Mark O’Hara

Mark O’Hara was born in Blackpool, England. He grew up with severe asthma resulting in much of his childhood being spent in hospitals. Mark also failed high school due to poor grades. Despite these issues Mark managed to represent Scotland Rugby League from the age of 16 – 23 and re-entered education to gain a national diploma, foundation degree and an Honours degree.

He started his first company (Emotive Fitness ltd) whilst at university and wrote his first motivational book at 23, poetry collection at 24 and self development title at 25.

Interview with Mark

When were you born?
I was born in April 29th 1984.

Where were you born and raised?
I was born in Blackpool, a small town in the North West of England.

How has your up bringing influence your writing?
I consider myself to have had an excellent upbringing. My father is a very strong headed individual with a good heart and my mother is intelligent and creative. I was always encouraged to find my ‘niche’ in life and confront adversity, I guess the resilient nature of my father and artistic temperament of my mother managed to manifest itself into my psyche; resulting in what I think is an uplifting and insightful style of poetry and writing.

Are you married? If so, when and how did you meet?
I am not married, but I will marry the lady I am with, Claire. We met around 5 years ago. She owned a night club and I was employed to control security. We developed a deep friendship which then became a relationship and we have been dating for 18 months.

Have you any children?
We are expecting a baby girl on the 2nd February 2010. She will be named Emma O’Hara.

When did you first start creatively writing and why? What prompted you to become a writer?
Initially I began writing as a way of stress relief. I was working in New York and the situation became very stressful. After two months of long hours and little reward I decided to write my thoughts down rather than expressing what I thought verbally. Having had great feedback from my work I decided to compile it into book form and self publish the final copy. Luckily I managed to sell a few hundred copies locally and received more positive feedback from a broader audience. This gave me the confidence to continue writing.

What is your favourite book?
I don’t have a particularly favourite book. If I am to choose one I think Leonards Cohen’s – Book of longing would have to be it. My girlfriend opened my eyes to Leonard and I haven’t looked back since. His attention to detail when constructing each line is phenomenal and the humour is subtle yet sublime.

What is your favourite poetry?
Again, Leonard Cohen has pipped others to the post with ‘A thousand kisses deep’. I adore the concept that something can be loved to the depth of a thousand kisses. Having never been truly in love until I met Claire and given that Claire introduced me to this poem/song, I felt as if my level of understanding deep love and this work crossed at the perfect time.

Who is your favourite writer?
More recently I have really taken a shine to ‘Buddy Wakefield’. I was likened to Buddy by the kind folks at ‘Bright Light Café’. I really enjoy the way he captures a single moment and projects it into the reader/listener mind. His live performances are unbelievably uplifting.

What is your Favourite song?
One of my favourite songs would have to be ‘Meatloaf – For Crying Out Loud’. The song captures a moment most people have experienced, when your partner questions the love you have for them. To which meatloaf replies ‘For crying out load, you know I love you’ and recites the incidences that have attributed to his growing love towards somebody he didn’t realise was feeling neglected. It is a great illustration of appreciation toward those that you love but often forget to tell.

What are your Writing goals?
I would love to continue writing another poetry collection. I really enjoyed the process and liken it to flexibility training for my mind. I am currently finishing a book titled ‘If I give my two cents, will I get change?’. This is a self development book where I attempt to express my thoughts on aspects of success such as ‘adversity’, ‘teamwork’ and ‘ambition’. I also attempt to reverse engineer my previous achievements in hope that I can apply the lessons to other areas of my life.

What are your dream and goals?
At 17 I made a list of goals I wished to achieve by 2012. They included: Representing Scotland Rugby League, Gaining a Diploma and an Honours Degree, Starting a credible business and writing a well received book. I managed to achieve all of these by 2010 plus a few additional bonuses such as a baby daughter. I am currently looking to generate a new list of goals but have yet to finalise anything. A few things that will certainly appear on my forthcoming 5 year plan are; propose to Claire, take Claire and Emma to America for a holiday, write another poetry collection and buy a home. I have a feeling that this list will be much larger than my first.

What are your Hobbies?
I enjoy exercising but have found it difficult lately due to a number of commitments. Cooking has slowly crept in as one of my favourite Sunday afternoon activities. I also enjoy driving as odd as it sounds.

What is the writing process like for you? Do you sweat blood or do the words come easily? How many edits do you normally do before you feel your work is completed?
When it comes to writing I have to be free from potential ‘random’ noises such as the inconsistency of people speaking on TV and outside disturbance. However, I have a playlist that I can have on near full blast yet find that I can concentrate without distracting myself, as I know exactly what rhythm and word is coming next. I tend to find poetry extremely easy to write, most of my work took less than 30 minutes to write from start to finish. The longer non fiction work is another story, I often find myself writing in small blocks then leaving it for a day or two. My first book, ‘The Winners Monologue’ was the final product out of no less than 13 previous edits. My poetry collection, ‘Life, Love, Death’ endured around 4 and my final book, ‘If I give my two cents, will I get change’ is looking at 4 or 5 edits before being 100% complete.

Do you have an advice for aspiring writers?
Don’t write for fame or money; write because you believe in what you are penning. Money and fame should only ever be a by product of your work, not the reason for it. Don’t believe that just because you haven’t been snapped up by a publishing company or literary agent that your work is worthless. Take the time to edit and fine tune your work, there will be mistakes you have made. I cannot tell you how many times I have constructed a better and more effective sentence as a result of editing. My final piece of advice would be to welcome constructive criticism with open arms – Improve your strengths and strengthen your weaknesses.