Laura Cathcart Robbins

How did you become a writer? I've always written, as far back as I can remember. But it wasn't until I was in my late forties that I set my sights on becoming an author. For six years I took writing class after writing class. I also went to writing conferences, festivals, and retreats, as many as I could. I always say that reading is my inhale and writing is my exhale

Name your writing influences. My author influences span from Betty Smith to Maggie Smith. I can't read enough Kiese Laymon or Christie Tate. I've had so many writing teachers, but Jessica Ciencien Henriquez might have been my most pivotal one. 

When and where do you write? When I'm writing a book, I start around 11:00 am and go until around 6:00 pm, five days a week. I only write by myself (never with people around), in my home office, and I always have the TV in the background playing old sitcoms. 

What are you working on now? The manuscript I just finished is autofiction. It's about my life as the only Black entertainment publicist in Los Angeles in the late 1990s. My next book will focus on my life post-divorce.

Have you ever suffered from writer’s block? Yes and no. Whenever I get stuck I write a scene that I'm excited about and then come back to the scene that's giving me trouble..

What’s the best writing advice you’ve ever received? Don't try to "write" like a writer. Write like you would talk to a girlfriend.

What’s your advice to new writers? When writing about trauma, fortify yourself (get enough sleep, eat good food, hydrate). Give yourself time before during and after to process.

Laura Cathcart Robbins is the best-selling author of the Atria/Simon & Schuster memoir, Stash, My Life in Hiding, and host of the popular podcast, “The Only One in the Room.” She has been active for many years as a speaker and school trustee and is credited for creating the Buckley School’s nationally recognized committee on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. Her recent articles on the subjects of race, recovery, and divorce have garnered her worldwide acclaim. She is the SDWF’s 2024 Memoirist of the Year, a TEDx Speaker, and an LA Moth StorySlam winner. Currently, she sits on the advisory boards of the San Diego Writer’s Festival and the Outliers HQ Podcast Festival. Find out more about her on her website, lauracathcartrobbins.com, or you can look for her on Facebook, Instagram, or TikTok, and follow her on X.