Is this the year you write your novel?

Writing a novel is an intensely personal, intimate experience. It's just you, your imagination and the magic of words. When you sit down to write and find yourself in the creative zone, you may experience timelessness, a feeling of flow, the sense of universal energy swirling around you - and the ability to draw strands of that energy down onto your page or screen, as required...

Sound a bit too esoteric for you? Well, keep writing, keep plodding on, and from time to time you will experience writerly flow. Promise. Don't expect it all the time, though. Mostly, writing a book is a mundane matter of forcing yourself to sit at your computer and write something. Anything. But if you do that, rewards come: the gold dust sometimes descends, making the boring, practical side of writing worthwhile.

As for that blank screen staring back at you while you try to construct an opening line: could there be any greater freedom available to anyone? There you are, poised to create a whole new world using words; a world that is a mental construct filled with sensations and scenes of peculiar significance to you.

And one of the bonus outcomes is the infinite number of ways your work will be interpreted. Each reader of your novel mirrors your creative writing process by using his or her imagination to conjure up the imagery and meaning provoked by your words, turning your book into something of unique significance to him or her. Which, I think, is creative and cool in itself.

Author Jonathan Lethem wrote in O magazine, '...one of the things that defines reading is its intimacy - which is what I love about it. Even if you have a train carriage full of people, all of them reading The Corrections, they'd each be on a different page. It's not like watching a movie; you're not having a collective experience.'

Here's to writing, to reading, and to the personal experience of words. (If you're ready to start writing right now, go to www.peacockproject.net and use the free Writer's Template.) Happy 2013.

How to write for magazines

Why not earn some extra cash by writing magazine articles? Catriona Ross, freelance journalist and author of Writing for Magazines: Absolutely Everything You Need to Know, shows you how.

A recession is an opportunity to explore creative new ways to boost your income. If you’ve always enjoyed writing, moonlighting as a freelance writer for magazines is a relatively easy, low-risk, fun option. Here’s why you should try it: firstly, you don’t need any specific training to become a writer. No competency tests, entrance exams or professional qualifications are required to get your name (or byline, as it’s called) into a magazine. If you don’t have two years’ experience in a newsroom, or a first-class degree in English, or even a school-leaving certificate, nobody minds. All you need is the ability to sniff out good story ideas, pitch them to the right publications in an appropriate way, and write professionally. And these are skills you can learn right now.

Secondly, there’s plenty of work available, as magazines are big business, even in the darkest times. Online magazine store www.themagazineboy.com lists over 1,300 US titles; www.onlinenewsagent.co.uk lists a whopping 3,000 UK titles. Some magazines rely completely on freelancers to fill their features pages, while others use freelancers for just a couple of stories per issue. In my experience, the average mainstream magazine buys up to 10 articles from freelance writers every issue. This is excellent news for you, the writer: magazines need you.

THE 6 THINGS YOU NEED TO BE A WRITER

1. A notebook and pen;
2. A computer;
3. Something to say
4. and a desire to say it;
5. An hour and a half per day to write;
6. A place to write, preferably with a door you can close.

HOW TO FIND ARTICLE IDEAS

Carry a notebook. As a freelancer writer, you need to come up with fresh story ideas – and your greatest ally is your notebook. Whenever you hear, see, smell, touch, taste, feel, or do something that makes you think, ‘Hmm, now that’s interesting,’ whip out your notebook and write it down, otherwise you’ll forget it. Trust me, you won’t remember that brilliant insight in a few hours’ time when you’re back home at your desk. Write it down immediately – that quote, book title or place name – and you’ll be able to build a whole feature article around it.

Mine your personal experiences. Especially when starting out as a freelance writer, it’s handy to draw on your stock of personal stories, as these articles don’t require much research. Which aspects of your life would you like to write about? What unusual experiences have you had? Maybe you’re renovating a farmhouse and could write a tongue-in-cheek column about the experience for an architectural magazine. Or you learnt to ride a bicycle at age 21, and want to share the agony and ecstasy of taking your first cycling holiday. Or you’ve been a poker pro since the age of nine, and can write a handful of articles on the subject, from how-to pieces to humour. Or you’d like to tell others how you finally kicked your sugar addiction, and how your new my-body-is-a-temple attitude has boosted your well-being. 

Trawl the press weekly for ideas. Cut out magazine articles and news snippets you find intriguing, plus any articles that make you think, ‘I wish I’d written that’.

Get onto the mailing lists of publicity companies. Public relations companies exist to promote the people, products, events, businesses and organisations on their books. If there’s even a slim chance that you, a writer, might be able to offer them editorial coverage, they’ll happily bombard you with informative press releases, invitations to swanky launches of new restaurants and galleries, contact details of interesting people, and hot tip-offs.

Offer to tell people’s stories. Everyone has a story, from the interesting to the gasp-worthy. When friends, family or strangers share the tale of, say, their amazingly amicable divorce, or the revelation that hit them while being robbed by two young gangsters, or their recovery from an eating disorder, or their fraught adoption of a Russian baby, or how they successfully negotiated a raise at work, gently ask (at an appropriate time, perhaps later) whether they’d like to share their story with others in the form of a feature article. Offer to interview them at a convenient time. Consider rounding out the story by adding expert comment and possibly a couple of other case studies to highlight aspects of the theme. Then pitch your article idea to a magazine. Simple.

