My interview with creative Laura Wagner, Writer
Writer Laura Wagner on finding inspiration in unexpected moments on city streets, allowing writing to flow without interruption, and exploring ideas through quiet, uninterrupted expression
In this episode, I interview Laura Wagner, a writer from New York who was born in Brooklyn, raised on Long Island, and has been a Manhattan resident for the past 30-plus years. Laura explains that she doesn’t have a specific discipline – instead, inspiration hits her sometimes in the middle of the night or while walking down the busy city streets, where she might see a word that becomes her creative spark.
She expresses her creativity through writing, and shares an example of how hearing a word several years ago led her to create a story about springtime in New York. The word referenced Lady Bird Johnson, who was married to Lyndon Johnson and created a beautification programme across America, and from that single word, Laura created what she describes as one of her more flowery yet descriptive stories. She explains what she loves most about writing – that it gives her so many opportunities to express herself quietly, without interruption, without phones beeping – just allowing her thoughts to flow onto the page, piece by piece, until the work reveals itself.
Laura Wagner, Writer
Interview with Laura Wagner
Introduction
MD: Hi Laura.
LW: Hi Meg.
MD: Can you just begin by introducing yourself with your name and where you’re from?
LW: Laura Wagner from New York, New York. Born in Brooklyn, raised on Long Island, and for the past 30 plus years, a Manhattan resident.
Creative Discipline
MD: Can you tell me, what is your creative discipline? What do you do creatively?
LW: I don’t have a discipline. And for me, inspiration hits sometimes in the middle of the night. Sometimes walking down, you know, one of the busy city streets, I’ll see a word and that word becomes my inspiration.
MD: How do you express your creativity?
LW: Through writing.
MD: Through writing.
LW: Yes.
Creative Process
MD: So, tell me more about this process where you might say a word or, you know, tell me what your process is, like once you’ve got that.
LW: Okay, so if I’ll hear a word, for example, several years ago, there was some mention of beautification and many, many years ago, we had a first lady in the United States named Lady Bird Johnson, who was married to Lyndon Johnson. And she created an entire program for the beautification of America, which those years was still pretty beautiful. And so from that word, I created this story about springtime in New York. And it turned into, I think, one of my more flowery, but very descriptive stories. And, you know, that’s how it happens. And sometimes, as I said, in the middle of the night, I’ll think of something that will spark the interest to create, you know, a verbal, written, scratch this, yeah, a written piece on, you know, this idea, I’ll expand on it. And that’s what I’ve loved about writing, is that I have had so many opportunities to express myself quietly, without interruption, without a cell phone beeping, just, you know, it flows. And it’s been, for me, the best form of expression.
MD: Once you’ve got your idea and you’re working on that, do you put it aside after you’ve worked on it for a bit and then come back to it? Like, what’s that process?
LW: Always, almost always, you know, I don’t think I’ve ever submitted a story that was written and then left the computer. It’s always, which is a good lesson in life, is to think about something before you send it out. And that’s the process for me. You know, I edit, I re-edit, I have an editor at the publication that I’ve submitted my column to, and I very often, at this point, hear her voice. So I make corrections knowing what she would say, you know, which has been a great tool.
Creative Inspiration
MD: That’s a great little thing to keep in the back of your mind. Who or what or where do you get your creative inspiration from?
LW: So, such a variety of places. My children, my family, where I live, the surrounding boroughs of New York. There are five boroughs in New York, so most of my stories focus on the different boroughs and the different neighbourhoods within the boroughs. That’s food for lots and lots of, you know, of stories.
MD: So location is really important to you?
LW: Location is very, very important. Because so many neighbourhoods, unbeknownst to many people who are not familiar with New York, have such a variety of personalities. You know, there are sections in New York that are literally a few blocks from another section in New York that are a complete antithesis. You know, one can be a hip, gritty kind of place to live, and a few blocks away could be a very upscale, trendy community. So that’s the beauty of New York City, is that within a small framework, you have such a variety of options.
MD: So are you like treading the footpath or the pavement, whatever you want to call it? We call it footpath.
LW: We call it pavement, yeah.
MD: So are you treading the pavement, looking for inspiration for?
