Laura Jane Williams: A most delightful chat.
I
don't need to ask. I know that you know
all about my love for this woman, readers – both her writing and
her being. And more. She's at the top of my (extensive) social media crush
list, her writing workshop I attended gave me mad inspo, and her
books are written in my favourite style – like I have a friend
chattering to me, dropping boundless wisdom into the convo now
and again which I of course lap up, happily.
Okay,
so. Laura Jane Williams (that's her, fyi), creator of Superlatively Rude, ex-Grazia columnist and author of 'Becoming: Sex, second chances and figuring out who the hell I am' (2016) and 'Ice Cream for
Breakfast: How rediscovering your inner child can make you calmer, happier, and solve your bullsh*t adult problems', which is out tomorrow!!!
I
was fortunate enough to chat with Laura after receiving a proof of
this gorgeous new read. As expected, it was an utter delight. In
fact, I'll stop rambling and delaying your reading of this excellent
interview now. Read on! Go!
***
So,
lovely Laura, these are gonna be some Qs about you as a superb writer
and human as well as a few specific ones about your new book, 'Ice Cream for Breakfast'. Hope that's
cool!
I mean, absolutely! WE'RE GONNA TALK ABOUT ME FOR TWENTY MINUTES? Me is my favourite subject! I'm in heaven!
I'll
start by asking...what have been your best and worst experiences
being interviewed (as a writer or for a job)?
Urm, I
guess you can tell when somebody is interviewing you with no idea of
who you are and what you do, and it's hard not to feel offended that
ultimately that's a waste of everyone's time: theirs, mine, and the
readers', who aren't gonna get much from a half-baked inquisition.
Like, shit! You don't have to know everything about
me, but at least do enough research that you're not taking the piss
out of the people you're expecting to consume your content! *rolls
eyes*
When
– and where – in your life did you realise you were meant to
write? That it was a natural talent you needed to use, and that you
had infinite magic to share with readers?
You flirt.
Well. Urm. When you came to one of my writing workshops you said
something about how you took for granted, for years, that everyone
"writes to see what they say" - that everyone has a brain
that needs to jot things down to make sense of them. That made so
much sense to me. I've long said that speech is my second
language... I have always had to put pen to paper to figure stuff
out, but I suppose it's not until I started blogging ten years ago
and making a public habit of it that I began to understand that ah,
no, not everyone processes information this way. Once I understood
that, I set to learning how to make what was on the screen in front
of me as interesting as possible. Began to develop a ~craft~ I
suppose you could say.
How
long did you work on 'Becoming: Sex, second chances, & figuring
out who the hell I am'? And what was it like then working to get it
published?
Fucking
ages, babe. I suppose as soon as I got my heart broken I started
jotting down notes - just for me, really, to - again - understand
what it was I was feeling. Then I started a creative writing degree
and the blog came about because I knew I had a responsibility to
build a community around my words - that if I ever did want to get
published, in whatever capacity, I'd be in a much stronger position
if I had both a good manuscript AND hard numbers to prove there was
an appetite for them. So, I started working on a social presence, and
that encouraged me to keep putting stuff online, and I was telling
everyone how I was writing a book so that I was accountable, and
marvellously also then further encouraged because people said they'd
love to read it one day. I came offline a bit to focus on getting it
done, and then blogged about needing an agent... the rest is history!
Social media has been a key component to me getting traditionally
published.
I
loved following your Insta stories when you were recording your
audiobooks recently. You said in one though that it was tough
re-reading your first book again, aloud and some time later. Why was
this?
The girl
in those pages doesn't exist any more, I think. And it's painful to
think she ever did. Reading what is basically your diary out loud is
always going to be an emotional, provocative experience! And, you
know, in a lot of ways the biggest gift I gave myself is that by
writing that book I got to let all of what happened go, so that I
might move forward. I don't know how healthy it might be to loiter
around that old narrative. I sat with those wounds and words for so
long, it's exciting for me to focus forward, now, whilst being so
very appreciative of what got me here.
Your
Insta posts and stories are straight up gorgeous. I love reading
every caption – and all of your tweet threads, too! How do you
decide what to write as an Instagram caption, what to piece together
in a Twitter thread, what should be saved for the blog and what can
only work in a book?
Instinct -
and I don't always get it right. Insta tends to work for more
heartfelt, emotive stuff, whereas Twitter is a great place to be
snarky or political. I once heard that if you're getting more than
three Tweets out of something you should pitch it as an article, but
journalism doesn't really make my heart sing. In those cases I start
to think about expressing myself on the blog, then, or wonder if what
I'm saying fits in with a bigger piece I'm working on. Ultimately
everything is copy, right?!
You
run the most excellent writing workshops (fact, can personally
confirm). What would you say is your favourite thing about teaching?
The
connection, I think. The human connection. That I get to sit with
groups of women and watch them unfold to themselves as their
confidence builds and they relax and they start trusting themselves
that what they have to say is valid and worthy and that they don't
need permission to say what they want to say. I am humbled by every
class I do, every cohort I work with. It's just... lovely.
One
of your recent workshops was to help writers craft the perfect pitch
and sell their stories. You listed your badass skillz and awesome
achievements pitching when advertising it, and whoa. If you had to
give one key tip to writers right here and now about getting people
to read what they write and want to buy it...what would that be?
Those are
two different questions - writing words people want to read is about
not giving a shit, telling a truth, and trusting that truth will
connect with the right people. When pitching projects, though,
getting a "yes" basically means leaving zero room for a
"no", and to do that you have to give ALL of the shits!
When
did you decide to write your second book about these kids you
nannied, and what they taught you about
life?
Actually,
I was asked my my publisher to do it. It's weird -- I nannied because
I was exhausted from writing, and really quite embarrassed by it.
Nannying didn't fit in with my idea of what a "successful"
"writer" looks like (LOL, I'm a dickhead). But folks would
comment on Instagram posts about my nannying days and say, "This
so has to be your second book!" and every time I'd think, "That
sounds like a very boring book". Then, at the end of last year,
Hodder said did I think I could cultivate what I'd learned from
nannying into some "life lessons", and that made so much
sense to me! Yes, I could! Those kids had done nothing BUT teach me
stuff!
Time
for a classic Q: what can we expect in this new book?
It's
forty lessons on what hanging out with smart, clever, insightful
girls taught me about the importance of sleep, and how to have
adventure, and asking for what you want - heck! That you're allowed
to have needs in the first place! It's got little prompt questions
and workbook space and the whole thing is packaged in this beautiful
dusty-coloured hardback. I'm so, so thrilled to put it out there. I'm
truly proud of it.
Finally, can you please tell us about the best breakfast you've ever had? Was it ice cream, or...?
Ha!
It wasn't ice cream, BUT! Breakfast is indeed my favourite meal of
the day, and honestly, a hotel buffet breakfast or good boozy brunch
would be death row meal for sure. Is that weird, that I've thought
about that?
***
There you have it! My goodness, this was one of my all-time fave author interviews. And definitely inspired me to do more; not to be scared of asking or fret over questions!
Thank you so much, Laura (is it weird that I sometimes call you LJ in my head? Blame Twitter!), for your time and general awesomeness. You rock. Heart emojis apenty.
In case y'all haven't already, now is the time to snatch up a copy of her new book.
Bear in mind that pre-ordering (on any website, in any way) is the best way to get good stats - and more readers! - for authors.
Have fun finding and nourishing your inner child, folks!
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