Ask the Author: Jillian Lauren
Answered Questions (8)
Jillian Lauren
Sure I do! The writers I was most influenced by while writing my latest were Joan Didion, Nick Flynn, Maxine Hong Kingston, Anne Lamott, and Mary Karr. Just looking at that list makes me want to go pick up a book right now.
Jillian Lauren
Thanks very much! So glad you enjoyed it.
Jillian Lauren
When we first adopted our son I started a blog (www.jillianlauren.com/blog). It began as a way to let our family and friends know what was going on with the adoption, but very soon, as things got progressively more challenging for us, it turned into my lifeline of connection with the world. That blog and the journey it chronicled inspired the book.
Jillian Lauren
Inspiration is a mystery. Some days the whole world inspires me- a bite of cereal, a twig, my child's laugh, a glint of sunlight in a puddle. Some days all of the exact same stuff feels flat and lifeless, rendered in black and white. Some days I'm on fire with images and ideas and some days I think I'll never have another interesting thought. I wish I could find a common denominator, some key to what turns the magic on and off. But I suppose then it wouldn't be magic, it would be a mechanism. Maybe it's the constant search for the elusive magic that keeps us hungry, keeps us creating, keeps us examining the world from different perspectives.
Jillian Lauren
I'm excited to be back to my theatrical roots and writing a musical right now. The subject is top secret.
Jillian Lauren
Write, write, write. And read, read, read. Learn to recognize self-doubt as an occupational hazard and don't ever give up.
Jillian Lauren
The best thing about being a writer is that you have a reason to really notice the world- to look, to listen, to take notes. Whatever happens to you, in the end you get to have the story. No one can take that from you. Being a writer taught me that, and it's been a tremendously empowering thing in my life.
Jillian Lauren
People always get mad at me for saying this, but I don't believe in writer's block. I think it's just an elevated term for garden variety resistance. My husband says that I have a practically Puritanical work ethic. A marathon runner doesn't get up in the morning to train and say, "I just don't feel inspired to run today. I'm blocked. I'm going back to put my head under the covers." A runner puts one foot after the other until the miles are done. Some days she feels like the wind and some days she feels like a sack of potatoes.You have to write your way through the block. It may take days or weeks or months of writing garbage until you get to the gold, but I believe the only way through it is through it.
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