HOW TO APPROACH MAGAZINE EDITORS

Having worked as both a features editor and freelance writer, I feel this is the most practical, preferable sequence of events:

Step 1: Email your story pitch (article idea) to the commissioning editor or features editor of the magazine. This should be a one-paragraph summary of your idea, written in a compelling way. If you have photos to accompany your story, send a couple of samples, but no more. First impressions count, especially in emails, so make sure you spell the name of the commissioning editor correctly when emailing your pitch to him or her. Phone the magazine’s switchboard and the receptionist will usually happily supply the relevant name and email address.

Step 2: Ideally, the editor accepts your pitch and commissions you – in other words, asks you to write the article outlined by you in your email.

Step 3: Email back, accepting the commission. Now is the time to bring up the question of pay rates. The editor might have included a word rate in his or her email to you. If not, simply write ‘My rate is RX per word.’ Try not to get into arguments over your payment rate, especially if you’re offered something lower than you were expecting. Negotiate diplomatically, but keep things friendly and professional if you’re hoping to build a relationship with the editor. Inexperienced writers are often offered a lower rate (from R2 a word) while experienced writers earn from R3 per word upwards. In the US, pay rates range wildly, from 14c a word up to $3 a word, with the average at $1 a word. In the UK, mainstream consumer magazines pay between £375 and £500 per 1000 words.

What if you’ve sent out story pitches but nobody’s responded? After a week or two, follow up on the article ideas you emailed. Simply resend your pitch or phone up, and say in a friendly way, ‘Hi, I’m just wondering if you’re interested in this story.’ Don’t take their silence personally. Don’t threaten, plead or whine: editors are frantically busy at all times. You may need to jog their memories, but never stalk them. If you get no response after two more tries, send your pitch to another magazine.

HOW TO WRITE A GREAT MAGAZINE FEATURE

Magazine editors want punchy, well-written, quick-to-read stories that convey relevant information to their readers with clarity and ease. Flair, individuality and a dash of humour – where appropriate, of course – are appreciated too.

First, soak up the magazine’s style. Read through recent issues to gain a solid sense of the appropriate tone and style of writing. What’s the profile of the typical reader? What’s the magazine’s voice? And what’s the right tone for a story like yours? (Within the same magazine, a humorous column will differ in tone from a serious investigative piece.)

Always write in good, proper, grammatical, standard English. Email- and chatroom-speak (writing everything in lower case, sans punctuation; using abbreviations like ‘rofl’, ‘imho’ and ‘lol’) and text messaging abbreviations such as ‘c u l8er’ and ‘2nite’ aren’t acceptable.

A magazine article needs three key components:

1. a seductive introduction that lures readers in and promises lots more where that came from;
2. a body that’s fleshy, fascinating and satisfying – and keeps them interested right to the last paragraph;
3. an ending that leaves them with something to think about.

Remember to…

·          Keep your writing clear, crisp and direct. Avoid long, convoluted sentences and words which might make you sound erudite but whose meaning you aren’t 100% sure of. Don’t preach, and don’t try to impress anyone. Calmly put your ego aside, and try to communicate the story as succinctly as possible.

·          Cut or rewrite any waffle. This includes 1) any boring sections, 2) anything that impedes the flow of the piece (don’t devote too much space to tangents or minor points; if they’re truly interesting, consider a sidebar instead), and 3) information that adds nothing to your story.

·          Get a second opinion. Ask a trusted friend or colleague (preferably a writer) to read through your work and point out any problem areas that require rewriting.  

·          Back up your statements with information from reliable sources. This might include statistics published by recognised authorities, results of reputable scientific studies, and quotes from eminent specialists in the field.

·          Credit all sources. When you present information you haven’t thought up yourself, you need to credit the source, whether it’s a book, newspaper, another magazine, a movie, a study or report, an organization, company or person.

·          Pepper your story with spicy anecdotes, interesting quotes, and relevant facts and examples.

·          Kill all clichés. Sure, we beat around the bush, can’t believe our eyes, never say never, wear rose-tinted spectacles, take leaps of faith or avoid them like the plague – but a good magazine journalist never resorts to clichés.

For more helpful advice, plus tips from magazine editors and successful freelance writers, read my book Writing for Magazines: Absolutely Everything You Need to Know. Good luck, and get writing! 

What reminds you of your heritage?

A friend and I were talking recently about the importance of heritage - and, specifically, small visual reminders around the home that bring to mind one's ancestors. After all, our unique combination of genetic material is inherited from a vast family tree stretching back to the beginnings of humankind. Each one of our ancestors who survived to reproduce and pass on DNA to us lived a life - a full life of pleasures, pain, heartbreak, loves, losses and moments of transformation. We have our ancestors to thank for our bodies, talents and temperaments, and it's good to be able to nod to an old family photograph or other tangible reminder of this amid the bustle of daily life.

My father lives overseas, and every time he visits South Africa, he brings me a reminder of some of the people who gave rise to me: perhaps a small pepper canister from somebody's kitchen a century ago, or a letter written in copperplate, or a black-and-white photograph with a name and dates written on the back. One such offering hangs in our passage in the farmhouse: a pencil drawing of a bouquet of flowers from 1887 by my paternal great-grandmother, whose nickname 'Nina' lives on in my little daughter today.

Most recently, I was thrilled to discover that my great-grandfather, the Scottish novelist and poet Neil Munro, has been digitised! Yup, his famous Highland murder mystery, The New Road, first published in 1914 by Blackwoods and included in The List's 100 Greatest Scottish Books of All Time, is now available as an ebook from Merchiston Publishing. See http://newroadmunro.wordpress.com/ for details. Thanks, Neil, for the words - and may they live on in those of us who've inherited your writer genes.

