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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