Welcome to The Creative Council, where I interview creatives about their lives and work and the ups and downs of being a creative soul.
Today’s interview is with Laura Perry! Laura is a priestess and creator who works magic with words, paint, ink, music, textiles, and herbs. She is the founder and Temple Mom of Ariadne’s Tribe, an inclusive Minoan spirituality tradition.
Her non-fiction books include Labrys & Horns: An Introduction to Modern Minoan Paganism, which is the official guidebook to Tribe spirituality. She has also written Ariadne’s Thread: Awakening the Wonders of the Ancient Minoans in Our Modern Lives, The Minoan Coloring Book, The Minoan Tarot, The Wiccan Wellness Book, and Ancient Spellcraft.
Her novels include the Minoan historical mlm romance Leap! A Love Story, the Minoan historical novel The Last Priestess of Malia, the urban fantasy The Bed, and the mystical adventure tale Jaguar Sky. Her articles have appeared in Spiral Nature, The Magical Times, Indie Shaman, SageWoman and Pagan Dawn magazines, among others.
When she’s not busy drawing, writing, or leading rituals and workshops, you can probably find her digging in the garden or giving a living history demonstration at a local historic site.
The Interview
Hi Laura! I can’t believe we’re finally having this conversation. Let’s dive right in!
· When did you start creating? Do you remember what pulled you in?
I’ve been creative for as long as I can remember. Before I could write, I made up stories and told them to an audience of stuffed animals. Once I was of school age, I began writing down some of the stories, though the stuffed animals still heard their share of out-loud versions. I’ve always felt that there’s something magical about being able to create an entire world with words, though obviously, as a child, I didn’t have the vocabulary to describe the process. I just felt it.
Creating, whether I’m writing or composing music or painting or doing handcrafts, has always been very much a heart-centered activity for me, even a sacred one. Think about it: What’s the primary activity that a deity is described as doing in the world’s varied and beautiful religions? Creating!
· When did you start pursuing your current craft for real? As in, when did you begin to take yourself seriously as a creator?
I actually had a bit of a roller-coaster experience, some real ups and downs regarding the craft of writing. In high school and college, my teachers and professors told me I was a good writer, and I made good grades in courses that involved writing. I wrote quite a lot and really enjoyed it. So I expected that writing on a professional level wouldn’t be that difficult.
However, there was a big gap in time between those classes and when I really began writing in earnest – a gap filled with jobs, marriage, children, divorce, spiritual and material upheaval, so many things that kept me occupied, with little time for creative pursuits. By the time I turned back to writing, I had lost the thread, so to speak, and had to start from the beginning again, find the spark again.
I was in my late twenties when one of my spiritual teachers pointed out that some work I had done as part of my spiritual practice was, functionally, the better part of a book about the ancient Minoans. I had been creating without realizing it! That’s when I really understood that creating isn’t something I do; it’s who I am. So I got busy honing my skills and learning the ropes of the publishing industry.
By my early thirties, I had published my first book. Looking back, it was a fairly quick process in the grand scheme of things, but believe me, it didn’t feel like it at the time! It’s hard to find perspective when you’re eyeball-deep in the work to achieve your goals.
· How long did it take you to complete your first work?
The manuscript I mentioned above, that I created as part of my spiritual practice, took me about two months to produce in its initial form. That form, however, wasn’t anywhere near ready for publication. Not even close. It took me another year to expand and polish it until I thought it was suitable for submission to publishers. But none of them wanted it, so I shelved it and worked on other projects.
In the meantime, a writer friend approached me on behalf of a publisher that was looking for new voices, and I was lucky enough to get a contract based on a proposal for a non-fiction book about Earth-oriented spirituality. That one took me four months to write, because I was working on a contractual deadline. Without the deadline breathing down my neck, I’m sure it would have taken longer. I wrote in 15- to 30-minute bursts in between taking care of an exuberant toddler. Don’t let anyone tell you that you have to write in long blocks of time. Whatever time you have, use it!
A second published book later, I finally returned to that first manuscript about the Minoans and spent a solid year reworking it. My writing skills had improved significantly in the meantime, and the revised version found a publisher.
· How long does it generally take you to complete a work?
The answer to that one lies somewhere between ‘it depends’ and ‘it’s complicated’. Most of my books, both fiction and non-fiction, began as ideas that hung around in my brain, and sometimes on scraps of notepaper, for months or even years before I finally started working on them in earnest. But as they say, ideas are a dime a dozen; it’s the finished product that’s most valuable.