What is your soul's theme tune?

I adore music. It's why, when devising The Peacock Book Project , I couldn't help slipping in a theme song for each chapter and adding links to songs that reflect the mood of a particular scene - all of which add up to a personalised soundtrack for my novel. The Peacock Book Project may be an interactive creative writing programme, but it features sound and imagery too. Because it can. Because free technology makes it possible.

Maybe you're like me. Maybe particular songs speak to you at particular times. Over the years, I've realised there's one piece of music that could possibly called be the theme tune to my soul. What I mean by this is that its vibrations touch me on every level, every time. The energy it emits corresponds so exactly to something buried inside me that whenever I hear it, I forget the stresses, screw-ups, traumas and difficulties of life, and reconnect with the pure energy from which we're all originally made. Seriously, within two minutes of listening to the 11-minute first movement (moderato) of Rachmaninov's piano concerto No. 2 in C minor, opus 18, I am changed.

The movement begins with dark, deep, rich chords that build and swell. Unashamedly passionate, outragiously opulent, the sounds thrill and rejuvenate me. Somehow, Rachaminov's harmonies and lyrical themes inject me with the frequencies of freedom, power, infinite possibility, happiness. Recently, I've been listening to the moderato at night, lying on the floor of our sitting room, spread-eagled on the Persian carpet, while the old floorboards creak with the music's vibrations and my one-year-old daughter climbs all over me. It's as if the cells of my body are thirsty and need to drink in the sound. This is therapy of the quickest, most pleasurable kind. Not bad for 11 minutes at home alone - and all I needed to do was press 'play'.

What, I wonder, is your soul's theme tune? Feel free to share it on the the Peacock Book Project's Facebook page. And look out for the Rachmaninov in Chapter 5, appearing next month...  

More top SA businesswomen - including a bestselling author - share their strategies for success

Margie Orford

Role: Writer, author of the Clare Hart thriller series
Age: 46
Sector: Publishing
Definition of success: ‘Making a (good) living from doing something that I love. That said, success is born from ambition, education, hard work, focus and luck.’
Greatest achievement: ‘Believing in myself enough to give my dream a chance of becoming a reality. That dream was to be a full-time writer, and behind the dream was a business plan. It’s only possible to live off writing if one’s books sell into international markets; my books have been translated into 10 languages and counting.’
Best strategy: ‘Investing in myself. I earned a substantial chunk of royalties for some text books I wrote years ago – enough to keep me and my family going for six months. Instead of doing the sensible thing and buying a new car or paying off the bond, I “bought” myself enough time to write the first of my Clare Hart thrillers, Like Clockwork. It paid off.’ Margie’s latest novel is Daddy’s Girl, published by Jonathan Ball.
Advice to SA women: ‘Dream big, plan in detail. Work harder than you ever imagined possible. And once you do achieve what you set out to achieve, enjoy it. Then dream bigger, work harder, do more.’

Pam Golding
Role: Founder and chairperson of Pam Golding Property Group.
Sector: Property
Definition of success: ‘When I look back over the past 35 years, success has been enthusiastically doing what I’m passionate about – selling property, networking, and meeting interesting people.’ 
Greatest achievements: ‘Building up a large organisation from what began as a hobby.’ Today, Pam Golding Properties is the biggest independent property services company in Southern Africa, and has over 2,500 real estate professionals globally.
Best strategies: Pursuing her natural talent for matching buyer and seller; surrounding herself with people who share her ethos; following her instincts (‘for example, opening a London office in 1986, when South Africa’s international image was at its worst’); and being optimistic: ‘I began the company when South Africa was going through a recession, and people said I was crazy to go on my own, but I was determined to succeed.’
Advice to SA women: ‘Remain totally committed to your career path but retain balance in your personal and business life. Remain approachable and show empathy for others. Accept all challenges and never give up. Go for the gap, and keep scanning the horizon for new opportunities. If are focused, dedicated and ambitious, you will succeed!’

Lindiwe Sangweni-Siddo
Role: Founder, shareholder and general manager of The Soweto Hotel on

Freedom Square

Age: 44
Sector: Hospitality and tourism
Definition of success: ‘Creating a commercial opportunity that you are passionate about, that provides jobs and skills for our people, and that delivers world-class service consistently.’
Greatest achievement: To have built and opened the first four-star hotel in Soweto. It’s also the first black-owned, female-managed hotel on a national heritage site (The Walter Sisulu Square of Dedication) and acts as a training ground for local youth pursuing careers in hospitality.
Best strategies: Using local suppliers; providing an entrepreneur development platform; and focusing on local and domestic markets, ‘as these are the markets you turn to during global economic recessions, especially in the tourism industry.’
Advice to SA women: ‘Be inclusive and make sure your management team shares your vision. Have a support base outside of your business and keep in touch with like-minded women who are older and wiser than you or have experience you can learn from. Stay humble and deal with integrity. Also, you must be knowledgeable about the field you choose so that your business is taken seriously.’  

