The Creative Life: an Interview with Laura Pashby

The first in a new series interviewing my favourite creatives.

It seems to me like we have a lot in common here in this lovely community we are building. One thing that connects us old souls is the desire to find magic in the mundane and joy in the day to day, particularly through the seasons. So I hope you’re going to very much enjoy today’s newsletter: the first in my subscriber series, The Creative Life. To kick us off, I’ve interviewed one of my all-time favourite creatives, the author and photographer Laura Pashby. Her ethos is very much about finding small joys every day, living mindfully & developing your creative voice. You’re probably familiar with her beautiful book, Little Stories of your Life: Find your Voice, Share your World and Tell your Story, or her wonderful Substack, Small Stories (where she’s just launched a paid tier with gorgeous extra content).

I’ve followed Laura on Instagram and read her blog right from the start ten years ago; her way of capturing the magic of everyday moments in her writing and how she finds the beauty in each season through her photography is a constant source of inspiration. I was delighted when I heard she was writing a book and promptly preordered it - then was thrilled when she kindly sent me an advance PR copy to preview this time last year (pictured).

One year on, I interviewed Laura to catch up about all things creative, to discuss what she’s working on at the moment, where she finds inspiration and how the seasons inform her work.

1. Tell us about your creative life. 

In my experience, creativity is interwoven with the everyday. The time available for me to work on creative projects comes in fragments, and whilst I fiercely protect the hours in which I can fully focus, I also try to hold space for whatever I’m working on as I move through the day. Sometimes an idea will come to me as I’m driving my youngest to a swimming lesson, or when I’m hanging washing on the line. I use a dictation app on my phone to capture my thoughts — inspiration is unpredictable and precious.