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Josh Oldridge

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March 2021

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What’s your advice for aspiring writers?

Josh Oldridge Firstly, go for it, and don't even consider showing your work to anyone else. You may feel you want to, afterwards, but at first it's best to allow yo…moreFirstly, go for it, and don't even consider showing your work to anyone else. You may feel you want to, afterwards, but at first it's best to allow your mind to be free of anything that could restrict you in any way. Worrying about what other people think can be one of these major restrictions. Later on, you might have to edit your writing when you know others will see it, but when you write for yourself you will write what you need to let out. This could mean something cathartic, unexpected, sensitive, or revealing. It'll feel good to get this down on paper. And then, who knows, you might feel a want, or even need, to show it to others after all!
Also, take heed of professional advice: read books on writing, takes courses, join writing groups, and converse with other writers. While I'd never want to deny creativity by being too prescriptive with what you should do, courses and books on writing will give you an important footing in certain aspects on things like plot and structure, but will also help you avoid common pitfalls.
A final key point is to find a routine. For a while I was guilty of ignoring the advice I've just recommended; all the creative writing books say to develop and maintain a routine when working on a writing project, or just writing for writing's sake. It seems ridiculous now, but I thought my method of waiting for inspiration to take me at random hours on random days was working fine. But it just wasn't. So I started a routine - one which worked for me, which could mean different times of day and length of session for others - and soon I felt the benefits. My writing output increased, the quality was way better than previously, and I was enjoying it more than ever!(less)

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Where did you get the idea for your most recent book?

Josh Oldridge The idea for Love in a Lost Year came from my past loneliness. In a way, it is a celebration of an end to those lonely years for me and a ray of hope …moreThe idea for Love in a Lost Year came from my past loneliness. In a way, it is a celebration of an end to those lonely years for me and a ray of hope for others feeling that they might not find 'the one' or love or whatever. There are points with loneliness where it seems perpetual. It can get seriously bleak and thoughts can become really dark. They certainly did for me. But maintaining that hope, even if only a glimmer, and seizing an opportunity when you see it, even if you have to force yourself, can lead to unexpected, really positive things; that's the main premise of the book.
The point of inspiration was a very definite moment. After dropping out of Leeds Uni and moving back home, I experienced acute loneliness – I became accustomed to the feeling but it is one which, for me, never got easier. When I restarted uni, in Penryn, I was in a relationship, but it didn’t last. Then, in second year, I met someone who just makes me feel good, about myself and about the world. She understands me like nobody else.
We hit a rocky patch at the back end of 2019, after doing the whole ‘distance thing’ for a few too many months (she'd graduated before me), and I felt intensely lonely again. To the point where I actually – for various reasons I won’t go into now (see post 9 on my Sri Lanka blog for more on this) – started self-harming. But we're back together and things are much better now. Great, in fact. I moved back home at the onset of Covid restrictions and that’s when the moment of inspiration happened – a group of workers from the offices of the factory right by my childhood home strolled by, and it reminded me of those desperately lonely days, in between universities, when I sometimes watched the workers (a different bunch from now) go strolling past, and one of them I found attractive, and I felt so despondent at being so alone. To watch them pass now and feel good, not one bit of longing, put a smile on my face, but also made me think of past loneliness. Since Covid restrictions were in place and I was jobless at the time, I started writing. There wasn’t much of a framework when I put pen to paper – I just wanted to write about something that felt good, kind of triumphant. But it quickly grew and I realised it was more than just a ‘bit of writing’ to pass the time. I was growing involved with the plot and the characters, so after about seven- or eight-thousand words of random events (now parts of chapters one, two, four, and six) I took a break from the writing and got down to plotting. Then I formed a writing routine – something I’d heard in creative writing seminars at uni and elsewhere, and on interviews with authors like Zadie Smith, and in all the creative writing books. For the first time, I actually paid heed (how naïve I was before to disregard this advice).
A one-hour session in a morning, two in the afternoon, and another hour in the evening was the routine I fell into. And it shocked me that I kept this routine. And it shocked me even more when this routine – with some slow days and some where I managed half a chapter in a day – the first draft was done in well under two months.(less)

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Josh Oldridge’s books

Average rating: 4.42 · 45 ratings · 20 reviews · 3 distinct works • Similar authors

	Love in a Lost Year 4.35 avg rating — 40 ratings — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Losing Sight of the Moon it was amazing 5.00 avg rating — 4 ratings — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Getting Involved it was amazing 5.00 avg rating — 1 rating — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars