Daniel Harris
Posted:
11/10/2010
Was in:
Herbert Smith , Trainee solicitor, London
Now in:
| Creative Writing |
| Journalism (general) |
Went about it:
I am now an author, freelance journalist and copywriter. I never wanted to be a lawyer - rather it was the product of university debt, not knowing exactly what I wanted to write, and the fact that law school furnished me with two more years to work it out and a lot of spare time. Once I'd done that, there was no choice to make - I'd always loved playing with words, so that was it really.
As far as advice goes, perhaps the most important is to show some of your work to people you trust to first of all let you know whether it's any good, and secondly to tell you if they think it isn't (and in that vein, please feel free to contact me for this - details below).
Anyway, I left law ostensibly to finish a novel, and then happened upon some newspaper work writing legal obituaries; dead lawyers, what could possibly be better? After that, I started pitching ideas for pieces to other broadsheets, at the same time as widening my expertise to encompass other victims of death, and also got some work copywriting, which meant I was making just about enough money to continue existing.
Whilst still a lawyer, I'd started writing for Redissue, a Man Utd fanzine, and as a consequence, ended up blogging for ESPN Soccernet once a week, and those I wrote during the last football season have since been turned into a book, "On the Road: A Journey Through a Season". I've also finished the novel, which will hopefully be out fairly soon.