Hello, friend. I’M LAURa.

i want to help you to explore your deviant side.

I am a creative mentor for writers who crave innovative strategies to expand their practice, soothe their inner critic, and solve creative problems.

Many of the writers I work with struggle with perfectionism and guilt: even if they carve out the time to do their work, they struggle with feelings of shame about prioritising their own needs and desires.

For years, I worried at this problem. I worked as an instructor on creative writing programs, and I worked as an editor and mentor. I tried to create a unified theory of book-writing as the route to a sustainable practice. I wanted to make this accessible to as many people as possible.

There were many aspects of this work that did help writers, but what I discovered was that what most writers I work with need is to feel safe enough to make their most fearless work.

Almost by accident, I discovered a way to soothe the nervous system by not demanding too much at once. For some writers consistency is key, but for others this is a way to replicate shame-based trauma.

As a person dealing with nervous system issues and autism, I am familiar with the pain of wanting to create while being unable to feel safe enough to create the fearless, truthful work that my soul is thirsty for.

If I tried to work on something I was supposed to be doing, it would begin to feel like pressure. If I took a deep dive online, followed an oblique rabbit hole, or wrote a surprise scene for a character in an existing story, I could overcome my own defence mechanisms long enough to write myself back into the work.

Because this felt like something secret – a little bit deviant – it silenced my inner critic who warned me not to try in case I failed.

When I realised that it was the deviancy that broke down resistance, I was able to see this as a strategy that could be applied across my practice and process.

Deviancy is about subverting assumptions, but it also has a connection to creativity and passion. I have written here about the connection between kink, compassion, creativity and storytelling. And here about the erotics of writing.