LW: Very often. That’s a great question. And very often it comes from walking down Madison Avenue, you know, and I’ll notice something. There was, it was right around Halloween, and there was a dog walker with a dog that was dressed up as a scarecrow. So, you know, things like that happen pretty much in a big city. I can’t imagine seeing something like that in a small suburb. There are many private schools, elementary schools in New York, and these little, adorable children walk linked by a strap, almost the way you would walk a dog. So you would see, like, sometimes up to 20 kids, you know, walking, not necessarily hand-in-hand, but linked by the strap. And they’re all dressed in their little uniforms, and it’s just a sight to behold. It’s really unusual and, I think, significant in big cities, because in a suburb, the mother would drive the child to school. They would be taken by a school bus, but that’s not the case in the city. And that’s been a, you know, cause for stories of how, you know, children grow up in a big city differently than they would, you know, on, you know, on Long Island or any of the surrounding suburbs.
MD: Yeah, I love that. And so, things that catch your eye.
LW: What very often catches my eye, because I’ve been told that I’m observant, and I know that I am. So I might see something that someone else may not see. I am very, very, very inspired by fashion. And in New York, you know, there are a lot of very fashionable people, men and women. And sometimes I’ll just see someone dressed in something so outrageous that it’s the cause of an article. Yeah, or a written story.
MD: Yep, yep. And I’ve noticed your observation skills here too, with some of the things that you’ve written and that you talk about.
Creative Routine
MD: Tell me about your creative routine. Do you have a routine? If you do, what is it? What do you find helpful to get yourself to do the work?
LW: My inspiration comes at a variety of times. As I said a few minutes ago, I could wake up in the middle of the night, get out of bed, go to my desk and write something. It could be a sentence, go back to bed. And in the morning, I’ll, you know, be re-inspired. But I don’t have a routine like many people do, and mainly many writers. Many of my friends have encouraged me to get up and write for two hours straight and then do my day. But I can’t do that because, you know, it’s forced and it doesn’t feel natural. But when I’m inspired, which could happen every day for a week or every other week, you know, there’s no routine. But when I am, you know, I could really shoot out a story quickly.
MD: So if you had a deadline, do you then enforce a routine?
LW: Well, that’s also a great question because I have had deadlines. And sometimes, surprisingly, I work best under pressure because I know that I have to produce. So that’s been somewhat of a shot in my arm to, you know, create. But I don’t have any formal process that I follow every day. Maybe after this three weeks, I may start because I have a few new ideas for what I’d like to, you know, create, you know, in the future.
MD: Have you ever used, like, self-imposed deadlines to get yourself to finish things?
LW: No. No, very seldom. Unless, you know, I’m working on something that I put down, like in the middle of a story. That also doesn’t happen often. But when it does, I want to get back to it. I have no unfinished work. So that’s one, you know, one thing that I guess I should be happy about. But most of my stories have a beginning, a middle, an end. And some of them which have not been published, in my opinion, are some of the best things I’ve written. So that, the three weeks at the Chateau has created this idea to put those stories together and call it New York Stories or, you know, something that relates to what I write about.
Creative Wisdom
MD: Yeah, I love that. If you were to have a conversation with someone who’s at the beginning of their creative journey, whatever it is that they’re creating, what would be the pearl or pearls of wisdom that you would want to impart on them?
LW: Okay. I would encourage anyone. You know, I started really late in life. I’ve always enjoyed writing, but I never took myself seriously. I would say that if there is this burning desire to tell a story, to start by keeping a journal, you know, and just jotting down ideas. And when you feel more comfortable with what you’ve written, then to explore, you know, the possibility of putting it into a story and seeing how that sounds. My writing, and I’ve said this to many people, I’ll go public with it now, my writing has been my best voice. You know, I feel that I write far better. I express myself far better on paper than I do verbally. So I would say to a beginner or someone starting out, take yourself seriously. You know, don’t call it a hobby. Call it something that you may turn into a life’s work.
Connect with Laura Wagner
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Podcast for creatives
If you haven’t discovered Creative Momentum with Meg Dunley podcast, I’d recommend having a listen. It has weekly drops of these bite sized episodes that feature creatives talking about their creative process, routine and inspiration. Each week has some great pearls of wisdom for everyone who is living or wishes they were living a creative life.
