Chinwag... 1 Year Later

To be quite honest, the origins of 'Chinwag' were formed before a night out (tipsy?... yes). We were chatting about how a career in media, communications and journalism demands a portfolio (standard pre-drinks conversation, right...), and how we both wanted to begin a blog of some sort but didn't know where to start. It was an intimidating idea, and we were scared to do it alone.

Next thing you know, we've decided to combine forces and pinkie-promised each other that "we will actually follow through with this!" Yes, that bottle of prosecco definitely deserves some credit.

A week later we sat down over a café breakfast and brainstormed the bones – why we wanted to do this, what we wanted to achieve, how we could fit it in around our busy schedules and, of course, what it should be called.

Designing the website, making social media accounts and preparing our first couple stories took a couple months. We knew we would never reach perfection, but when we were really happy with our work we put it out into the world. To be precise, we launched on Friday the 13th of September 2019 – one year ago.

And a year later, here we are. Chinwag is still changing and developing; we're still finding our feet. It's not perfect and that's okay. We're constantly learning new skills, which is exactly why Chinwag was born in the first place.

SOPHIE SAYS

I am proud of the hard work Ben and I have put into Chinwag in the past year. Most people don't realise how time consuming the process is – communicating amongst our busy schedules is tricky enough, then we set up interviews, write stories and manage our Instagram account. It can be a lot, and sometimes it falls down the list of priorities.

Over the past year I've become a better communicator, both in person and on paper. I've learnt how to work as a team, how to compromise and how to interview complete strangers. Something I'll never quite learn is how Ben creates such incredible digital art – yes... he drew our logo and article cover images!

I'm both excited and nervous for what the future holds. As we both learn more through university and life I know we'll only get better at this, but it can be a lot of juggle sometimes. We've learnt it's okay to have a breather and to pick up where we left off – life happens. I love taking a trip down memory lane by scrolling through our website. We've focused on writing a vast variety of stories that let us practise different writing styles, which means we've got a little something for everyone. Be my guest... take a trip down memory lane yourself.

BEN SAYS

Starting Chinwag seemed like a really simple decision but getting through all the brainstorming and developing was a challenge and keeping it up is still a challenge.

I think the biggest thing that Soph and I have learned together is teamwork. I know, it’s a high school team building exercise all over again but it is true. Finding out how we work the best together by finding what the other needs to work at their best has helped us enormously.

I have loved making Chinwag, it has taught me a lot and I keep learning from all the mistakes I perpetually make. The thing I have liked best though is having an outlet to put all the stuff I learn at uni into. With Chinwag I can apply some of the stuff I learnt in those long lectures and it made going to those lectures more worth it for me.

That being said, it was really hard for me to try and fit in Chinwag around my uni schedule. It was really hard for me to try and keep doing something that wasn't really expected of me or compulsory like work or uni. It was super easy to just keep putting Chinwag stuff backburner a few too many times. But I hope in this next year of Chinwag, I'll be able to curb that habit.

I have loved having Soph with me along the way, working together on this project has made everything less daunting and it helps that she is a whiz at keeping us organised. I'm proud of us for staying together as a team and proud of this blog that we have created. It has a long way to go but I don’t doubt that we have exciting times ahead - especially once COVID ends.

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What a year. Thank you for reading our good writing and our not-so-good writing. Thank you for supporting the consequences of our tipsy ambition. Thank you for chinwagging with us.

Ben and Sophie