“It’s about going, ‘fucking hell, isn’t life difficult and beautiful and magical and frustrating?’. That’s helpful!”
Laura’s blog|Twitter|Instagram|Newsletter|Books
My guest this week is author, journalist and storyteller Laura Jane Williams.
I first met Laura when we were both presenting at the Blogtacular conference a couple of years back, shortly after the publication of her first book. Since then she’s written a second, follow-up memoir and taught the secrets of her storytelling magic at workshops, classes and courses online.
She writes with spellbinding beauty across multiple platforms, including the most exquisitely crafted Instagram captions, so I called her up to dig into some of her secrets, and get the lowdown on her journey so far.
And in case the opening quote above wasn’t enough of a heads up – a warning for occasional adult language in this episode too.
“It’s just telling the truth about that moment, or about what that photo encapsulates about your day”
What we talked about:
- The self-belief and mindfulness of kids – and what we can learn from them
- What happens next when your dream comes true
- Why ‘writers block’ is a myth
- Why you are not your art, and you can’t let your self belief depend on it
- Having a healthy relationship with Instagram
- Telling the truth to build connections
- Instagram caption crafting
- Taking breaks from social media
- Connection vs validation
- Microblogging on Instagram
- Not caring about people laughing at you
- The importance of offering ‘value for follow’ in everything you post
Links mentioned in this episode:
- Becoming – Laura’s first book
- Ice Cream for Breakfast – the second book
- Stylist Live
- Laura’s online writing course
- Laura’s workshops & events
- Dooce.com
- Austin Kleon
- Steal Like an Artist
- Show your work
- Laura’s dating column for Grazia
- Jono Smart’s Instagram and podcast episode
- Girls Gone Child
- “I want to be around people that do things. I don’t want to be around people anymore that judge or talk about what people do. I want to be around people that dream and support and do things.”– Amy Poehler
- Laura’s new newsletter – How to eat an elephant
