The Girl from the Workhouse - Lynn Johnson explains how her grandmother (and Stromness Writing Group) set her on the road to being an author

 


First of all, thank you Babs for inviting me on to your blog to speak about writing.

I never set out to be a writer. In my youth – a long time ago now, I wrote stories of The Faraway Tree that Enid Blyton didn’t know about, and even illustrated them. I thought it was brilliant! At work I progressed to writing policy documents and stodgy reports for council meetings and was so busy, writing for pleasure was never in my mind. When I took early retirement and made the move to Orkney, one of the first things I did was go to Stromness Library and ask if there was a writing group somewhere in Orkney. That was in 2005. Joining Stromness Writing Group provided the key to unlocking my creativity. I started writing short pieces, stories mainly. I was never any good at poetry.

It was during the first year with the Group that I wrote a short story, based loosely on my Grandma, that became the basis for The Girl from the Workhouse published earlier this year, as part of a two-book deal, by Hera Books. During the intervening years, I worked on turning the short story into a novel – I knew I had enough material but did I have the commitment and the confidence to go ahead with it? I went on courses to develop my writing skills and I wrote and re-wrote, added thousands of words and deleted even more! Then, in 2019 I made the decision to try for publication. And it worked! Thanks to the Romantic Novelists’ Association and their New Writers Scheme I became a published author and was a contender for the Joan Hessayon Award, a trophy which is open to NWS graduates on the publication of their first book.

I am currently going through the editing process for my second book which is due for publication on 3 March 2021. This novel takes up the story of Connie, who we first met in The Girl from the Workhouse. And she has an awful lot to say!

I had heard how difficult working on a second book would be. Working to a deadline to finish the second book while editing, marketing and promoting the first. It was an exhausting experience. But I knew it would be worth it. I cannot describe how I felt when I opened the box of books and took hold of my first physical copy of 'the book what I wrote', to coin a phrase from Ernie Wise. It was fantastic. I still pick up my copy and flick through it – because I can. And it makes all the difference.

The Girl from the Workhouse is now available in ebook, audio and paperback.

Amazon - amnz.to/2NQ7ZQ3 and Kobo bit.ly/38EMIAT


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Literary Skulduggery from Shetland, courtesy of poet Chris Tait

Image
  I am excited and delighted that poet Chris Tait has agreed to contribute to the Quill. Chris is not only an outstanding poet, but is also a playwright, fantasy writer and spoken word supremo. She currently lives in Glasgow, but her writing still very much flows from her Shetland roots. The poems are from her anthology Literary Skulduggery.  https://amzn.eu/d/11yOlvM The Stone Solitaire Islands A skull in a blistered helmet Called from the Nordic crews His bones marched streets in amulets And sailed seas like a bruise His ruined croft was Camelot A golden egg by a goose Rings on cushions from rats Bonds for the guizer jarl's house The ruffled manes of hamlets In a rock measured radius Crofters jousted for their plots Tassels are handcuffs and a noose Beelzebub and his Minions Patrick's criminal fingerprints He clumsily slipped the sovereign At the castle with razor points The carriage burst to a pumpkin The little match girl was a servant Learning spells with cauldrons Banquet
Read more

Irish Folklore by Nina Oram

Image
  I am delighted to welcome Irish based writer Nina Oram to the Quoyloo Quill. Nina's books are bulging treasure chests of Celtic folklore, some of which are not too far removed from Orcadian folk legends. When Babs offered me the chance to talk about my writing and Irish mythology and folklore, I was thrilled and honoured. I thought it would be so easy, after all, my trilogy and many of my stories are immersed in Ireland’s rich tradition, and yet the more I tried to put my thoughts down, the more elusive they became. It was like unpicking a knot. My YA Dark Fantasy Trilogy started with a trip to the Carrowkeel Tombs, five neolithic tombs perched on top of a hill in County Sligo in the province of Connacht. Being able to sit inside stone walls that had been built millennia ago, listening to the wind shriek past, was for me, sublime. Evoking, as it always does, that strangely wonderous feeling of having connected with something magical. But old magic. The magic of the crow,
Read more

Saving Private Diaries by Orkney Scriever Alison Miller

Image
Thanks to Orkney Scriever, Alison Miller, for her reflections in this blog piece. Would I like my personal diaries and letters to be read by other people when I’m dead and gone? Would I like them mined for works of fiction? It’s not an easy question to answer. Sure, while I’m still on the planet, the thought of somebody raking through private letters and journals feels somewhat uncomfortable. What did I say? What did I reveal about myself that I would rather keep hidden? Did I malign people? Was any of it actionable? I could ensure this scenario never happens by getting rid of diaries and letters while I still have time. On the other hand, when I’m dead, I don’t imagine I’ll give a stuff.   I recall a writer friend telling me she’d destroyed all her journals, written over decades of her life because she didn’t want her daughters-in-law to read them when she’s gone. The pang I felt when she said this was visceral. How could she consign years of details of her life, years of thoughts, ye
Read more