playing Pop songs. After a few years of radio, I began to dislike it, losing my confidence. My father set me up to commentate the local basketball alongside him on a Saturday night. At first, it was the worst thing I'd ever done, but 3 seasons later and I am now the head commentator and have gained not only confidence, but a lot of basketball terminology I had no prior knowledge to. This led onto football commentating, and then being the first ever chief netball commentator for the SFNL. I then got a job at WIN Television as a receptionist, which didn't have very many journalistic opportunities, but I was able to put my foot into the door and learn how 'traffic' works and look at the advertising side of things. Over the last 8 years, I have had an abundance of experience in so many fields. I am now study Journalism at Deakin University in Melbourne, and this has cemented my career path into the field. I absolutely love every aspect about the course, and especially the assignments; last semester receiving a High Distinction for the unit. This blog has been a very long time coming, but now it is mandatory for my unit so what perfect time to post. I am really looking forwards to sharing my story, and seeing how high I can climb in this growing profession.