Laura Fyfe, writer, poet, former Stirling Makar, and lapsed parachutist
The Creative Council
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 interviewee is Laura Fyfe!
Lapsed parachutist Laura Fyfe lives in river deep, mountain high Stirling and suffers a chronic low-boredom threshold. She has tutored in the University of Stirling and collaborates with organisations across Scotland, including schools, libraries and prisons. She enjoys nothing more than to experiment with words.
Laura’s non-fiction books Wellspring and Magpie Mind draw on her experience as a tutor, helping writers defeat procrastination and inspire creativity. Laura has a few novels hidden away in the depths of her computer, none of which she’s happy enough with yet to offer to publishers.
Her poetry has been published in lit mags including Gutter and Butcher’s Dog. Her work was shortlisted in the Bridport Prize and Plaza Prose-Poetry Prizes. Pamphlet ‘The Truth Lies’ is available from Red Squirrel Press, and new pamphlet ‘Endless Blue’, is available from Stewed Rhubarb. She was the Stirling Makar for an unprecedented four years.
The Interview
Hello Laura! It’s been a while since we had one of these chats, so I’m looking forward to what wisdom you have in store for us today!
· When did you start creating? Do you remember what pulled you in?
I remember a dream I had when I was a child. It was about a pair of cats falling in love! I must’ve been four, maybe five, but I remember so clearly how it made me feel and remember telling my aunties about it and making them laugh. Reading and discussing books with my hard-working parents. The telling of stories that mean something to you, the connection that creates with others, that’s the thing. The compassion, love, humour – the shared humanity.
· When did you start pursuing your current craft for real? As in, when did you begin to take yourself seriously as a creator?
When I turned thirty. I was in a job I found fulfilling in some ways but tremendously frustrating in others. I felt like a round peg in a square hole. I went part-time and started digging my escape tunnel: I started up a business to help aspiring and stuck writers, writing workshops. After several years of teaching teenagers, I knew that the best way to learn something was to help others learn it too. Motherhood and the need for a little security have slowed me down a little, but now, thirteen years on, I’m still writing, publishing, and being published.
· Are you still having fun?
Yes! I love the flexibility that the writing life offers. I tend to follow my nose. Being appointed as Stirling’s Makar (poet laureate) gave me the chance – and the drive – to focus more on writing poetry. Which has honed my craft immeasurably. It’s also given me so many fantastic opportunities. But I’m looking forward to coming back to prose writing now.
· How are you making sure it stays fun?
By reading widely, by experimenting, stretching myself, collaborating with other people. Revelling in inspiration wherever and whenever it comes up.
· What has been your biggest ‘mistake’ thus far, and what would you tell people about to make that same mistake?
I developed a book in app format. This was a great achievement for me and, as a parenting support, it gave me what I needed at the time when I was struggling with a toddler. But, though it was a great idea, it was too far away from my experience, and too far away from what I really wanted to do. It was still an achievement and helped a few people, but I didn’t have enough motivation or knowledge to push it properly and it didn’t really go anywhere. Others have provided apps now that do what I’d envisioned but much more professionally and successfully.
· Of all the milestones you’ve reached thus far, what has been your favourite? How did you celebrate it?
There have been so many! Self-publishing my first book, Wellspring, which helps writers settle into regular routines. Being traditionally published, both in esteemed literary magazines and by respected publishers. Performing at the Scottish Parliament. Having a poem projected up onto the Wallace Monument for all around to see.
I tend to celebrate in quite a dull way. Dinners and drinks and get-togethers with friends can be great fun, but, as an introvert, the most meaningful celebration happens when I’m on my own and let things sink in. I celebrate by taking a moment, letting an achievement shore up my confidence for a while, then get on with my next project, bigger and better.
· What do you struggle with most as a creative person?
Procrastination! I’m the only person I know whose procrastination over writing is so bad, they started a business! I’ve written two books to help others with their procrastination and creative process, and several blogs, and led innumerable workshops – all of which are rewarding, but all are also, in part, ways to avoid writing my novels. Just sit down. That’s the toughest bit. Know your fears but don’t feed them. Write despite them. Take all thinking and ego out of that initial stage and simply follow where your pen, or keyboard, wants to take you.
Also, as someone who was horribly bullied when young, I’m afraid of the tall poppy syndrome. I try to find a positive way of countering this. For anyone who doubts what I might be able to do, I dig my heels in and prove them wrong. I exorcise my demons: by working with a wonderful anti-bullying organisation here in Scotland and helping young people who face the same – and worse - struggles that I did. I have great friends who encourage me, and a solid support at home. I give out what I hope for, celebrate others’ successes, and feel sympathy with those who can’t be happy when others do well.
· What do you do to stay inspired?
I read, I people-watch, I go to galleries or out into nature, watch great television and film. As I advise in Magpie Mind, it’s a great idea to make the most of a spontaneous inspired moment and write about it as soon as you can. It keeps you addicted to the creative buzz, and because you’ve opened yourself up to it, it happens more and more often.
· Fuck fear: Yes or no?
Absolutely, fuck fear! That’s one of my mantras. Rather than Susan Jeffers’ advice to ‘Feel the fear and do it anyway,’ instead I tell people, ‘fuck the fear and do it anyway.’ Fear is undoubtedly useful in general. It warns us of danger and so helps keep us safe. But in the writing world, things are rarely too dangerous, other than to our egos! There are plenty of times I’ve felt embarrassed, or not done as well as I would have liked. But I’ve always survived, and either laugh or learn afterwards, usually both.
In the planning stages of a project, performance, or book, I sometimes feel intimidated but I mostly feel excitement. I take things one tiny step at a time to stave off any feeling of overwhelm, and work hard to make sure the piece is as good as it can possibly be. Then, as the launch or performance happens, that’s when I feel terrified. But you put that feeling off to one side, do your best, and relax and take the learning from it afterwards.
· What is the biggest compliment you ever received about your work?
This is a hard one for me. Whereas criticism stays with me for a long time, and I use it to improve my work and my relationships and my understanding of others’ vulnerabilities, compliments don’t tend to hang around in my memory for long. It’s easy to dismiss because you never know when people are just being polite. So, most recently, I’ve done an experimental poetry installation in a local gallery, in which people sit and watch some of my more mindful film poems, then fill out a before and after card to show how it’s affected them. The comments that people have given on those cards, anonymously, have been incredibly inspiring. Knowing that something you’ve written has inspired or consoled someone on a difficult day is the best compliment a writer can receive.
· What’s the best creative advice you ever received?
Follow the fear — especially in prose. That’s what often drives charachters most, deep down. That’s where the conflict is, that’s where the suffering (and therefore the humanity) is. In poetry, it’s more general than that, follow what moves you.
· As you might know, I’m pretty woo-woo. On a scale of 1 to ‘I was burned at the stake in a previous lifetime’, how woo-woo are you? And how does that express itself in your life and/or your creative practice?
I try to be fairly grounded. I was a total hippy as a teenager, practised crystal healing and so on and became qualified in Reiki. But I’ve settled into Buddhist study for now, which gives my practice more discipline and focus. These are just facts of life for me: the solace we find in what expands beyond ourselves. The things we don’t, can’t, or won’t understand, beyond our human understanding. The intuition that tarot (or runes or I Ching, etc,) taps into, the peacefulness and raw power of nature. What we don’t see with our eyes but understand with our souls. How tiny we are. These all come across in my poetry and in my advice to other writers, through sympathy and understanding of the struggles we all share in this weird old writing life.
You can find Laura and her work here. Laura’s upcoming poetry collection, Endless Blue, will be published next week and can be pre-ordered here.
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!