Mary Harboe describes the joy of constantly learning and the horror of “Writers’ Bottom”
Mary Harboe
Mary Harboe is a freelance writer, broadcaster and journalist who writes on lifestyle, celebrity, health and the darker side of financial business. Having lived and worked in Spain for almost twenty years, Mary is also an expert on all things Spanish from politics to tourism, and has ghost-written biographies for people in the public eye, including Gucci War
What inspired you to become a writer?
I was in a tremendous hurry to leave school and all things academic behind and so fell into journalism and the world of local newspapers almost by default. That said, journalism - and related broadcasting and writing - has proved to be the perfect career for me.
So it wasn’t as much a matter of “inspiration” or following a lifelong dream, more that my rather odd shaped, but infinitely curious “peg” fitting snugly into an equally peculiar shaped journalistic niche.
I have, however, always known that I would eventually evolve into a fully-fledged writer of books. I might not have had an idea as to what they would be about, but I was confident that they would be published and read and enjoyed by others.
Later, through writing and broadcasting, I discovered the joy of learning that had evaded me during my days in the classroom. Via researching a myriad of topics and interviewing scores of fascinating people I have developed a little knowledge about an enormous range of topics - I might be a useful friend to phone on Who Wants to be a Millionaire.
Every day has been a learning curve of discovery. I love the fact that still - almost forty years later - I have no idea where this journey will lead and I cannot imagine it ever ending.
Did you receive any formal training?
Local newspapers are an excellent training ground. The system of serving indentures (nothing connected to false teeth; but a sort of “apprenticeship” scheme) has kept the industry alive.
Although paid a pittance, I learned my craft from the bottom up while, in exchange, the newspaper funded various courses at a journalism school. As well as newspaper law and other relevant subjects, these courses included lessons in shorthand (which I never mastered unless vaguely drunk when I was able to get everything down but later would be totally unable to read it back); and typing - which I also messed up, having managed to break a finger on a fairground ride between day one and two of the course.
How did you find your first job in the media?
I simply went to my local newspaper (The Lynn News and Advertiser, King’s Lynn, Norfolk ) and knocked on the editor’s door. I can’t imagine the impression I created, but I do know that I left an indelible mark in the newsroom. Years later I returned and was greeted with rather wary awe by a young reporter. Oddly I realised that he seemed to know my name (I was then Mary Brasnett).
Many years before, in some fit of writers’ rage or some similar syndrome, I had apparently hurled a heavy typewriter across the office. A dent in the wall where it had landed had been saved for posterity.
I am sure that the story of my outburst (which seemed perfectly appropriate at the time) and the damaged wall had been exaggerated over the years to goodness knows what proportions. I expect that the appearance of my mild-mannered middle-aged self might have been a bit of a disappointment.
Where are we likely to see your work?
I would love to say: “On the bestseller shelf”. However, the only time it makes it to that illustrious position is when my friends move it from its obscure corner in Selfridges to join the more popular books on the top selling table.
I sometimes wonder what the sales assistants think when they have to put it back yet again (I have some loyal friends) into its alphabetical position.
Seriously, (although I wasn’t really joking), Gucci Wars, the book that I ghost wrote for Jenny Gucci, is now available in paperback and a new edition is being published for the German market.
Currently, I am also writing the blog for the London Vision Clinic about all matters related to eye health and laser eye surgery. Please watch for my byline as various freelance articles should be appearing soon. I am also working on a new book.
Do you specialise in any particular genres or topics?
After many years of presenting a magazine radio programme covering topics ranging from legal issues to gardening; from cookery to current affairs; literary to health matters; finance to fashion - I am interested in (and pride myself that I can make sound interesting) a diversity of unlikely topics… for seven minutes at least.
I enjoy the diversity of my work and the fact that I am free to write about what I please. Recently I interviewed Prof. John Marshall at London’s, St Thomas’ Hospital. He has discovered a cure for age related macular degeneration - the leading cause of blindness in the Western world. It is an amazing achievement for which I believe one day he will receive a Nobel prize.
I am also researching aspects of the grey area of the financial world and the other topic on my desk at the moment relates to the unfairness of the UK’s extradition agreement with the US… Watch this space.
