Friday, 5 July 2019

Interviews Taking Confession with Jason Arnopp by Djak Forrest



One of the biggest problems for me as a writer, is to remain focused and not become side tracked and wander onto social media, which is a real pain in the rear sometimes, when you have the inspiration to write but not the motivation to do it. So, imagine my surprise when Jason Arnopp introduced his Sunday Confessions Booth. Suddenly, I found that boost of motivation to begin my research. I began to build on my characters, and locations and all manner of things relating to my story. I looked forward to sharing something of my day gathering data. Scribbles on notepads. Typed up words on screen. A word count!!!

Full of this newfound freedom in my writing, I wanted to thank Jason for this new idea, and to find out where the idea came from, and for how long I may receive his words of encouragement. 

Hi Jason, thanks for taking the time out of your busy schedule to chat with us.

Jason: You are utterly welcome, Djak!

Sunday Confessions Booth. I like it. In fact, it's done wonders for my procrastinations. I've begun to research for my story. Kickstarting new ideas. I have needed this motivational boost for a hell of a long time.
Where did the idea for the Sunday Confession Booth come from, and what prompted it?

Jason: I liked the idea of something that helped other creative folk, frankly without all that much effort from me. Altruism doesn’t always have to require much sacrifice! Ha. But yeah, specifically, it makes me sad when I see creatives posting about their work online and you can sense they feel no-one cares about what they’re doing.

Nothing kills motivation like the feeling that no-one will know or care, regardless of whether you do nothing this week or make truly Herculean achievements. And so, via my Sunday Confession Booth, every Sunday evening, I ask creatives how much they’ve achieved this week. It’s not necessarily all about quantity of course – if someone’s done nothing this week but come up with one amazing idea, then that’s great. I’m offering no judgement either way. I’m just there to listen, if subscribers decide to write back and tell me about their work.

It's a brilliant idea, I'm glad I signed up to it. Has the response to it been very positive? Have you a ton of emails to send?

Jason: Thanks! I’m really glad it’s been of use to you. And it really feels like it’s useful to plenty of other people too, because very often they do reply and not only tell me about their week, but also tell me how useful the service has already been. Needless to say, you don’t HAVE to reply to the weekly Booth email – I’m sure a fair few people just use it as a benchmark by which to reflect on their week and the things they’ve created. They may well like being held accountable at the end of each week, even if they don’t respond.

The response has been so positive that I’m rarely going to be able to reply to people if they reply to the email. But no matter how big the list gets I will read every single message.

Will it not take you away from your own writings if there's a lot of people signing up for this? Are you going to find time to write? Or is this also helping you?

Jason: Well, let’s see: the only scary variable would be if I end up with literally thousands of people, all writing to tell me about their working week. That could take a while to read through, but I’m up for it. I’m reasonably good with time management and there’s always time to write.

How long will the Booth last for? Does each person who signs up have a limited time to receive emails, or will this continue for as long as it needs to take?

Jason: I don’t see why Jason Arnopp’s Sunday Confession Booth shouldn’t continue for as long as subscribers find it useful. As with any list, if people tire of it and unsubscribe, that will send a clear message to me. The only other issue I can foresee, is if the list gets so big that I can’t afford to run it any more. Mailing lists can get surprisingly expensive. If we reach that stage, then perhaps Patreon might help, who knows?

It's not just boosts of motivation emailed on a Sunday though is it - you also allow people to email you back regarding the story they're writing. Not just a word count but also everything about how they're doing with their story apart from one specific thing. Has this specific thing affected your writing in the past?

Jason: Ah yes – the one rule of the booth is that writers must never tell me any specifics about anything they’re working on. The reason is that I might be working on a similar story, and then it all gets messy and the person might think I’ve stolen their idea or something like that. So, purely to keep everything nice and clean and easy, story specifics are banned from the Booth.

Do you feel that more known writers should take up this opportunity of setting up Confession Booths in the future, in a way of connecting with their writing fans?

Jason: I do not. Because I’d much prefer everyone signs up to my Booth!

I'm hoping I will have some form of a word count on Sunday, but I'm not entirely sure, as much of my writing seems to be on paper written with a pen. I'm researching. I'm enjoying myself and it's fun.

Jason: Excellent! Writing really should be fun. And yeah, Joe Hill swears by writing the first draft in long-hand. I’ve tried it before and liked it, although it does add to the time required. Might give it a shot again myself…


Thank you so much for this short but absolutely sweet Confessions Booth chat, Jason.

Jason: No, thank YOU, I insist! Oh, we could go on all day.

If you fancy joining Jason’s Mailing List, then head on over to Facebook or Twitter, and sign up by following the link http://www.jasonarnopp.com/confess.html

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