It is always difficult to get back into something after an absence as long as I have had, but while driving to university I knew that I wanted to write about the journey back for my first column this semester.
Initially I was uncertain as to how I was going to make the content appeal to someone from England because driving on the motorway is nothing unusual for someone who does it all the time. For this reason I decided to include information about Guernsey so that the reader could make a comparison between the two places and perhaps understand why I driving in England was going to be so difficult for me. I hope that by doing this the piece became more interesting to people from England as well as readers who are from Guernsey.
I called the piece 'Island State of Mind' as a reference to the popular song 'Empire State of Mind', which is sung by two native New Yorkers, Jay Z and Alicia Keyes, about their city and how living there has impacted on their lives. I think that coming from Guernsey is something which always have an impact on my life and makes me look at things, such as driving in England, completely differently, despite being British.
I decided to include changing my Satnav from Emily to Dan because I hoped it would be humorous to the reader and, although it is completely illogical, I have witnessed people do the exact thing as I did for the same reason. I also hoped that the reader would be able to relate to the joke because there is a long running joke that women don't know how to follow/give accurate directions.
The picture I used to go with the piece is one that was taken as I left for the ferry in Guernsey which was taken to go alongside my monthly column in GBG Magazine. A family member took the photograph so I knew that I would not have to get permission to use it.
I am still waiting for feedback from features editor, Becky Davies, on this piece but I am confident that there are no libel issues or anything along those lines because the piece is about my journey and does not involve anyone else. I also checked that the facts I gave, for example the length of Guernsey and the speed limits were correct before including them so I have not made any accuracy errors.
I enjoyed writing this piece and found it a good way to get back into work and start my column again.
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