Meet Lauren Green

We recently connected with Lauren Green and have shared our conversation below.

Lauren, thank you so much for taking the time to share your lessons learned with us and we’re sure your wisdom will help many. So, one question that comes up often and that we’re hoping you can shed some light on is keeping creativity alive over long stretches – how do you keep your creativity alive?

The key lies in recognizing that creativity isn’t a flame in danger of flickering out; it’s an ever-present force there for us to tap into. I try to cultivate an abundance mindset around art-making, a practice that keeps me from falling into a rut or stressing about perfectionism. And when my inspiration does wane, I try to go out and immerse myself in nature. Beauty is all around us, at all times, waiting to astonish.

Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?

I’m a poet, novelist, and musician. My debut novel, The World After Alice, was published this past year by Viking. The story takes place in the wake of a tragedy: the death of sixteen-year-old Alice Weil. Now, twelve years later, Alice’s younger brother and former best friend announce, to the shock of their families, that they’re getting married. A whirlwind wedding weekend ensues, with all the usual hijinks: terrible toasts, high-octane emotional outbursts, and the question of whether the couple’s young love can withstand the pressure coming at it from all sides.

The book spans over a decade. While writing it, I was keen to explore how time can sweep us forward in some moments and stand still in others. I also wanted to capture the messiness of family gatherings—the way our individual lives collide like free-floating atoms, altering one another in the process.

It’s been both thrilling and humbling to see readers’ responses to The World After Alice. I’m currently deep into a second novel, also a family drama, which follows three grown children as they contest their father’s will.

There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?

If there’s a shortcut to becoming a writer, I have yet to find it! In my experience, the three essential ingredients one needs to succeed in this career are patience, resilience, and passion. Patience, because the work demands slow and deliberate concentration; resilience, because you might need to compose a thousand half-baked stories before you find what you’re trying to say; and passion, because in the end the things we’re passionate about dominate our time. I have a line of poetry that I carry with me: “What you love is your fate.” It comes from Frank Bidart. The things we love shape our lives. Choose to love books, words, and stories. Find authors whose style enchants or mystifies you and figure out why. Stay curious, and you’ll be well on your way.

Before we go, maybe you can tell us a bit about your parents and what you feel was the most impactful thing they did for you?

They let me be who I was—that’s something I never take for granted. As a child, my dreams were large and unwieldly. My parents never tried to shrink them, or to caution me I’d built my sandcastles in the air. Instead, they saw how music, drawing, and theater lit me up, and they encouraged me to follow these passions. They read aloud to me each night, cheered me on through many performances, and patiently waited for hours in a museum while I sketched the pieces before me. Without their support, I’m not sure I would have found my path so quickly, if at all. I’m lucky beyond measure.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://laurenagreen.com