Nicci Scott
Role: Founder and managing director of Siyaduma Auto Ferriers.
Age: 37
Sector: Transport
Definition of success: ‘Very simply, reaching that which you have set out to achieve.’ 
Greatest achievement: Within three years of starting her business, Nicci supplied 80% of the car rental companies in four cities. Despite ‘some very daunting times’, she now employs 200-plus staff, ferries over 2000 commercial and passenger vehicles across South Africa monthly, and recently opened a training academy to empower women in the transport sector. Nicci won three business awards in 2010, including Top Young Woman Entrepreneur of the Year
Best strategy: Customer service. ‘Engage with a client, establish his needs, expectations and deliverables, and make sure that’s your business focus, not profit alone. You’ll set yourself apart from the competition.’ 
Advice to SA women: ‘Set your goals and take small, consistent steps to get there. Do what you enjoy, and you’ll never begrudge the time and effort required to build a business. I went through a stage of feeling very guilty for not being involved in my children’s lives like other moms are, but I don’t judge myself any more. Although children need their parents’ time and attention, they also need happy, stable, loving parents who feel fulfilled and successful within themselves.’ 

Tracy Foulkes 
Role: Founder of NoMU
Age: 40
Sector: Food
Definition of success: ‘Whenever Paul (my gorgeous husband and business partner) and I try to agree on when we think we’ll have achieved enough business-wise, we always seem to come back for more.’
Greatest achievements: Having two healthy, happy sons,
winning the SIAL Grand Prix for Excellence and Innovation in Packaging and Design for NoMU Vanilla Paste in 2006, and being awarded the Businesswoman of the Year prize (Western Cape) 2010. ‘Most importantly, Paul and I agree that finding each other and successfully running a business together are definitely achievements!’  
Best strategies: ‘Sticking to our guns in terms of quality and standards in a very price-competitive market. Our consumers are prepared to pay a slight premium as they know they’re getting the best available product.’ NoMU’s innovative range, available in over 30 countries, includes beautifully packaged rubs, grinders, sugar-free hot chocolate, fonds (liquid stock concentrate) and more, for both retail and catering. ‘Growing deliberately and quickly into exports was a crucial component. Also, my monthly recipe mailers to nearly 20,000 subscribers get me back into the kitchen.’ 
Advice to SA women: ‘Produce something you can be passionate about. Believe in yourself and your abilities – a powerful, bold woman with a clear idea of what she believes is almost impossible to say no to!’

These profiles originally appeared in Foschini Club.

Top businesswomen share their strategies for success

These South African businesswomen are following their vision and making it big. (If they could do it, so could you.)

 

Jenna Clifford

Role: Founder and designer of Jenna Clifford Designs

Age: 51

Sector: Jewellery
Definition of success: ‘To achieve your hopes and dreams while remaining true to yourself, maintaining your integrity and prioritising your family.’

Greatest achievements: Jenna set up her business in 1992, after the end of her second marriage left her in financial difficulties. By initially working 16-hour days, she’s created a glittering brand and four luxurious jewellery boutiques. Jenna initiated the Businesswomen’s Association of South Africa, and four years ago launched Dream Big with Ryk Neethling, which supports children’s charities. Through inspiring encounters with such icons as Nelson Mandela, Bill Clinton and Desmond Tutu, she’s been able to ‘share their influence and bring about change in South Africa, especially on a gender equality platform.’ That aside, ‘I consider raising my three daughters one of my greatest achievements.’

Best strategies: ‘Hard work works! Business success also requires vision and belief.’

Advice to SA women: ‘Have passion and determination. Don’t get married too young. Be your own person. Read, read, read. Find a mentor, even if you never get to meet them. Make your own money: that way you can be loved and respected for you. Invariably, what you put in to this world is what you get out.’

Nkhensani Nkosi

Role: Nkhensani Nkosi, founder and designer of Stoned Cherrie

Age: 38

Sector: Clothing

Definition of success: ‘Having the freedom to do what you love and knowing that you are fulfilling your life purpose in the process.’

Greatest achievements: Nkhensani has co-owned a TV production company, travelled the world as an actress, and hosted M-Net’s Face of Africa. But in 2000 she launched Stoned Cherrie, the Afro-chic fashion brand that has graced New York Fashion Week and won her a L’Oreal/Fairlady Catherine Award for Lifetime Achievement. To Nkhensani, achievement means ‘building a beautiful family and home with my husband, and giving birth to my kids and my business.’

Best strategy: Adaptability: ‘having the ability to adapt oneself and business to changing circumstances. With all the economic changes over the last decade, I’ve learnt that the best strategies are those that allow for change.’ For example, Stoned Cherrie can be found on selected Woolworths rails, and her specially designed clutch bags have featured in a Clinique makeup promotion.

Advice to SA women: ‘Be open to every experience as it’s there to teach you a lesson. See each challenge as an opportunity to do things differently, learn something, or gain a new appreciation or perspective.’

Ipeleng Mkhari
Role: Co-founder and chief operations officer of Motseng Investment Holdings group.
Age: 36
Sectors: Investment, property, industrial.
Definition of success: ‘For me, it’s about the ability to live a life that I’m content with.’
Greatest achievement: ‘Having built a very strong, proudly South African company, literally from nothing. The business is growing beautifully and employs over 200 people. It’s very humbling to be able to have an impact on people’s lives. I get up with a sense of purpose every day.’
Best strategies: Diversification: this ensures survival when one market – property, for example – crashes. Ipeleng started a CCTV company in 1998, then teamed up with two business partners to create Motseng Investment Holdings. Originally a small start-up providing ‘soft services’ such as security and cleaning, Motseng has become a major name in property development, property management, facilities management and industrial investments, launching a new business every two to three years.
Advice to SA women: ‘As a woman, don’t play the victim; play the victor. Like any man struggling to start a business, you’ll have to work extremely hard, make sacrifices, plan, and be patient. To be a great mom, wife and businessperson, you might have to work 10% harder, but such is life!’

