November’s MKE Creatives at Anodyne Coffee drew once of the largest crowds we’ve had yet. This group just keeps on growing and growing! Lauren Fox, a fiction writer, came and talked with us about the path she found from being a staff member at Smithsonian magazine to a 3-times published fiction novel writer.
After our always energetic catching up and meeting of new friends, everyone gave a quick introduction and Lauren took the floor. She did her undergrad studies at UW-Madison and eventually ended up at Smithsonian magazine. All along she worked on her writing, but wasn’t able to make that jump to the first novel. In time, she got married, and she and her husband started a family. After some time, she and her husband had a big talk about whether they could make it on one income or not, deciding that they needed to give it a shot. Her husband kept his job, and Lauren left hers to dive into her writing full-time. As Lauren put it, “Whatever it takes, whatever financial or career sacrifices you have to make, you do that.Well, I didn’t do that. I had a baby. But, a year or so later…Really, the true through-line of my own story is “failure and redemption!””
Re: editors…”After I finished my first manuscript, I worked for the better part of year with an editor on it. I’ve been so lucky to find her – it’s now been 10 years since we started working together.
Re: her deeper experience as a writer…”I’ve started writing my fourth book, which as anyone one knows, is just as hard as it was for the first book I wrote.”
Re: self-marketing…”I try to pretend the marketing aspect doesn’t exist..but honestly, yeah, it does and it takes a lot of time.”
Re: how you get your foot in the door… “In the years of doing this, the big lesson I’ve learned is: If you’ve got connections – use them. No harm in that.”
Re: being a full-time writer…Q: “Have you made a regular schedule to work by, or…?”
A: ”The kids are in school now, so from about 9:15-3:00 is my writing time.”
Q: “So, you write that whole time?”
A: “Well, …well, I’m sitting there…”
Lauren was even generous enough to gift a few of her books to a few attendees!
To see past MKE Creatives meetups, click HERE.
