Victoria Shockley is one of the many talented people I meet in my writing. She’s a student, a book writer, a freelance writer, an editor, and apparently believes sleep is for the weak and inform. Oh and she works in PR as well. No, I’m not kidding.
You may have seen her first novella, The Elevator. Me, I saw someone I had to interview for MuseHack.
1) OK, let’s just get this out of the way – where the hell do you find the time to do all of this?
Being in college has honed my time management skills! I maintain a hard copy planner, a list of reminders on my phone, and multiple To Do lists to make sure everything gets done on time. And with working from home (freelancing and Stephanie Wolf PR [SWPR]), it makes it easier because it cuts out any commute time.
2) How did you get into writing, you’re quite passionate about it?
I’ve been writing my entire life. I started when I was eight years old and received a diary for Christmas from my grandparents, and I continued on through elementary and middle school, writing poetry and short articles for a local kids’ paper. In high school I joined the newspaper staff and yearbook committee, and during my senior year I wrote The Elevator. I expect writing will continue to play a huge part in my life and career after college ends later this year.
3) For that matter, how did you get into PR – I often see PR intersects with other writing, media, and geek interests.
I was looking for a job in writing or editing because I was sick of working in food service, and I was lucky enough to come across an opening at SWPR after sending out over 100 “cold” emails to various people in the industry. I’ve been working for Stephanie ever since, and I hope to continue after graduation in a few months.
4) Many people say they want to write for a living – what do you know of the reality of making a living at writing?
I think it depends if you want to write fiction or nonfiction. To be a novelist, you have to be creative and either know how to market extremely well or employ someone to do that for you. Without publicity, people won’t hear about your books and buy them! Also, something about your stories will need to be unique if they’re going to sell – they can’t be too similar to the other books already on the market because you won’t make enough of a profit to sustain your career. If it’s nonfiction, such as PR or technical writing, I think it’s a lot easier to make a living. In fact, some people have told me technical writing is the most high paying writing career an English major can hope to acquire.
5) So say someone wants to write for a career – what are their must-dos?
Definitely create a strong presence on social media, and get your name out there as much as you can. The more people who know what you’re looking for (whether it’s being published, getting a job at a certain company, etc.), the better chance there is of that happening. Also, make sure you can actually write…this might seem like it goes without saying, but you would be surprised at how many folks try to become novelists, yet don’t have a good grasp of grammar, syntax, etc.
6) So what’s next for you?
I will graduate from NC State University in June, and after that I hope to continue freelancing and working at SWPR. I might enroll in grad school too if I decide it will be beneficial to advancing my career. And who knows, maybe I’ll write another novella someday!
Thanks Victoria! Find out more about her online:
https://twitter.com/Victoria_Writes
http://www.linkedin.com/in/victoriashockley/
http://victoriashockleywrites.wordpress.com/
- Steven Savage
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