Ashantha Armogam

Role: Shareholder and managing director of Grid Worldwide Branding and Design
Age: 39
Sector: Media
Definition of success: ‘For me, it’s about staying true to your values, setting goals, thinking deeply about the implications of your actions, and looking at the legacy you leave.’
Greatest achievements: ‘Being authentic and open to new ideas. A lot of our work is based on disrupting categories and raising the bar by creating powerful brands, cultural hotspots, and improving the visual aesthetic through carefully considered design.’ Grid has twice been named Financial Mail AdFocus Branding & Design Agency of the Year, and has bagged three Loerie Grand Prix medals in five years (most recently for Comair’s SLOW airport lounges), while Ashantha was named top businesswoman in the 2011 Metropolitan Oliver Empowerment Awards.
Best strategy: Persistence! ‘You have to “give it horns”, even when the odds are stacked against you.’ When Ashantha joined design specialist Nathan Reddy as partner and MD in 2005, she aimed to establish a footprint for Grid, then a subsidiary of TBWA, locally and overseas. Ashantha and Nathan bought out TBWA’s 51% shareholding and launched the new Grid, which handles South African Tourism, Exclusive Books, Converse, Virgin Mobile and other major brands.
Advice to SA women: ‘Women have the opportunity to bring humanity, emotional intelligence, diplomacy, strength and unconventional thinking to the boardroom table.’ If you fail, ‘accept that you are human and don’t beat yourself up.’

These profiles originally appeared in Foschini Club.

Author Marina Lewycka on sudden fame, the seriousness of comedy, and her new novel, Various Pets Alive and Dead

This interview with the best-selling author of A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian originally appeared in the Sunday Times Lifestyle section, 24 June 2012.

When she appears on my Skype screen, Marina Lewycka is lying in bed. ‘Excuse my hair; I’ve just been for a swim,’ she says with a sheepish look.

Lewycka (pronounced ‘Lewiska’) not only conducts interviews from her bed at home in Sheffield whenever possible, but writes her novels there too, on a laptop. ‘It’s comfy and cosy in bed, and you can shut yourself off. It’s much nicer to sit back and have cups of tea at your side and a hot water bottle under your knees than to sit at a desk. I could spend six hours a day in bed, but it does get a bit hard on the body,’ confesses the writer, now in her mid-sixties.

Dismantling the webcam, she takes my eyes on a quick tour of her bedroom, past an antique mirrored cupboard and a shelf stuffed with books to the window, where I peer down a few storeys of red-brick house to her spring garden, momentarily lit by a pale English sun.

The tale of Marina Lewycka’s late-in-life literary fame has become legend. ‘Until my mid-fifties, I was really a housewife who stayed at home,’ she says with self-deprecation. ‘But I’d always wanted to be a writer. I’d tried writing Mills and Boons, and had a go at thrillers. In fact, I’d written two complete novels, in longhand, and got very dispirited.’ A part-time lecturer at her local polytechnic, she was approaching retirement and was invited to take any course offered by the institution gratis. She chose a creative writing course, ‘and that,’ she says, ‘led to my breakthrough.’

Among the external examiners was literary agent Bill Hamilton of A.M. Heath in London, who, after reading her manuscript, signed her up. A Short History of Tractors in Ukranian was published in 2005 and sold over a million copies in the UK alone. The hit comedy about two sisters whose widowed father, a former engineer writing a history of tractors in Ukranian, marries a much younger Ukrainian immigrant, was followed by Two Caravans in 2007, We Are All Made of Glue in 2009, and Various Pets Alive and Dead last month.

Success flipped Lewycka’s life around. She describes not only the fulfilment in attaining her dream – of ‘having always really known I was supposed to be a writer, having worked for it terribly hard for so long, and then it all happened at once’ – but the downside: ‘When something is no longer a dream, it becomes a day job. I’m 65 and I’ve never worked so hard in my life! My friends are retired, and I wish I could relax, like them.’ But for the next few months, following the launch of her new novel, she’ll be giving talks and interviews, doing readings and book signings at the Scarborough Literary Festival, the London Book Fair and other events. ‘Then it will all calm down, and the story that’s at the back of my head will come out – I hope.’

Lewycka’s first literary effort was a poem written at the age of four. Born in a German refugee camp, dark-haired Marina was a year old when she and her Ukranian parents moved to England. Her father, who worked for International Harvester tractors in Doncaster, ‘considered himself a poet, and was actually quite good,’ she recalls. ‘My mother was one of the great story-tellers. She’d tell me about life back home in Ukraine – what people did in the winter, the names of their pet animals.’

The author remembers a stimulating, multi-cultural household filled with her parents’ friends from France, Germany and elsewhere, partly thanks to a warm, embracing mother who liked to invite interesting people home and feed them cake. Lewycka, however, was uncomfortably conscious of her own foreignness throughout childhood. ‘I grew up in the habit of seeing myself on the outside of things. It’s not nice for a little kid, but for a writer it’s nice to be on the sidelines, watching.’

Early feelings of exclusion may explain her empathy for those marginalized by society – the immigrants, refugees and elderly figures who appear in all her novels. Always full-blooded, quirky and indomitable, these characters offer more than mere entertainment value by humanising the people one might unconsciously regard as ‘other’.

