Interview with Writer Laura Grevel
1. Have you always been a writer?
As a child, I was a nature lover and a reader. I began writing at 17 and discovered great satisfaction in telling biographical stories and writing essays. In college, I began writing short stories and some poetry. Afterwards, I wrote novels too.
I have not always been a full-time writer. I have been an accountant, a farmer (on a small full-circle organic farm working with horses), a mother, a wife, an activist, an immigrant, a parent who gave major tutoring support to my children when moving from country to country and switching languages, and from living in various countries became a passionate linguist and learner of languages. All of my experiences have crossed over into my writings and enriched them.
2. When did you realize that maybe writing was actually a "thing" you could do, get published and even sell?
In graduate school while studying creative writing, I learned that some people did make a living, though it was difficult. Earlier in my life, I also considered journalism, but I preferred to write in a very private setting, which journalism did not afford. But I saw that it was difficult at that time, in the late 1980s, to make a living writing fiction. Magazines that published short fiction were becoming fewer. I wrote short stories and novels for years, submitting some of them a few times, mostly to university literary journals which can be rather snooty, but mostly just continuing with writing the next work. I also wrote essays but again without much of an audience.
3. What was your first sale as a writer and how did it feel to sell your work?
I first sold a biographical essay (about being exposed to TB) to the Washington Post Newspaper in 1991 and was paid well for that. That felt very good as I had just graduated from George Mason University with an MFA in Creative Writing.
Selling my work has not been a goal that I actively pursue. That may sound strange. But my parents were visual artists who had difficulty making a living and had other jobs to support our family. I lacked confidence and became an accountant to pay the bills.
Selling has become metaphorically possible for me now, as a poet. I began writing poetry a lot in 2018 after I accidentally attended a poetry spoken word event and was invited to read a short lyrical piece. When I say metaphorically, I mean that I actually don’t earn much cash with my poems, and with my spoken word performances. Instead, I have developed a good following on social media among poets and writers. I have developed a reputation as a writer of worthwhile poems and of good performing ability. I have spent years developing my literary craft, and though it was not always poetry, that time of practice shows in my current poetry work. People invite me to write poems for their anthologies, invite me to do interviews, and invite me to events to read a feature set. These past few years, I also regularly submit work and have been published in various online and in print journals. Recently, I have also submitted a short story and had that accepted. (I have a whole drawer of old short stories!) I had received some honorable mentions from very reputable American journals in the past, but since 1993???—did not have a story accepted for publication—until now.
But most anthologies, zines, and even collegiate literary journals do not pay contributing writers.
Two friends and I put together a poetry book called Crone Chronicles, contributing our own poetry, and we have sold almost all of these. We have covered our costs but not our time.
I have a collection that is almost ready, and I plan to either self-publish or find a small publisher that will take it. Publishing on Amazon is a good way to go. I have friends who sell their non-fiction, or short story collections, or poetry via Amazon to good success.
4. How has writing helped you in other areas of life besides being something you could earn money from?
Writing has helped me to understand myself and this world. I learn about myself by writing thoughts down, and by researching and writing my essays and stories, I analyse and comment and learn about this world. In that way, I think writing can also help us to be better people. Writing a poem, story, essay, article or novel can help us develop our compassion and acceptance of the characters. Showing the individual as human helps us see all people as human, and brings out the universality of all experience.
Writing has helped me make a lot of friends, through critique groups and through poetry circles.
5. What was your biggest accomplishment as a writer?
Hmm, that is difficult to answer. The biggest is my success with poetry and performance. It has been a surprise and a joy. After so many years of writing alone, now I read and perform my work live and online and see and hear people’s reactions and applause; I also enjoy having my poems show up in print where more people can read them.
Other successes: after years of practice, writing short stories, that I knew were very good. After writing several novels, seeing my improvement.
6. Who has inspired you the most in the writing field?
There is not just one person. Books! Books most of all, written by many different authors, because I love books and I love to read. People: the writers of many books; my English teachers and professors; friends including fellow writers.
