Summer Reading and Writing

Whenever I go too long between writing posts for this blog, you can rest assured I’m still writing. My last few breaks in blogging resulted in Know Small Parts: An Actor’s Guide to Turning Minutes into Moments and Moments ints a Career with foreword by Richard Dreyfuss and endorsements from Kevin Costner and a dozen other industry luminaries. Next was Lemonade Farm, my first novel. Award winning and New York Times bestselling author Tom Franklin says, “I’ve read Laura’s novel Lemonade Farm and can attest to its power. It evokes the 1970s in a painfully accurate way, and is beautifully written. She manages a wide cast of characters and somehow paints adults, teenagers and children with equal skill without ever condescending to any of them. Her skill at characterization and turns of phrase, coupled with a great sense of place, makes this a heck of a novel.”

Years ago, Quentin Tarantino said I should write a series of detective novels and I’m finally taking his advice. A few weeks back, I began working on a series of mysteries set in New Orleans.

Lemonade Farm

In 2010, I had trouble keeping up with this blog and wrote the post I’ve Been Cheating On You to explain that I’d been writing for a local paper and it was eating into my blogging time. It’s time for another confession. I’ve actually had plenty to blog about lately, from the Paul McCartney concert to attending the Pelicans first pre-season game – but I’ haven’t made the time to write about it because I’ve been “cheating” again. I’m putting the finishing touches on my first novel, Lemonade Farm.

Return to L.A.

Though Louisiana has always felt like home to me, I never actually lived here until 2009. And though I spent nearly 18 years in Los Angeles, I never actually felt truly home there. That said, I’ve made sure I return at least once a year to see friends, take care of business and have a meal at Mel’s Drive-In on Sunset. This time, I was headed to L.A. to participate in the Courts Celebrity Fan Fest. It seemed funny somehow to return to L.A. to sign autographs. The city is as packed to the gills with celebrities as New Orleans is with Grammy winners so I hardly feel like I stand out in a crowd. But it all made sense when I spoke to the students at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts (AADA) at their Industry Insight Series.