Their presence reflects too the years Lewycka spent writing handbooks for Age Concern, Britain’s support organisation for the aged, and Mencap, the charity for people with learning disabilities. ‘I’d interview families for the handbooks and write about them in the first person. I still had dreams of telling their stories in novels one day,’ she says.

‘When I started writing Various Pets Alive and Dead, a Down’s Syndrome boy I knew popped up in my mind. He was so enthusiastic, so full of life, and could do anything he wanted, such as go off to the Special Olympics.’ This case study inspired the character of Oolie-Anna, a lusty, loud young woman with Down’s Syndrome who is desperate to leave home and live in her own flat, while her adoptive mother, ageing hippy Doro, struggles to let go.

The novel illustrates actual situations Lewycka encountered during her work with Mencap. Children with Down’s Syndrome live longer nowadays than they used to, and, as Lewycka points out, ‘What happens to them when their parents grow old or die? One needs to plan for the possibility of their outliving their parents.’ In Various Pets, a perky social worker finds Oolie-Anna a job and irritates Doro with such platitudes as, ‘But in the long term it’ll be better for everybody if Oolie-Anna can spread her wings and learn to fly’.

Various Pets Alive and Dead is a characteristic blend of farce, wit, pathos and social awareness. ‘I’m actually a very serious person, but I’m not good at writing serious things. They come out with a light touch,’ explains the author, a fan of British comedy classics including Fawlty Towers and Monty Python. ‘You think comedy isn’t serious but with comedy you can say such a lot that serious can’t. Comedy can expose the depths of the human soul; funny is what we are when we least intend to be.’

            A wry exploration of modern values, the new novel moves between three narrators: Doro; her son Serge, who’s pretending to finish his maths PhD at Cambridge while secretly raking in money as a City trader in London (a position that would horrify his anti-capitalist parents); and her daughter Clara, a primary school teacher. ‘I’m a bossy sort, like Clara,’ Lewycka laughs. ‘Actually, there’s a bit of me in all my characters.’

The storyline involves two present-day locations, flashbacks to Doro and Marcus’s lentil-infused commune in the 1960s, loads of backstory to inform the present-day plot, plus various pets. ‘It was very complicated to write,’ Lewycka admits, ‘as the backstory and real world had to dovetail together. If I changed one tiny thing, I had to go through the whole novel and change a whole lot of others.’ Yet she clearly thrives on complexity: Two Caravans featured nine interlinked narrative voices, including a dog.

Having taught media studies at Sheffield Hallam University for twelve years, Lewycka acknowledges the rewards of teaching but adds, ‘There are some really, really awful students and you wish you could flog them. There are departmental meetings, and days when you just don’t feel like doing the marking…’

Since retiring from teaching in December, Lewycka has more time for writing in bed. Her daughter and granddaughter live in New Zealand, and her partner, a historian, is based in London. ‘He and I go between the two cities,’ she says. ‘It’s nice to have gaps.’ Her next novel, the second of a two-book deal, will probably be set in Derbyshire, feature a child as its protagonist, and involve animals.

Though something of a celebrity in Sheffield, she remains resolutely down to earth. ‘The good thing about being an author is that, on the whole, you’re pretty invisible. That picture of me on the dust jacket of my new book was taken some time ago, so when I go out looking like a bag lady, as I so often do, I’m not recognised,’ she says with satisfaction. In her spare time Lewycka indulges in low-key, very English pursuits: gardening, swimming, baking cakes, taking a friend’s dog for walks in the surrounding Peak District.

It’s unlikely that Marina Lewycka will ever be accused of taking herself too seriously. As she wrote two years ago, ‘I’ve been a “successful” writer for almost five years now, but I never forget that I was an unsuccessful writer for more than fifty. It helps to keep things in perspective.’

(It's never too late to write a novel. Join The Peacock Project's online creative writing programme at http://www.peacockproject.net/, and get started today!)

How to write a bestseller: tips from 5 top authors

Some time ago, I asked five notable South African writers to share their advice on writing a bestselling novel. Their answers show that it’s all about hard work, humility and perseverance.  

‘I don’t think it is possible to set out to write a hit. Readers are smart: they can tell a con at fifty paces,’ said Margie Orford, author of the internationally bestselling Clare Hart crime series. ‘So, feel with your body, write with your heart, edit with your head. Write about what you know, but if you don’t know something then go it find out. Remember this: It takes a very long time to become an overnight success, so work harder than you ever thought possible. Then work some more. Don’t give up. Don’t complain. Just do it again. And then again. And if it’s not working? That thing about killing your darlings is true: if a chapter doesn’t fit, then cut it out, step over the blood and move on.’

John van de Ruit, author of the Spud series, said, ‘Forget about writing a bestselling novel. There is no magic formula for making your book reach people, and I would think that if world domination is your single-minded aim, you are setting yourself up to fail. Rather attempt to write the greatest book you can. Concentrate on the fundamentals of character, plotting, dramatic action, rhythm and subtext, and let the numbers take care of themselves. Don’t be precious about your words, nor marvel at your own ability. Remove ego from your writing, and remember you are a servant to your characters and the invisible presence with the power to captivate.’

‘Write your truth as you see it,’ advised Sindiwe Magona, whose novel Beauty’s Gift Beauty’s Gift was shortlisted for the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize. ‘Share the feelings that moved you to write about the subject. Submit yourself to the dream as it unfolds through you; with any luck, you shall be as surprised as your readers at what is revealed in the process.’