7. What are some of the challenges you have faced as a writer and how did you overcome them?
Lack of confidence. Though I am a now person who has a persistent and exasperatingly constant call to write, in my 20s I felt insufficient in my ability. When I was younger, I tended to write in a corner of my bedroom, and could concentrate best when left alone. Now I can write at workshops too, so that has changed. But I had a fear. I overcame that through years of life experience, through reading and writing and editing, and the encouragement of others, through realizing I could work hard and make the work better. I took a class in college that was legend. It was an expository essay class that required at least 30 hours of work per week. I took it, was passionate about it, and excelled. I learned to keep at it. That is the way to overcome things: keep at it. And try to find a friend, a colleague, group that will give you encouragement.
I also find contentment and peace in the act of writing. Afterwards, I feel like I have accomplished something. That helps keep me going too.
8. What is the best writing advice you have ever received and why do you feel it is important?
Never give up! This is advice given to me by a woman in her 80s who kept writing short stories, and whose novel from the 1950s was eventually republished by the hotel where she wrote the book while she was under house arrest, due to a war situation.
This advice is important because continuing to write will make you a better writer, and because one journal or agent may not like your work, but eventually you will find someone who does. Taste is varied! Experts are touched by different styles and stories.
These days there are so many online zines and anthologies and journals to submit to. Social media is full of places to submit work to. Don’t give up, is my strongest recommendation. Keep submitting!
9. What sort of writing do you do now?
In question 3, I spoke a lot about my poetry. I also still write essays and blogs. Basically, I publish my essays on my blog. These deal with writing, with biographical events, the times we lived on a small, full-circle farm, and my life, including living in 5 different countries. These also stories, book reviews, and sometimes I post my poetry work, or reblog it when it is published elsewhere.
10. Where can we find some of your work online?
Facebook: Laura H Grevel
My blog is called “Tellin’ Stories: Laura Grevel Blogs on Life and Writing.”
11. What advice do you have for aspiring writers thinking of taking the leap of getting their work published?
Do it! Send your work out! Search and find online zines, anthologies, journals, that are advertised on Instagram, Facebook, etc. and follow the submission directions. Do it repeatedly! Keep writing, keep editing. Eventually, success will come.
12. What are your final thoughts about being a writer?
There are people in this world who cannot think of what to do with themselves. Writers are lucky. We have a passion. We know!
ABOUT LAURA:
Laura Grevel is a performance poet, fiction writer and blogger. Originally from Texas, she has lived in Europe in Austria, Italy, Switzerland, and England since the year 2000. Her written work is eclectic, tackling the immigrant experience, storytelling, nature, politics, and even grackle squawks. In recent years, her work has been published in Hear Her Speak, Unlatched Podcast, Poetry and Covid, Fevers of the Mind, WORD!, Poets Against Racism USA, Edinburgh Fringe Online, Poetry and Settled Status For All, The Trawler 2021 Gloucestershire Poetry Anthology, OpenDoor Magazine, DIY Poetry Zine, Punk4TheHomeless Girls Are Loud CD, wildfire words, Dreich, Steel Jackdaw, The Melting Pot – a mental health anthology, El Golem (Mexico, in Spanish), an international poetry festival from Bangladesh, Hair in the Wind, American Graveyard—a call to end gun violence, MORIA, Lothlorien, London Grip, Paper Cranes’ Collective First Flight, Songs of Humanity (India), Read Carpet Columbia (in Spanish), Beyond Bloodshed—An International Anthology of Anti-war Poems, Blotters’ Jotters, Mayari Literature, and soon to come in Glory Future Foundation (Bangladesh), Carnyx Collective Anthology and Poetry Salzburg Review.
Laura can often be heard live online on international poetry Zoom Open Mics. Her poetry performances can be viewed on her YouTube channel, including a collaborative video called “Girl Walking Across Europe” by Poets for Refugees, created as an act of welcome.