“Do what you love, the money will follow. And meet deadlines. I live my life by that premise.”

How does one juggle business and writing a book? We dived into this topic with Lynn Joffe in conversation with Benji Shulman on the 8th of March 2021, whilst discussing her new novel “The Gospel according to Wanda B. Lazarus.” In line with ORT Jet’s business-related training, we knew this topic would create sparks.

Every fiction novel has a beginning, middle and end. A journey of the individual has just that too, with the middle involving a long path, accumulating years of learning, experience, and self-discovery.

Lynn’s middle journey, with her life-long learning, has opened a new window to embrace.

She has been in advertising for 45 years, founded her company (Creatrix) and has been a copywriter for most of her life. She used her marketing experience earned over the years to help her novel venture.

“Did taking the time off to write your book give you a new perspective on business and how did you juggle the two?” asked Shulman

“My staff started running the show, and were empowered in doing so. I let go of my control in the business. I used this approach to juggle the two” said Joffe. “It gave me a new perspective on myself. I had to step out of my comfort zone, as I’m an extrovert. I had to go write on my own which was a dark place at first”.

“I am going to ask the C question, how did you manage to get through Covid?” asked Shulman

“I went through all the emotions with the book, it marinated from February-August during Covid.” “There was a black hole last year, a launch isn’t forever but the book is forever so it’s okay” said Joffe.

“However, Covid was a blessing in disguise.” “It’s very difficult to publish a book in South Africa but a lot of the connections with publishers can be done online, so this was an opportunity to connect with them from all over the world” she added

We learnt that fear can certainly be stripped apart, especially, if you possess the courage to reach out to the most famous Jewish comedian in the world, Stephen Fry!

“Often artists don’t know how to market themselves because they are too busy painting pretty pictures. I wrote a one page pitch, and this can work for any industry. I wrote to Stephen Fry, took the risk and now I have an email relationship with him. And he reviewed my book.” Said Joffe

“You will never know what will happen when you reach out. Leave the fear- What if they don’t like it? Well Stephen fry likes it so what else counts?”

“What is your advice to aspiring writers?” asked Shulman

 “My advice for writers is you should write for one person or one ideal person. And stick with that throughout.” Said Joffe

Lynn briefly outlined her process in writing a book:

  • Read about other people’s process
  • It’s important to understand that Character is everything. Every sentence has to explore the character and advance the action.
  • Sit down and write. Tidy it up and then move on. One scene at a time. Read it back the next day. Step by step…so you accumulate scenes

The session ended off by Benji and Lynn commending ORT for the amazing work they do for the community. It was encouraged that people make a donation to ORT Jet.

“Shout out to ORT, you work so hard. Thank you for having me on here” said Joffe

If you would like purchase the book visit www.modjajibooks.co.za, a portion of the sales will go to ORT Jet.

On behalf of the ORT Jet team we thank Lynn for her contribution and wish her the best of luck with her book!

The recording can be found on the ORT Jet Youtube Channel https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3t0JxolknbM