Featured Writer
Catherine Lang
Even as a young child I loved the pictures that words could paint. I learned their subtlety in the word-games my father and I used to play, and I found how easily stories could transport me anywhere in this world and to many places outside it, whether Mars or Middle Earth.
I started writing in my teens, mostly for myself – speeches for Toastmaster competitions, poetry, even plays. At 16 I decided to forsake a planned career in science for the arts, starting a MA in English and History at Glasgow University. At 20 I joined the publisher, Blackie & Sons, as an Educational Editor and spent the next six years happily working with authors from throughout the UK, editing primary, secondary and tertiary textbooks.
Then a desire to work more with people found me behind a desk at Fanum House, Erskine, in the PR Department of the Automobile Association. In those days one learned media relations ‘on the job’ and it was the best education I could have asked for. I wrote every day – press releases for local and national media, radio scripts for traffic broadcasts, features for magazines, speeches for Directors – on myriad topics. I soon learned how to get the message across – succinctly, with a touch of humour, always with an eye for detail. Every week I saw my words in print, though never with my name against them. Still, they were my words.
So my world became one of factual writing. As I was determined to work always in Scotland my career took me to a variety of companies within the Central Belt, where I wrote about everything from brewing to banking, aviation to alternative medicine, successes to strikes.
It was not until 2003 that I decided to join Ayr Writers’ Club. I’d heard of the Club years before but then they’d seemed to require established writers and I hadn’t felt confident enough to try my hand. Now in my 50s I resolved to give it a try. One of the best decisions I have ever made. The members were welcoming, full of helpful advice and encouragement, and I soon felt very much at home.
Publication through competition is one of the Club’s declared intents and it certainly worked for me. I have written drama, poetry, reviews and short stories and achieved some success within Club and Scottish Association of Writers’ competitions. I have also had articles published in magazines like My Weekly, Can Do, Xpose in the UK and Healthy Way in Canada, a poem appeared in a Christian Christmas anthology at the end of 2006 and a short playlet was performed on WestSound Radio in January 2007.
My words have again been published but now with my name alongside. It’s a great feeling.