This is how I make my living. It’s called ‘journalism’. Or at least, journalism in a recession when no-one has the budget to actually send you anywhere to find the stories, so you just have to make them up, or write about being a writer, or sift through your old travel pieces and re-use a bit of old copy from the days when journalists did use to travel in order to contribute to a ‘1000 Bars to Drink in Before You Die of Sclerosis’ feature some child is compiling, in return for a tenner (gratefully received, don’t get me wrong).
I also help make films. Same thing applies; it’s pretty hard to make interesting films about events on the far side of the world without actually going there. Mainly, I put together ideas for documentary series and then file them.
So most of the time I fiddlearse about.