How would you describe your writing style?
When ghostwriting, it’s a matter of “finding the voice” of the subject. Once discovered, this dictates the style in which I write. In fact, if I’m doing a good job it’s not my style but theirs that spills out onto the page.
Although hopefully informative, the London Vision Clinic blog, is written in a chatty, first person diary-like way.
Fortunately I seem able to switch styles, chameleon-like, depending on what is required.
However, before pressing “send” or even “save”, I always read aloud what I have written. It is important to me that the prose flows and, when spoken, also sounds OK.
What inspires you?
Injustice, people who care passionately about something…
There is no single thing that inspires me. However I often seem to have my best ideas around 3am. Sometimes I will get up and put them into practice but other times I will just scribble them down in my notebook which, together with a pen, is always on my bedside table.
What are the biggest challenges of the job?
Without a doubt, that would be getting down to it! Too often almost any household chore - hanging the washing out, paying bills, any unappealing thing on the ever-present “To Do” list, making a cup of tea I know I don’t really want, bringing the washing in - almost anything is preferable to facing my computer and getting started.
As with the rest of life’s hurdles that we all tend to avoid or leave until the last moment, once I get going, invariably it’s not nearly as bad as I thought!
I also find it challenging to compartmentalise the different writing topics. It is sometimes difficult for me to jump from one subject to another.
The nature of writing is such that it is never finished. There is never a moment when you can sigh, put your feet up and -with a completely clear conscience - switch off. Undoubtedly there is always that “stone in your shoe” of the next deadline.
There is also a tendency to gain weight discovering that the dreaded condition known as “Writers’ Bottom” has taken hold. The spreading derrière a direct result of too many biscuits (or in my case, Kettle crisps) eaten by way of a reward for finding the perfect chapter link or clever twist; or (less deservedly) as a prevarication tool.
Writing can also be a rather lonely occupation - not understood by long suffering friends and family - only by other writers.
What are the biggest perks?
It’s a privilege to be able to work at what is actually a passion. When it’s going well, the feeling is truly unbeatable.
It’s also quite handy not having to get dressed up, wash your hair or put on make up for the duration, but that’s only a “little” perk unlike the growing bottom problem!
How do you adapt your style to suit different publications?
Perhaps it’s my “inner actress”, but I really don’t seem to have a problem writing in whatever style is required. However, it might take a while for me to get into the correct “mood” (more Kettle crisps) and once there I’m slow to climb out the other side again. This is probably why I find it hard to move immediately from writing about one subject to another.
What has been the highlight of your career so far?
I would like to mention two highlights.
I will never forget the thrill of opening the Daily Mail at the book pages on March 28th, 2008 and seeing that Gucci Wars had been chosen as the Critic’s Choice.
Wendy Holden described the story as “engaging and witty”. Unusually, she also mentioned me - the ghostwriter - by name. I read that I had done a “superb job of turning (Jenny’s) story into something resembling a glossy Eighties bonkbuster”.
High praise indeed!
My experiences in post Tsunami Sri Lanka were obviously quite different but nonetheless life-changing. The work I produced from that visit and another a year later (a series of programmes called “The Tsunami One Year On”), won me the “Communicator of the Year Award” from my journalistic peers in Southern Spain.
What advice would you offer an aspiring writer?
Ignore the “nay say-ers”.
It’s important to have the courage of your convictions and confidence in your ability (although not to exclusion of listening to any practical advise that might come your way).
Try and keep it simple - I have never seen the point in using ten words if one will convey the same thing. Think Coco Channel and other elegant icons: “Less is more”.
Realise that, if you are getting bored or confused writing it, how do you think the poor reader will feel.
Read and re-read your work and then - imagining that you haven’t written it - read it again. Only when you are completely satisfied, press “send”.
What are you working on now?
At the risk of sounding somewhat pretentious, I am not allowed to talk about the new book I have been commissioned to write. It’s all rather “cloak and dagger” stuff and a complete change of direction for me. It will be an investigative piece and I am currently in the research stage, which is proving, exciting and challenging in equal measure.
Gucci Wars is available from Amazon
For more on Mary please visit www.maryharboe.com
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