‘I wish I knew the secret,’ said Lauren Liebenberg, the former investment banker whose first novel, The Voluptuous Delights of Peanut Butter and Jam, was short-listed for the Orange Prize for New Writers, ‘but this much I do know: you’ve got to take a sober look at every word you’ve written and ask yourself what would make your reader care enough to turn the next page. And the thing that jumps out and grabs readers by the throat is raw, gritty honesty; it’s what brings characters to life and what binds readers to them.’

‘I subscribe to Bessie Head’s words on writing Maru: “…I also wanted the novel to be so beautiful and so magical that I, as the writer, would long to read and re-read it,” said Kgebetli Moele, author of the award-winning debut novel Room 207, and The Book of the Dead. ‘If any section of the writing gets dull, I rewrite or delete, because if the writer cannot read it, how can he or she expect others to read it? There are a dozen good tales I left at the side of the road because they had turned dull and I could not un-dull them.’

How to become Google’s No. 1 website for writers

The 2012 Cape Town Book Fair, held this weekend past, fizzed with digital delights. The book is not dead, it seems; it’s just moving increasingly onto screens and handsets across the globe.

During the trade session on Friday morning, I attended a seminar on website marketing by Paula Wynne, author of Pimp My Site.  If you have a website, you need to know about Search Engine Optimisation (SEO). Which means... 

1. Keywords are, er, key. When someone googles a product like yours, you want to be sure your website pops up at the top of their list. When someone who wants to write a novel or learn more about writing fiction searches for an online creative writing course, The Peacock Book Project should ideally come up as Number One in the Google rankings.

2. As seen above, long-tail keywords are best – in other words, a few relevant, specific words strung together to form phrases that best describe what you do. (In my case ‘online creative writing course’ and ‘write a novel’ and ‘write a book’) So I could link them up into a coherent sequence that might read, ‘Interested in writing a book? The Peacock Book Project is the world’s first online creative writing course to offer an actual template on which you can write your own novel.’ Use these long-tail keywords whenever you write something on the internet, and your Google ranking will climb.

3. Ensure these keywords feature in your website’s metadata – the description of your product or service that comes up under your website’s name during an internet search. Metadata encompasses your page title, alt tags, description and keywords. Insert your keywords into the metadata on each page of your site. Mine should read something like this:

Write a book with The Peacock Book Project.

www.peacockproject.net

An online creative writing course that teaches the art of fiction writing and helps you write your own novel.

 

4. Weave these keywords creatively throughout blog copy and another material you publish on the internet, including captions for photos and descriptions of YouTube film clips. You want tentacles extended into as many different internet arenas as possible, giving possible customers multiple ways to find your website. 

5. Become a provider/publisher of content – content that will interest your market and drive them to your website.

6. Present yourself as an expert in your field, and offer analysis and comment on trends and developments related to your service or product. When journalists google a topic you’ve commented on, your name and credentials will link you up with them. In my case, I’d say, ‘Catriona Ross, author and developer of The Peacock Book Project, is passionate about self-development, creative writing and online education.’   

7. Link your website and blog copy to good quality links, such as newspaper and magazine names (where relevant to your site/service). If you’ve had a write-up in the Sunday Times, or been featured in a magazine such as Woman and Home, these links are valuable: Google spots the reputable brand name, and bumps up your website’s ranking.

8. Never write ‘click here to read XXXX’, says Paula. Rather use a long-tailed keyword and hyperlink that takes readers to other pages from your website. So, in my case, I wrote an article for Woman & Home on how I had a dream of writing a novel from a wine farm.

9. Market yourself online. Do a little bit everyday, even if it’s just a tweet.

10. Make sure you’re putting high-quality content out there, in relevant places. My market is writers and novelists, so writing forums are a good place to start.  

So I have a few items on my www.peacockproject.net To Do List. As for the elderly gentleman who attended the seminar, about to launch a website for his Afrikaans translations of Shakespeare’s works, and artist Heidi de Freitas, who’s going to unveil a website for international painting sales with the help of her tech-savvy teenage daughter, good luck!

Keep calm and carry on writing

As a writer or other creative, it's crucial that you learn to handle the quiet times. You know, the Absolutely Nothing's Happening in My Writing Career times. Actress Joanna Lumley, 65, of Absolutely Fabulous fame, shares her philosophy on the subject in a Woman & Home (June 2012 issue) interview: 'I believe strongly in discipline - in work, in the way you live, in the way you approach every day. You have to make yourself do things. When you're busy, it's easy to be disciplined, but when you're unemployed, unwanted, out of work - which happens as an actor - you have to discipline yourself to do something. It's about getting up, having faith and hope, and doing everything you can to make life agreeable.'

The secret to success in all things is not giving up, and taking a longer view of your writing career. As Tom Butler-Bowdon, author of the inspirational book Never Too Late to be Great, points out, if you see your productive life as being from age 20 to 80 - a total of 60 years - at age 35 you still have three-quarters to go! 'When we give ourselves slightly longer timeframes, anything is possible,' he writes. 'At the age you are now, many famous and remarkable people were only getting into their stride. Given longer life spans, it is likely that you have more time than you think to achieve your goals.' What if you give up just as you're about to approach a breakthrough? Take a break, by all means, but don't give up on your dreams.

