Experiences of a newbie at JMP

I'm Natasha, and up until two days ago I was the newest addition to the ranks of Jeremy Mills Publishing. Now Vicky has arrived, so I'm the almost-new girl. I have been badgered by Hazel to write something on the blog so readers can see what a lovely place this is to work, so here I am, blagging away on the blog!

I don't need to think too hard to find something positive to say though, because the past three weeks have been about as good as the start to a new job can be. I was pretty shell-shocked after the first day because Hazel and Alex were good enough to spend the whole of it teaching me about the intricacies of the computer system, book-orders, delivery notes, invoices, TNT collections, the phones and the daily postal run, before Hazel said brightly, 'You do realise that's about ten per cent of the job - the rest is made up of the real stuff, like editing!' I'd forgotten about that bit... I've also managed to make all the computers go wrong in one way or another just by standing next to them, and I think I must be one of very few people, if any, who have succeeded in causing a calculator to freeze. Aside from all that, I'm really enjoying the work! Everyone is lovely and friendly, and I've been made to feel very welcome.

One of the main projects that I am working on is an extremely interesting book by Victor Watson, the former chairman of Waddingtons, which was the company which brought Monopoly to the UK. The book charts the rise of the company under the leadership of his grandfather, and contains many intriguing revelations about the corporate manoevring which took place during the Maxwell bids of the 1980s. We hope to publish this work in October.