Grace Lewis reveals how one woman made the most of her HR experiences
“Robert felt Jane's fingers trembling. She was nervous and agitated. She's vulnerable. He was frustrated. He was not playing games.”
No, you didn’t miss an unexpectedly racy workforce-planning meeting. It’s an extract from The Passionate Love of a Rake, the latest historical bodice-ripper from romantic novelist Jane Lark, who hides a dark and unexpected secret – by day, she’s a fully fledged HR professional.
Lark has become so successful in her sideline that she recently signed a book deal with HarperCollins and has earned rave reviews from Amazon (“an incredible talent”), among others. But she’s not yet planning to relinquish her role heading up an employee engagement team at a major government department – which is why we’re keeping her real identity quiet.
“Writing is my escapism, so I don’t see it as work,” says the 47-year-old CIPD member. “I see it as using a different side of my brain than my normal nine-to-five, and every evening I skip off into a different world and let the fantasy pour out through my fingers.”
A successful 15-year HR career has given Lark a bank of information on people and working habits, which she regularly draws on in novels including The Illicit Love of a Courtesan and Capturing The Earl’s Love.
“Working with people means I have mixed with so many personalities. My work is like a Myers-Briggs personality test and I can almost pick aspects of each test to build a believable character,” she says.
While Lark is busy juggling promotional duties and scheduling book tours around her busy HR calendar, I’m left wondering whether I could be spending my evenings more productively…
But she assures me juggling the two worlds isn’t as labour-intensive as it seems and in fact, the life of a novelist and an HR professional are not too dissimilar.
“A lot of authors say they are people-watchers but I probably have spent most of my HR career not just watching, but studying and understanding people,” she says.
Three of Lark’s HR colleagues have already divulged their secret passion for writing since she revealed her alter ego to them, and undoubtedly there are many more HR professionals crafting their penmanship skills.
Could we be their inspiration for the next novel?
I’m ready for my close-up Mrs Lark.