SNEAK PEAK

The Big Issue spoke with author, journalist, magazine editor and media entrepreneur Irna van Zyl. Her fourth book, the psychological thriller One Fine Day (Penguin Random House), is due for release this September.

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When did you decide to be an author?

I think that I knew at a very early age – when making up stories to play cowboys and crooks in the garden – that I wanted to be a writer but never regarded it as a fulltime career till much later in my life. After I turned 50 somebody asked me what else I would like to do. And I said, “I would like to be a writer but I don’t think I have the energy or the time for it.” She said, “If you want to do something badly, you will create time and stop putting obstacles in the way.” I then did some writing courses, worked only four days a week, and tried to write every day.

How long does it take you to write a book?

About a year or more. The first draft of my next book that is [due to be] published in September, One Fine Day (Op ‘n Mooi dag in Afrikaans), was finished in its first draft in July last year. The final draft was only finished in January this year. Then followed the rewriting, editing, and translation.

What is your work schedule?

I used to write first thing in the morning in my study at home till about lunchtime, but during the lockdown, I started later in the day and that seems to be the pattern now. I also sometimes travel with my laptop through the house from the study or bedroom to the dining room, and in lockdown, at times I even tried the cellar and the garden.

I try and write every day when working on a book, always starting with a revision and sometimes a complete rewrite of what I did the day before.

Interesting writing quirk?