"Through journaling, I have regular 'conversations' with what I call the 'old lady' part of myself… the compassionate and wise woman I hope to be in fifty years. "
--Laura Resau
Day Three with Laura Resau
You began writing your first book What the Moon Saw after you’d spent two years in
There were really two parts of the process of revealing myself as a writer to the world. The first step was to start showing my writing to family and friends. After my first year living in Mexico I put together some spiral-bound, photocopied books filled with my essays, poems, stories and photos inspired by my first year in Oaxaca. I felt shy exposing this piece of my soul, but my desire to share my experiences won out over my fears. I wanted other people to know about this fascinating little corner of the world that I'd been getting to know and love.
It took me a while to admit to myself that I wanted to be a writer as my primary profession… and to arrange my life to make this a possibility. In grad school in anthropology, I would get up before dawn to squeeze in a couple precious hours of writing before I went to classes, fulfilled RA and TA responsibilities, did volunteer work, wrote academic papers, and read endless journal articles (which left me utterly exhausted at the end of the day.) Eventually I realized that those couple hours before dawn, doing creative writing, were the hours I felt most alive, and that ultimately, that I wanted to be a novelist, not an anthropology professor.
The next step was to begin sending my stories and essays and book manuscript (What the Moon Saw) in for publication, and deal with the rejection that was part of the process. I co-founded a writers group here in
I began going to conferences, and at the first ones, I felt way too nervous to talk to editors or agents or published writers. I did manage to begin networking with other pre-published writers, which made me realize that we all have fears and anxieties surround writing and publishing. I felt a strong sense of community with all these pre-published writers, and eventually (once I got over the palm-sweating, voice-shaking nervousness), I found support with published writers who encouraged me as well.
Do you see any correlation in the way you’ve followed other dreams to fruition in your life?
I've found that regular journaling helps me stay in touch with my feelings and goals, and ensure that I follow through with them. Through journaling, I have regular "conversations" with what I call the "old lady" part of myself… the compassionate and wise woman I hope to be in fifty years. She always helps me put my life into perspective and understand what I need to be doing, whether it's in the realm of creativity, relationships, travel, or other dreams and goals.
When my thoughts are stuck inside my head, they often feel muddled, but once I have conversations with myself on paper, everything becomes much clearer. I honestly don't think I could have written and published my books (or followed through with other life goals) without journaling throughout the process.
Now that you have two award winning books, are launching your new series and will soon have a new middle grade out, has your writing process changed? Just as your writing evolved from being locked in a box to being sent out into the world, perhaps another evolution is moving from a first novel to a series. Can you talk about this evolution and what it’s meant to your writing? What about your relationship with your editor? How has it evolved over time?
Just when I think I have the writing process down pat, something changes—like having a baby or being flooded with author visit requests – and then I have to reflect on how I'm spending my time, and make adjustments. For me the conflicts mainly have to do with finding a balance between the unconscious/wild mind/depths/stream-of-consciousness part of writing and the conscious/meeting-deadlines/sticking-to-a-schedule/book-promoting part of the writing life.
The unconscious part requires being alone, embracing playfulness, spontaneity, having time to sit and stare into space, taking long, meandering walks… all things that feel hard to justify now that I have a child and want to spend time with him, not to mention the tight deadlines of series-writing and tons of unanswered emails piling up.
My relationship with my editor at Delacorte has been wonderful from the beginning. For my first five books with Stephanie, I gave her fairly polished manuscripts that required only one round of relatively minor revisions. For the sequel to The Indigo Notebook, I handed her a manuscript that was much rougher than anything of mine she'd seen before. This was painful for me, since it had been drilled into my head that a manuscript had to be polished to a shine before an editor saw it. I was worried Stephanie would think I'd suddenly turned into a terrible writer.
I just got her comments back last week… and I'm so glad I did send it to her in its rough state, because she had some big revision suggestions that are fairly easy to incorporate at this stage. We had a long phone conversation about possible endings (and how they might fit with the third book in the series), which was something we'd never done with my other books, but was definitely useful in this case.
You’ve written that your decision to adopt a child came with some trepidation about not being able to travel as much as you have in the past. How has being a mother affected your writing? (I love the idea of you finding a room of your own in the small silver trailer you bought to put outside your house. Do you see a metaphor in that it’s a travel trailer, and you love to travel?)
Yes, my trailer is symbolic in many ways… it's the vehicle in which I travel to other lands in my imagination. It's been a much-needed refuge when I need to have writing time alone, especially before my toddler started daycare. I’m grateful that I'm making enough money at this point to afford daycare, but I still feel guilty that I can't spend more time with my son. I've tried different ways to use time more efficiently.
Sometimes I've tried to stick to a tight schedule of X number of pages per day, but I feel that the writing I do with only the "rational" part of my mind lacks soul. Still, it's hard to justify doing creative activities that nourish my writer's soul but aren't directly contributing to the word count. If I take a solitary walk by the river while my son's at daycare, part of me thinks, Oh, God, I'm a selfish mother! Yet letting the story simmer in my unconscious mind is really a necessary part of my writing process. I'm still trying to deal with this! (And I welcome suggestions!)
Thanks for your wonderful, interesting questions, Zu! It's been a joy!
Tomorrow, librarian and reader’s advisor Cathy Ensley talks about teen readers, technology and the special flavor and insight behind her brand new blog.
--z.v.
Add a Comment