009: Writing Essays to Get Through Adversity with Laurie Easter

Welcome to Season 2! This season is all about memoirs.

In this first episode in Season 2 of The Nature Of Authors, Chrissy interviews Laurie Easter, author of All The Leavings. Chrissy starts with an icebreaker related to nature and another one related to writing.

Laurie's memoir, All The Leavings, is a collection of essays about a young woman becoming a mother early and moving to be off the grid. It explores love and risk: giving birth in a rustic cabin; the destructive power of wildfires; losing friends to cancer, AIDS, suicide, and meth; encounters with birds and mountain lions; and the unthinkable potential loss of a child to illness.

Throughout the episode, Laurie and Chrissy discuss how to get through adversity and suffering, writing memoirs and creative nonfiction versus other genres, and the writing and revising process. Laurie then reads a line that gets at the heart of her memoir.  We continue the conversation about writing form (narrative, braided, or mosaic essays, the form of a crossword puzzle, hermit crab essays, and more.) and writing prompts.

Laurie then reads another one of her favorite paragraphs. Chrissy and Laurie finish the conversation with what it's like to live off the grid.  Be sure to check out All The Leavings and connect with Laurie Easter.

Want to learn more about the world of writers? Subscribe to "The Nature Of Authors" on your favorite podcast platform. Have a burning question you'd like to ask upcoming guests? Reach out at www.chrissyholm.com. 

Until next time, keep reading, writing, spending time in nature, and dreaming up new worlds, my friend.

Support the show

Want to learn more about the world of writers?

• Subscribe to "The Nature Of Authors" on your favorite podcast platform

Have a burning question you'd like to ask upcoming guests?

• Reach out at www.chrissyholm.com

Until next time, keep reading, writing, spending time in nature, and dreaming up new worlds, my friend.