We were lucky to catch up with Ronika Merl recently and have shared our conversation below.

Ronika, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. What do you think matters most in terms of achieving success?

Success is a subjective and very malleable thing. What seems like a mundane little stepping stone to some is already the pinnacle of achievement to others.
I used to dream of winning an Oscar.
As a person who works in film, I daresay everyone in my industry has at least attempted to dream of that, or half-written their acceptance speech, or practised their “gracious winner face” in the bathroom mirror.
I don’t, now. Not that I won’t be happy if (when) it comes around, but I have learned to redefine success as what works for me personally. And it changes every single day. Because I adjust it to what the current conditions bring.
The big goal, the North Star (the dream of “making it”) doesn’t ever go away, but the smaller stepstones and the smaller successes to become redefined as I go along.
Rigidity in this business cannot be achieved, I think. And you can’t just focus on the one thing that you think “making it” is. Because chances are, you won’t get that exact thing. Instead, I’ve learned to focus on the achievements that give me the most pleasure: working with charities, creatively pushing myself, discovering new avenues.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I have been working as a writer for about six years now. I started with simple copy for magazines and websites, and then morphed myself towards the thing that had always been the goal, since I was 11 years old and watched The Lord of the Rings for the first time: screenwriting.
I think it was clear to me from the moment I could talk that I needed to tell stories. It was deeply ingrained into who I was as a person from a very young age. I was always a writer, I never really had a choice of being anything else. And I guess, writing stories that interested me, personally (as opposed to trying to write stories that would “fit”) just always seemed to work out best for me. What I also found was that I always come back to specific themes. Sometimes they are woven into my work without me even knowing.
I got my start in screenwriting about 5 years ago, when I placed as a finalist at the Nicholl Fellowship (which is the Oscar’s screenwriting program), and the attention I got from that opened a lot of doors.
The thing I am most proud of in my professional career is my flexibility. I love working with others – in film, this is a must. I find genuine enjoyment in seeing my stories being taken on by other creatives, and made into something different, something new.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

Freedom. And a certain amount of cheeky resilience. As artists, being broke for a few years in the beginning is not a turn off. It’s almost expected. The grind is as real for us as it is for any mighty finance guru, except we don’t have the monetary reward that those guys so masterfully achieve.
So our reward must come from something transcendental and magical – this untouchable thing that we call art.
It’s a very special feeling when a complete stranger tells you that they’ve connected to something that you’ve done. Something you created years ago, isolated, lost in your own world… all of a sudden that world has expanded, and you are part of someone else’s world. That’s very special. That’s quite unique… and very, very rewarding.

Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can provide some insight – you never know who might benefit from the enlightenment.

That this is not really a choice. For me, at least.
I have worked in the corporate world for almost 10 years, I worked for Microsoft, Google, worked in “normal” desk jobs – but the ultimate goal was always, always, always to get to a place where I could write. If someone made me time-travel right now, back to my early 20s again – the journey would be the same (though shorter).
If you put me at the bottom of a hole, with no access to a writing implement… I will carve it into the mud.
I can take breaks from it, I can force it away for a time. I can even pretend that my fingers aren’t itching to write – but I will never, ever not be a writer.

And yes, I could go take up a normal job again. Sure I could. I have, when commissions were low. But the goal of that is always to return to this status quo, this world in which I make a living by writing fiction.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://ronikamerl.com
• Instagram: @ronikamerl
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ronika-merl-37808798/
• Twitter: @ronika.merl

Image Credits

Shane Robinson