Once I begin the dedicated process of writing, with the goal being a completed manuscript, it can take anywhere from a few months to a year or more. It largely depends on how much research is involved combined with how quickly I want or need to finish it. If I’m working against a publisher’s deadline, or even a personal one, I’ll prioritize the writing over other daily activities and get it done faster. That’s when Stephen King’s infamous ‘butt in chair, hands on keyboard’ dictum comes into play.
But if I don’t have a deadline, if the book is one of several projects that I’m working on simultaneously and it isn’t the highest priority, I’ll work on it whenever inspiration strikes (always, always write those words down when inspiration strikes or you won’t remember them later!). In those cases, it can take a year or even two to finish a book. But, of course, I will have completed other projects in the meantime. Writing isn’t the only creative thing I do.
· What do you struggle with most as a creative person?
Looking back over my many years of creating in different media (writing, art, handweaving, music, sewing, and historical costuming), I think my biggest overall struggle is the tension between creativity and practicality. By that I mean, trying to determine whether to prioritize the freedom to create whatever I’m inspired to, regardless of how anyone else might feel about it, and the need to pay the bills and put food on the table. This is an issue that’s familiar to a great many creative people.
For me, it manifests in the process of judging whether any particular project I want to undertake is marketable, and if so, how marketable. If I have an idea for a book I’d like to write, how much weight should I put on how it’s likely to be received by niche or genre readers and the general public? Am I willing to invest the time and money to self-publish a book that I really want to write but that’s so unusual that I probably won’t find a publisher for it and that won’t sell many copies?
Or do I want to put in the time to write it and not publish it, just to satisfy my own creative urges? What if it doing that would take time away from creative projects that are likely to turn a profit? Where does the value of creativity for its own sake lie in a capitalist society? It’s a constant tug-of-war.
· Have you always had that struggle or has it changed over time?
It has changed over time. When I was a kid and then a college student, I didn’t support myself, so the issue didn’t exist. Then, for a while, I had nine-to-five jobs and undertook creative activities on the side. So it didn’t matter as much whether I made ‘real money’ at any of those pursuits. But once I decided to put all my eggs in one basket and roll all the creative activities together into a full-time job, it became an ever-present issue. It’s one I’ll probably grapple with for the rest of my life.
· What advice would you give to creatives dealing with the same?
Whether you’re trying to do your creative stuff full-time or trying to squeeze in the creative pursuits in your off hours after a full-time job, remember that your creativity is a precious gift and not a commodity. It can be so hard to keep that spark alive when you’re up to your ears in time-crunches, budget hassles, and other practical issues.
Find people who support your values and goals. Ideally, that would include the people you live with, whether that’s family or roommates. At the very least, find a local or online community to help you stay focused and fired up. We all struggle with various issues in our daily lives and our creative activities. You don’t have to shoulder that burden alone. Let others help you carry it, and in turn you’ll help them carry on as well.
· What do you do to stay inspired?
I put my short attention span to good use! I’m one of those people who always has several projects going at once: two or three writing projects, artwork, fiber arts, and other creative media. When the project I’m working on starts to feel like a drag, like it’s effort without pleasure, I switch to a different one, preferably one that’s noticeably different from the first. That could mean that if I’m working on a novel, I switch to a non-fiction book or a painting or I work on a song that I’m composing.
I feel like it’s inappropriate to expect creativity to be ‘schedulable’ the way, for instance, accounting or office administration is. Yes, sometimes you have to get down to it if you’ve got a deadline looming. But, for me at least, creativity comes in waves. I make sure to take advantage of those waves of inspiration when they appear and ride them all the way out. But I also recognize that we’re humans, not robots, and we can’t force creativity any more than we can force emotions. So I’ve organized my activities with the aim of being able to roll from one to another and back again whenever I start to flag. That way one project or another is always moving forward.
· What’s the best creative advice you ever received?
My favorite advice wasn’t actually aimed at writing or other creative endeavors, but at child-rearing (which involves its own set of creativity). My grandmother once told me, ‘They’ll outgrow it if you let them live through it.’ I had to laugh when she said it, but it’s true! And it’s true not only of children but also of creative pursuits. We change and grow over time as we work on our creations.
Whatever problem or issue you’re facing right now, either it will go away or you’ll change so you can see it differently. I suppose the underlying message here is patience, with ourselves and our creations. Nobody’s perfect, and expecting ourselves to be able to face and fix every issue the moment it appears is unrealistic and unfair. We’re only human. Let’s cut ourselves some slack.
You can find and connect with Laura on her website, where each of her books has its own page, including links to places where they can be purchased online, Substack, Facebook, Instagram, and Mastodon.
Are you a creative and would you like to be interviewed next? E-mail me at marielle@mswordsmith.nl and we’ll make it happen!