Journalist and writer Lorna V teaches journalism and writing workshops. We asked her to reveal her tips and give us some advice to kick-start the writing year.
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How do you keep yourself motivated when it comes to writing?
I've just read The Making of a Britflick which might as well be called 'why on earth does any writer keep going and writing, let alone how?'
I honestly don't know what keeps me motivated. But I do know that it's what I've always felt compelled to do, and all my friends who are writers feel the same.
I went into journalism because I couldn't think of any other way of earning money that I'd be good at and enjoy, so the motivation was to find a way to write that paid. And then at each stage I wanted to achieve more. Eventually that more turned into wanting to tell my own stories, and it took a while to work out in what form.
What keeps you on track?
Every writer I know (who isn't yet a household name) goes through low periods. It's not the writing, but the rejection, or worse the almost-success (which is what the Britflick book by screenwriter Robin Squire is all about). Yet it seems that this sense of ‘almost’ is what keeps us all on track (as does talking to each other about all aspects of writing from what we enjoy reading to what it's really like spending endless hours
writing and rewriting).
When I had a play shortlisted for the Verity Bargate I was euphoric. A wonderful appraisal of my novel from an American agent felt like a message from the Gods. Seeing an extract from my novel in a literary journal recently has made me feel the possibility of publication is closer.
Quitting the track just isn’t an option.
Do you think this could work for everyone?
The distilled formula for me seems to be:
Compulsion to write + job that involves writing + goals + a writers' network + positive appraisal = motivation + staying on track
Being a journalist isn't essential, unless this is a form of writing that's of interest. Certainly a job that involves some sort of writing gives people confidence. I've noticed that people coming to writing workshops with a background in advertising, research, web copy writing , any form of editing, are psychologically more equipped. So are people with jobs connected to the form of writing they want to follow: photographers and graphic designers, film and publishing PAs, bookshop or DVD sales assistants. Bloggers are very inspiring too -- regardless of the day job, they write about whatever their passion is.