From 'There' To 'Here"
A Journalist Turned Storyteller...Part 1
PART 1…You Want To Write?
What is it that you want to write?
When I tell people I’m a writer usually the first question they ask is: “What do you write?”
Originally, I told anyone who asked, “I write for the, such and such…then named the newspaper or magazine that published my features or columns.
Beginning in early 2006, I boldly told people, “I’m working on a fiction novel.” After which some brave people actually asked about my plot. However, the vast majority only nodded then changed the subject.
***life Lesson: do not be surprised if most members of your family or even old friends don’t encourage, cheer you on or support you. Most people don’t know what to do with writers...
Awww, but this chapter is for you, the reader. Actually, this entire book is for you – the reader who also wants to write.
From the day of my 12th birthday with the gift of a diary from a friend who decades later is still a friend, I thought of writing a book. That’s what I thought all writers did – they wrote a book, but there’s a host of other writing avenues for you to select.
Besides journalism there’s advertising, publicity, public relations, communications, poetry, song lyrics, short stories/anthologies, grant writing,… So, where to start?
As you read further, you’ll see I began with my high school newspaper. From there I approached a small-town weekly newspaper, or a county/community/church monthly newsletter is another good place to start if a career in journalism interests you.
***Life Lesson: if a novel is your ultimate goal, never give up that goal. However, look for work in a related field for the experiences and possible contacts – and a regular paycheck…
After high school I stumbled into a summer job with Chevron Canada in Calgary [Alberta] that became a fulltime job. That fulltime opportunity motivated me to return to school at the University of Alberta. A professor [Dr. Gordon Williams] offered me a research position [gathering data on coal reserves] while I completed a degree in geology with computer programming classes. Through happenstance, eventually geology merged with more computing [look where computers are now] and then merged again with journalism as the Exploration Editor of Oil Week Magazine.
None, of the early career ‘doors’ that opened for me was ever part of a plan I made. However, my varied interests and curiosity allowed me to be receptive, look for and recognize a possible steppingstone. So - many of my assorted work experiences [with travel and address moves] became knowledge I could affix to many characters as well as settings in my future book plots.
At one point I considered a career in the oil and gas industry as a Land-Man and took classes in Oil & Gas Law as well as Communications & Public Relations. I never did pursue that field, but for a writer - any writer - nothing is ever wasted. Writers ‘use’ everything they know, or see, or experience and find by accident or design. And those classes for me were a perfect example. They offered an expanded perspective that later served me well.
When I wrote my columns and features space was always limited. I wrote to space as they say in journalism. If you decide on a writing career in advertising, you will ‘write-to-space’ there as well.
Become familiar with magazine and newspaper ads and what appears in print. Some ads say a great deal, some say very little, but a point can be made with only a few well-chosen words. Those well-chosen words are how catchy slogans are made – and those catchy slogans mean ‘money’. [Eg. Barry Manilow’s: “Like a good neighbor State Farm is there…”]
If you think you’d like to dive into the field of publicity or public relations the actual amount of writing varies.
Publicity is often Press Releases and/or lead-in material for announcing all manner of new products or business openings and can be an exciting field for which to write. Nothing you write is of a great length, usually short, crisp and to the point because you’ve only got so much space and ‘time’ to catch the public’s attention or keep it.
For example: as you read the title headlines above some of my columns and features in much of the book - you can get an idea as to how short phrases using well selected words can work…
Where no column headline appears pay attention to the opening sentence or paragraph because that wording is designed to attract a reader…
Public Relations [PR] is a field in which you create or save the reputation of a company, person or product. There are internal publics [partners or staff] and external publics [competitors and/or customers].
Much of advertising, publicity and PR is under the umbrella of Communications. Any course work or classes associated with that will likely point you toward - or close to job openings for those prospects.
I’ve also done some grant writing, but that was a temporary offshoot option that came along between freelance assignments. Grant Writing too is very specialized. While I learned the mechanics of an effective Grant Structure Format – I was never comfortable continuing to pursue it, for creative reasons. Fiction plot ideas kept piling up in my head like firewood for a long winter – but I used the experiences of each new writing alternative as a learning tool.
However, by 2006 I finally stopped looking at staff openings or accepting any other contract or freelance writing engagements in favor of my own goal – a fiction novel.
Now - you can follow my rather convoluted [patchwork] path of exploring my many writing avenues or, pick one area that seems to interest you the most.
And it doesn’t matter how old you happen to be when you pursue advertising or a local newspaper, or short stories – because writing does not require any ‘heavy-lifting’ – only unlimited creativity…
I also included nearly all of my columns and features – because as I read through scrapbook-years of material regardless of the dates [70s & 80s & 90s] many of those columns touched on social issues in North America [Canada & United States] still relevant! How amazing is that…
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[ About-Me (patchworkpublishing.com ]