Elizabeth Cartwright, who graduated in 2018 with a first-class honours degree in Media Communication Cultures, has published her first novel. She shares with us her experience of studying at Leeds Beckett, and how this helped her in her publishing success.

• Course: BA (Hons) Media Communication Cultures

Tell us a bit about yourself and what you've been doing since you graduated

After graduating, I went back home to Thailand where I worked in marketing and development for a year, optimising the social media profiles and presence of the company. While I was working there, I was also beta reading for other to-be authors. It was my enjoyment of working with authors that led me to start my own business, EC Editorial, in mid-2019. I’ve been working as a full-time novel editor since then and have a client base that stretches across several continents.

What have been the highlights and challenges of your career so far?

The process of writing my book, Seeking Shadows took me 10 years, mostly because I hit a wall of writer's block for several of those years. But in 2018, inspiration struck (with the help of a few of my own beta readers), and I pushed on to complete it in early 2020, at which point I sent it to my editor who helped me polish the story ready for its publication in February 2021.

How has your experience studying at Leeds Beckett influenced you and your career?

Studying BA (Hons) Media Communication Cultures at Leeds Beckett has helped me in many aspects of my changing career. Of course, most traditionally, my course prepared me for my time in a marketing role, but it then also helped me to market myself once I'd started my own business. I already had a good grasp on how to get people’s attention and how to create well-crafted content, which made attracting clients relatively easy. The large amounts of writing and evaluating on the course developed my writing skills, and the heavy analysis of television and film also taught me a lot about how to write good stories—after all, all scripts start off as words on paper.

What did you enjoy about your course and what advice would you give someone thinking about studying this course?

I loved my course and all the lecturers, as a person who always enjoyed the theoretical side of media and culture, I really appreciated the amount of reading and writing the course asked for. I enjoyed every module—even Sports Media (I am definitely not a sportsperson)—and still hold the lessons learned in Race and Culture with me! So my advice would be to go in open minded and take every opportunity you can.