A post about how apparently unrelated day jobs can help hone your writing skills
In a recent WhatsApp discussion with some author friends, we were talking about starting writing relatively late in life. One kindly said to me, “Oh, but you’re a natural”, assuming that my capacity for storytelling had got off to a flying start without any training in 2017 when I published my first novel.
I explained to her that spending decades in a series of day jobs had honed my writing skills, giving me a head start when I began to write fiction. Composing news stories, features and articles as a journalist, and brochures, website copy and press releases in public relations provided a fine apprenticeship in writing prose. Oh, and my degree in English and Related Literature probably didn’t do me any harm either!
Being a lifelong voracious reader has also helped me learn better writing, almost by osmosis. Continue reading “The Many Roads That Lead to Effective Storytelling”
