FROM 'THERE' TO 'HERE'

WHERE IS 'HERE'...

Every writer’s journey is the same but different…

Though, truly, regardless of any choice in the ‘Arts’ such as: acting, music, writing, painting-sculpting...I’ve noticed two [main] distinct paths. Someone with a particular gift either shoots to prominence swiftly or languishes for a decade or more. And, during those years of languishing the hopeful either keep starvation at bay working on the fringes of their dream-goal or work where it will be easy for them to leave should their talent finally gain attention. Those ‘fringes’ might be as support staff backstage or on a movie-TV set—or assistant for a singer or a band—or freelance magazine-newspaper features—or working at an art gallery…

Then too—there is a third less defined path on which talented people find an outlet for their ability but remain obscure. An actor works regularly and steadily but is typically only known to casting and directors. A musician plays for weddings or in hotel lounges, a singer in a choir or is backup. A writer is hired by a local newspaper. A painter or sculpture sells their work at local craft fairs….

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 such and such…then named the magazine or newspaper publishing my features or columns.

Beginning in early 2006, I boldly told people, “I’m working on a fiction novel.” After which a few brave people asked about the genre, but the vast majority only nodded then the conversation topic changed.

***life Lesson: do not be surprised if most members of your family or even old friends don’t encourage you, cheer you on or support you. Most people don’t know what to do with writers...

But this post is for you, the reader who also wants to write.

On my 12^th birthday with the gift of a diary I thought of writing a book. That’s what I assumed all writers did – they wrote a book. I now know there’s a host of other writing avenues for people to select.

Besides journalism there’s advertising, publicity, public relations, communications, poetry, song lyrics, short stories/anthologies, grant writing… So, where to start?

***Life Lesson: if a novel is your ultimate goal, never give up on that. 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 that became a fulltime job. The fulltime opportunity motivated me to return to school at the University of Alberta in Edmonton. A professor offered me a research position [gathering data on coal reserves] while I completed a degree in geology and took computer programming classes. Through happenstance, eventually geology merged with more computing [look where computers are now] and then merged further to technical writing.

None, of the early career ‘doors’ that opened for me was ever part of a plan. However, my varied interests and curiosity allowed me to be receptive, look for and recognize a possible steppingstone. Then - many of my assorted work experiences [with travel and address moves] became knowledge I could affix to several 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, see, 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’. [E.g. 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 in 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.

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 career 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 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. None the less I used every experience with each new writing alternative as a learning tool along with the value of never missing a deadline.

So - you can follow my rather convoluted 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, or a novel – because writing does not require any ‘heavy-lifting’ – only unlimited creativity…