AUTHOR PROFILE
Laura Eppinger graduated from Marquette University in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA in 2008 with a degree in Journalism, and she's been writing creatively ever since. She's a staff blogger at Newfound Journal and a podcaster-nerd at GameNight Media. Her full publications list lives here: http://lolionthekaap.blogspot.com/p/creative-writing.html
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Why do you write?
I’ve been a compulsive journal-keeper since the second grade. If I don’t write about something that’s happened to me, it doesn’t feel real and I have a hard time talking about it to other people. Writing helps me process life and make sense of what’s happened. It also helps me imagine how things could be different.
What other creative activities are you involved in?
I knit and sew, take photos, and sing along to Top 40 in the car. I try to cook every meal I eat from scratch—with mixed results.
I work for an after-school youth development program, which keeps me knee-deep in popsicle sticks, googly eyes and friendship bracelets every day of the year. It’s great! It keeps me crafty. (But every time I’m supposed to learn crochet to teach it to youth, I end up making a braided yarn octopus instead. I love to knit, but cannot crochet. Go figure.)
I work for an after-school youth development program, which keeps me knee-deep in popsicle sticks, googly eyes and friendship bracelets every day of the year. It’s great! It keeps me crafty. (But every time I’m supposed to learn crochet to teach it to youth, I end up making a braided yarn octopus instead. I love to knit, but cannot crochet. Go figure.)
Who is your favorite author and why?
Barbara Kingsolver. Her prose is fierce and she immerses readers in the lives of smart, passionate women. I also love that she has a hard science background as well as a storyteller’s gift for fiction. (And nonfiction!)
Tell us about the mechanics of how you write.
I keep tiny notebooks on me at all times and write down funny phrases I overhear, beautiful words I forgot about but want to use, story ideas, and songs I should download. Every once in a while I review these and find the spark of a poem or story.
I am an outliner. I don’t always do the writing that turns the outline into a story! But I always outline the plot of something first.
I am an outliner. I don’t always do the writing that turns the outline into a story! But I always outline the plot of something first.
Finally, what do you think about Carp, the fish, not our website?
I grew up in urban New Jersey and live there again now, but I was lucky enough to spend seven years in Wisconsin, for college and work afterward. Carp remind me of trips camping along a river or lake, or signs I read at wildlife preserves. I don’t fish, per se, but I did spend a lot of time outdoors in the Midwest.
Carp are actually native to Asia but now live and thrive all over the world. (I guess some might call that an invasive species?) There’s something there about how I felt in the Midwest—a transplant, but I thrived!
Carp are actually native to Asia but now live and thrive all over the world. (I guess some might call that an invasive species?) There’s something there about how I felt in the Midwest—a transplant, but I thrived!