Laurie Frankel
Laurie Frankel on the respite of the writing desk when the world is on fire, on sitting her ass down (despite her inner critic), and on a response practice that might change the way you read.
Before we jump into this beautiful post filled with wisdom from Laurie Frankel — have you listened to the Song Exploder interview with Jeff Tweedy about his book How to Write One Song? Host Hrishikesh Hirway talks with Tweedy about the creative process, and it blew me away. Here’s just one gem:
“The craftsman part of me understands that as a song crafter, I could probably be okay looking at it as if I were building tables, but I personally think that I’m where I am because I aspire to make trees instead of tables, because there’s something higher in my mind about doing so, and that I’ve accepted the fact that it’s also impossible to make the perfect tree. There’s no perfecting it. There’s no reaching some conclusion that you’ve made The Tree.”
I’ll be thinking about that, feeling into it, for a long time.
Now on to Laurie Frankel.
I met Laurie on the page first. I devoured This Is How It Always Is (a Reese’s Book Club pick!) and then found out we have the same amazing agent. I love how she writes about family, both in This Is How It Always Is and in her recent novel, Family Family. I especially love how she writes about adoption, freeing it from the assumed trauma and heartache, helping us remember all families are complicated, showing us that what matters most is love. You can buy all five of her novels here.
One other cool thing about Laurie? If your book club reads one of her books, she’ll zoom with you. For free! You can learn more about that opportunity here.
She’s copyediting her next book (So exciting! The title is Enormous Wings!), and she generously took some time to share her answers to NibLit’s three questions. Her answer about her favorite writing prompt has me both admiring her discipline and wondering how I might begin the response practice she suggests — and what kind of learning and opening that might yield.
Q: What brings you back to the desk? (Another way of asking: Why do you write?)
The desk! The desk is the easy part. Maybe easy is the wrong word, but the desk is my favorite part for sure. At this time when the world is on fire, what a respite the desk is. There, everything is in my control. That which is bad and wrong is merely in progress, only bad and wrong until I fix it. There, worlds are all built to my specifications. At the plot and character level, goodness and faith and leading with full hearts and doing right by one another are rewarded. Mistakes and failings lead to heartache but also learning and growth. Even the bad guys have their backstories and their reasons and their regrets (but they never win, save the day, or get elected). Logic and love prevail. And at the page and sentence level, chaos resolves slowly, first to sense then to wonder. Bad sentences get better. Plot holes get bridged. Dead ends spring trap doors. Honestly, these days I don’t know how people who aren’t writing books stay sane. The desk is my favorite place and my favorite state of being for sure.
Q: What sentence do you hear on repeat in your head that gets in your creative way – and what is your antidote sentence?
Oh how I wish it were just a sentence. It’s more like a relentless sotto voce hiss whose point toggles between This is not good enough and You are not good enough, but alas it expounds in florid paragraphs, pages, tomes rather than a mere sentence. I’ve yet to find any antidote but to ignore and write through and sit my ass down and do it anyway.
Q: What is your favorite writing prompt?
When I’m teaching, I often start students out on memories of food or water. Or I show them a painting or some other piece of visual art and have them write in response to that. For myself, my most used writing prompt isn’t really a writing prompt as such. Any time I finish reading a book (or, often, watching a play, TV series, or movie), I write up what I thought worked about it and how, what didn’t and why, and ways I might apply those approaches/lessons/warnings to my own works in progress, current and to come. I do this without fail — a practice — and it functions both diegetically and non-diegetically as writing prompt.
I love how Laurie claims the desk as respite, and I’m curious if it feels that way to you too. So many people ask, How can we write when the world is on fire? And for me, the answer is always, we must. When we write, we exercise the muscles we need to change the world. We remember our agency. We practice creating, in Elaine Scarry’s words, “fragments of world alteration.”
And what do you think of what Laurie does when she finishes reading a book or watching a TV series or movie? How incredible! Is this something you do too? How does this support your creativity? I’d love to hear about it.
(Also, I had to look up diegetically.)
Next up on NibLit: Jennifer Pastiloff! She’s the author of On Being Human and the soon-to-be-published Proof of Life: Let Go, Let Love, and Stop Looking for Permission to Live Your Life. She’s a force and she’s deaf and she’s an incredible listener. Here’s a famous quote from her that sums her up: “When I get to the end of my life and ask one final ‘What have I done?’ let my answer be: ‘I have done love.’”
Looking for more writing inspiration?
Check out Can We Listen to Something Deeper, a free workshop recording with special guest Pádraig Ó Tuama, host of Poetry Unbound (one of my favorite podcasts on the planet!).
Interested in Word Project Workshops?
Most workshops for 2025 have SOLD OUT. But don’t worry. There is still room in RIGHT TO WRITE, the monthly generative writing workshop series. Two hours of generative writing prompts on a theme, every month. I love this workshop, and if you miss the live sessions, they are recorded.
Stay tuned for information about the 2026 workshop schedule! And let me know if you have ideas or workshops you’d like me to facilitate!
I also had to look up diegetically (never too old to learn) - and then got lost in the idea of the world inside the narrative space... where I have and often do find respite (desk or no desk). These days I carefully curate what I watch and what I read; and then watch and read closely. I think I am trying to ensure that I am building / reinforcing the sort of world I want to live in. I feel deeply the two are intrinsically linked - that what I take in, becomes a part of who I am, and then finds its way out again. I want to be intentional about that - both in my writing and in my life. And from that, hopefully creativity if cultivated.
Thank you for another delicious read x
Thank you for sharing the workshop recording with Padraig O'Tuama. Listening to it was balm for my soul on a day with difficult news. Deep gratitude!