QUESTION: What do you love most about poetry?

LAURA: I like the freedom it gives you to go anywhere, it has no boundaries and because it’s short, it’s so to the point, you have to be concise. I hate nothing more than reading anything, books, poetry anything that is unnecessarily drawn out and overly descriptive.

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QUESTION: How long have you been writing poetry and what got you into it in the first place?

LAURA: I started writing comic verse as a child to entertain my friends, then as life took over it sort of fell by the wayside a little. During lockdown, I was bored and needed an outlet so I started to explore writing again, I was genuinely shocked that others seemed to like it. I can’t really imagine not doing it now.

 

QUESTION: Who’s your favourite poet and why?

LAURA: If I am honest I don’t really read poetry, I know that’s awful, the verse I remember as a child was Spike Milligan although I could never dream of doing anything like him. I don’t read poetry as an adult, in some ways I think that may affect how I write, which is as I think of it. To read others’ work may influence me.

 

QUESTION: How long do you take to write a poem typically and what is your creative process?

LAURA: I wait for a silly thought, a line or two to pop in my head, a lot of the time I just think about things that have caught my attention during the day, or it can even be an odd word that prompts something. Once I have an idea I can generally write something in about 15 minutes, I don’t write and rewrite I like it to feel natural, the rhythm of poetry comes naturally to me, I think it’s a kind of musicality.

 

QUESTION: Who would you say is most like your writing style as a poet?

LAURA: I know a lot of people compare me to Pam Ayres but if I am honest I get very frustrated by that, I like to think I have my own style, my own take on things and as probably a lot of writers may feel, comparisons feel like they devalue your own efforts, as it its all been done before.

 

QUESTION: You don’t mince your words in your poetry and deal with modern subjects, what do you cover in your books and what do you plan to cover in future books?

LAURA: I would like to think the subjects I write about are universal and I don’t hold back. I do enjoy writing characters, little stories about dodgy escapades. Sometimes I like to think of myself in situations, other times they may be based on someone that has crossed me, in those cases I like bad things to happen to them! I would never plan anything for a future book, I just want to go where the mood takes me.

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QUESTION: In this book, Shooting from The Lip, you’ve done more character studies and monologues, do you plan to do more of them and what gave you the inspiration for these characters?

LAURA: I honestly don’t know how I came up with the characters, maybe they are all my alter ego’s! Some of my more recent ones have been based on individuals I have encountered along the way who I felt needed a little reality check. Others were actual events, like Tapenade Wanker, that was just a slightly embellished account of events but just a really annoying man in a restaurant who I felt needed his come uppance!

 

QUESTION: You write in your Yorkshire dialect, do you have plans to perform your poetry and do audio books?

LAURA: Aside from performing online, I don’t have any plans to perform, I am a naturally awkward person and I don’t know if I would be brave enough to do this in front of actual people! I would love to do an audio book, if I can get the time to do so.

 

QUESTION: Do you ever plan to expand your writing skills and write a novel say?

LAURA: Hell no! I don’t have the attention span for that. To be honest I would start to write and rewrite over and over so I don’t think I would ever finish, that’s the beauty of poetry it fits around everything else, and you don’t have to keep labouring on the same story.

 

QUESTION: What are your future writing plans?

LAURA: None really, I just like to see where it goes. My life is very planned and organised, the writing is my little freedom. I may write more, I may not. I have another books worth already so there will be at least one more on the horizon, beyond that who can say

 

QUESTION: Do you read a lot of novels, who are your favourite writers and why?

LAURA: I tend to read when I commute and read absolutely anything. I grab anything from the charity shop, read it then take it back, it’s a good way of keeping things fresh and ensuring you don’t get stuck in a rut.I do have very great admiration for Philip Pullman though, I know they are kids books but the His Dark Materials books are just something else. I love fantasy, he has an amazing ability to take you away and completely immerse yourself in a different world. Once I pick up one of his books, I have to stop everything else until I am done.

 

QUESTION: What is the strangest topic you’ve written a poem about?

LAURA: Knob cheese! I don’t regret it though, I just saw an article about men’s dirty bottom habits and ran away with myself. I do like to be smutty and it was ripe (get it?) for material. To me nothing is off limits. I don’t think I do this for shock value I just have a very dirty mind!

 

QUESTION: How would you encourage up and coming writers?

LAURA: I think everyone is different, but I think the creative process is easier than some may think. Its more about getting something down on paper and don’t try to over analyse it. Sometimes the things you write you think are awful but others like it, and vice versa. I think you always think being a writer is something that other people do, it still feels very strange to me. I would say though don’t take notice of bad feedback, it can hit you hard and really its just the view of one person.