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


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