Anyway, the pre-breakthrough period is apparently to be treasured. It's a quiet, golden age in which you, the writer, can experiment, indulge your whims, and generally do whatever you like. Which bestselling author trotting round the world on endless book tours can say that? I remember a conversation I had at a Cape Town party with Richard Mason many years ago. A fellow aspirant novelist friend and I were telling our tales of unpublished woe to the author, who sold his first novel The Drowning People to a publisher as a 19-year-old Oxford student. Sure, he shot to international bestseller lists and became an admired literary figure at an almost unheard-of young age, but he paid the price with a breakdown a few years later. I remember this handsome, passionate young man shaking his head and saying to us with urgency, 'Enjoy this time - really,  you must - because once you've become a success, you can't get that time back.'

If you have time to savour the craft of story telling, be thankful. And don't stop just because nothing seems to be happening. Give it time, and it will.

A Writing Room with a View

Every novelist needs a place. A literary hangout. A corner of the world conducive to free-range thought and fresh prose. For some, this might mean a laptop in a garage, away from the sounds of Top Gear and kids squabbling. However, if, like me, you’d prefer something a little more like Pemberley, Mr Darcy’s estate in Pride and Prejudice, consider retreating to the Winelands.

An ex-city journalist married to a tango-dancing farmer, I write in a sweet spot between Paarl, Stellenbosch and Franschhoek, a neighbourhood heaving with all the ingredients of a novel.

We have Characters, from sabre-wielding winemakers and Méthode Cap Classique pioneers, to celebrity chefs like Reuben and Margot Janse, and a diamond mogul set high on a hill. 

We have Conflict. Yeah, I also thought ‘harvest time’ sounded cool and rustic – until I realised it lasted seven months and is the annual Olympics of relationship endurance.

We have Heroes. Like me, when Tango Farmer phoned in the middle of the night to say, ‘Ag sorry, man, the motorbike’s run out of petrol’. I had to bundle the baby into the bakkie and rescue him from a neighbouring wine estate, where he was checking pumps by moonlight. 

We have Romance. Though Tango Farmer spent Valentine’s Day pumping water from the Berg River into his parched dam, we did celebrate harvest’s end at the Wellington oesfees, lazing under oak trees while Die Heuwels Fantasties crooned, and savouring The Stone Kitchen’s wild boar burgers with sage and apple. While dancing tango at Slaley wine estate, we managed to fall in love again.

We have Drama. From farm attacks to raging mountain fires every summer to porcupines raiding the herb garden: take your pick.

We have Villains, such as the nonchalant Namibian syndicate who swept through the neighbourhood a few months ago, cutting holes in fences and whistling while they cleaned out farmhouses of computers and flat-screen TVs.

We have Plot, always thickening. Some say they saw a ghost bidder driving up prices at the auction of a Stellenbosch wine estate. And according to neuro-psychologist Mark Solms, the ghost of Tango Farmer’s great-great grandfather walks the garden at Solms-Delta, and flicks the light switches in his psychoanalyst wife’s consulting room (only after hours, though). 

We have Setting. Jagged mountains, majestic valleys and purple-prose sunsets to make a book editor blush. You’ll have to tone everything down if you’re writing literary fiction.

We have Inspiration. Novelists need lavish inner resources to draw upon, ideally spending two hours a week filling the ‘inner well’, says Julia Cameron, creativity expert and author of The Artist’s Way. Catch an art movie and a glass of local wine at Le Quartier Français’s plush mini cinema, read French poetry in a Franschhoek chocolate shop, and partake of our seasonal pleasures. Autumn on the farm means black-skinned figs with opulent pink flesh, and porcini mushrooms blooming in the pine forest behind our house, their sexy, rich flavour best enjoyed in risottos or simmered in cream with tagliatelle, fresh herbs and parmesan.

Winter is drawing in, and I can almost hear the rustling of pages, the soft crack of book spines from the Franschhoek Literary Festival. It’s time to sip Terra del Capo Sangiovese beside a fire and catch up on reading, flirting, doodling, journaling. Hey, you might end up writing a book, or initiating some other passionate activity. As Agatha Christie remarked, ‘I don’t think necessity is the mother of invention; invention arises directly from idleness, possible also from laziness.’ So if you can’t go five minutes without checking your Blackberry, unplug from daily life and find your true place in the Winelands.

Turn your disappointments into art

If you've ever tried to get a book published, you'll know that it's a path strewn with rejection and snotty  letters from literary agents ('We read your manuscript and simply didn't find it interesting enough. However, we wish you the best of luck in finding a place for it.') When this goes on for ten years, you can start to feel like you're either going crazy, have zero writing talent, or are wasting your time. Which is exactly how most best-selling authors felt too, until the 456th publisher they approached decided to take them on. Ask Marina Lewycka, author of A Short History of Tractors in Ukranian, and Kathryn Stockett, author of The Help. It it can pay to persist, even when nothing's going your way.

As a writer awaiting a lucky break, I find US financial guru Jim Rohn's advice helpful. Discipline your disappointment, he tells his aspirant billionaires. When things don't work out, don't persist in asking 'why'. Stay focused on what you're doing. Don't get distracted.

Sure, Jim. I took your advice - only I took it one step further. I decided to turn my years of trying to get published into something fabulous. From the depths of my literary disappointment arose The Peacock Book Project: creative, hilarious, meaningful, fun.

This, in fact, has become my standard response to trying times. I ask, 'What would make me happy right now? What would feel better?' and then I try to do it. We're each responsible for our own happiness, after all. When there's a war, paint a glorious picture. When politicians are letting the country down, create something innovative for people to share. When your venture has failed, turn it into something fun. When you're having a bad day, take a walk and turn your mood around. When agents and publishers don't want you, fall in love with yourself. Keep writing. Keep the faith.