I’m writing this the night-before-the-start of all the madness. We have just over two weeks to create our New Blood entries and some of us (ahem ahem, me) haven’t even chosen our briefs yet. 

The stress is real. 

It’s ok though, I have a PLAN! Which has been carefully thought through thanks to some key pieces of advice that I have *mentally* collated over the past few months. Here they are (I’ll let you know if they actually worked once I am on the other side): 

1. Forget about sleep

Maybe not the greatest tip I have ever received, but this one, sadly, just keeps coming up. And I’m not sure about you guys, but I do enjoy the part of my day when I get to go to sleep. I have a 12 year old and those of you with kids know that once you have one, sleep will never be the same again (for the rest of you, be warned). I was just about getting used to the fact that maybe, maybe, I had got sleep back (him being pre-teen and all that). Little did I know, having a New Blood baby (grim) means that, just like a newborn, the next few weeks were going to be spent relentlessly nurturing the little monster until it is settled and happy. I am scared. I don’t want to go back. 

2. Pick a brief that you are passionate about

I’m sorry, what? Have you MET ME?? I am passionate about bloody receipts! (I used to collect them, you know, until I realised that maybe collecting receipts was a step too far. Keyrings, stickers and badges were possibly enough). I mean there is too much to choose from. They are all so exciting! I’ll probably choose the Netfli… no wait, Penguin? The case for her? AaaaAAaaargh!!!! Fuck it, I’ll do all 18. 

3. Don’t do more than 1 entry. Or do 5. 

The advice here has been a bit confusing. And to be honest this may be advice I have made up and have just tirelessly been torturing myself about (see point 2)

4. Make you idea stand out

Ok, maybe this isn’t the most unexpected piece of advice ever, but I think it’s worth mentioning. We are competing with about 400,000 other students right? (I am prone to exaggeration, you should probably know that about me at this point) – so making sure your video stands out is pretty important… I guess research, finding that golden nugget of an insight, using visuals that no one has thought of, etc, etc. Hopefully you’ll remember mine. *wink wink*

5. At the end of the day, it doesn’t really matter

Of course it matters. But it also really doesn’t. I think this is about the bigger picture (I think?). Not everyone wins, and winning definitely does not mean everything. And that is really refreshing, right? Sometimes it’s easy to forget that the most important thing is to have fun – and that may sound like a super weird thing to say the night before the madness ensues, but nothing brings me more joy than working with my creative partner and coming up with insane ideas that make no sense and laughing our heads off together (you may want to check out our comics on instagram for more details @acreativesaga). 

So for everyone who is entering new blood, good luck! You’re going to smash this! We’re in this together! Sleep can wait! And whether you win or not, I hope you wet yourself with laughter whilst making your video, I really hope I do.

See you on the other side!