Creative Interview with Conor Charlton

I'm sitting here with Northern Irish writer and actor, Conor Charlton on a cool November morning. He's been up since 6 am and got up to train Muay Thai. I ask him about his discipline and whether this is a regular routine and he replies with a smirk "When I can. Today was a bit more about sweating out the naughtiness of the weekend. My best buddies and I went out for our pre-Christmas, Christmas drinks." His eyes smirk as much as his lips, in a way which talks of untold tales. "Should you be admitting that in an interview situation?" "Perhaps not, but perhaps honesty should be seen as the best policy. I also believe in working hard and playing hard, so I try to keep things balanced." I ask him why he's applied for the position and what makes him qualified. "I love content writing. I've been doing it since March 2021. Most of my work has been for clients on Fiverr. I've written about a wide variety of topics, martial arts, business practices, history, food and drink as well as the hospitality industry. On one occasion someone asked me to write a thousand words on LED Video walls. I ended up going on a deep dive and wrote him two thousand, enough for multiple articles. He tipped quite generously." "So it's fair to say you enjoy researching and take an interest in a variety of topics?" "Yes, absolutely. I'm curious about so many subjects. I think the most creative people tend to be, as the curiosity allows them to understand the world as a whole." "Interesting. What about business, what do you know of it?" "Well, I recently left a customer management position in one of the Big 4. I also obtained a PgCert in Business Analysis and Consulting over lockdown through Ulster University, so I have a good understanding of the various analysis tools and how they might be applied. I've written content articles about the business world before, including one which was ghostwritten for Forbes." "Forbes? That's quite impressive. Tell me about the article." "The article was to accompany a podcast episode, that looked at how business and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu overlapped. Gordon Ryan, considered one of the greatest grapplers of all time was the guest. He talked about patience, progression and analysis. Allowing your competition to make moves before you capitalized on their mistakes. Sometimes micro-movements can have big effects on your business and your position within a fight." "That's a bit different. I can see that you can't speak Spanish?" Conor pauses here to take a moment to think and reflect. There's a fleeting look of somberness. "Yes, I don't have many regrets, but I lived in Barcelona for about twenty months over a three year period. I should have spent more time going to classes and talking to South Americans and those from other parts of Spain. Catalan people are notoriously closed and also speak Catalan, which may be a beautiful language, but is much less useful than the wider spoken Castellano. I don't like to make excuses, but due to the loss of my father, I was going through a period where I focused more on the playing hard than the working hard." "That's tough, though I thank you for your honesty again." "You're welcome. Life can be that way sometimes." "Where do you see yourself in five years time?" "I'd like to be more successful in everything that I do. I also intend to have a house of my own. It's much easier to be on the property market in Belfast compared to various other spots in the UK, but it's not without its challenges. I think I'll still be content writing in some form, as it'll help feed into my fictional writing as well. It worked for David Simon and he wrote The Wire, arguably the greatest television programme ever made. Can you tell me more about the role?" At this point, I gave Conor a breakdown of the type of work we carry out, satiating his curiosity. A link to his work. https://charlto.blogspot.com/2022/11/interview-with-gordon-ryan.html