Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Laura Edgerton. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Laura, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today We’d love to hear about a project that you’ve worked on that’s meant a lot to you.

In the summer of 2017, I wrote a personal essay about a past abusive relationship and submitted the piece to Mother Magazine. One of the editors quickly replied, telling me how timely my piece was, and that the magazine wanted to publish it right away. I was thrilled by the enthusiastic response; I wanted to initiate needed discourse on the topics of domestic violence, emotional abuse and trauma.

I am so proud of how I wrote about that time; when I was in that situation, I did not have any support; being able to find my own voice and write about my experiences felt incredibly therapeutic. I thought about that relationship recently when I saw a preview for the 2024 film “It Ends with Us”; I thought about all the times I waited in fear for my ex-husband to come home. I thought about how intimate partner violence is often disguised as love; I thought about how many times he had physically assaulted me and then tried to explain to me why his actions were justified. I thought about how filmmakers have opportunities to expose misconceptions surrounding domestic violence. I am glad that this issue is discussed more openly now than it was twenty or thirty years ago. Books and films that do not romanticize abuse, which validate instead of dismissing survivors’ experiences, can help to spur ongoing conversations that arm women with powerful tools and resources to leave their abusers.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I have been writing fiction all my life, mainly short stories as a child. I was also interested in baking, cooking and photography; later, as an adult, I felt that there had to be a way to connect all of those interests for future readers. When my daughters were little, my husband Chris gave me a digital camera and I began to read everything I could find on photography. I was regularly sending work to magazines as well as outlining ideas for books. I got into recipe development and started writing about food; I was interested in fictional culinary scenes, giving a character something to bake or cook and then exploring the correlation between that character’s mental health and comfort food. It was a natural shift from reality to fiction. Food encompasses so much more than just recipes. Food is our link to the past and present; the act of making food, whether approached in a solitary way or for a shared meal with someone else, is something that stems from memories – good or bad – that shape one’s perspective on eating.

In my forthcoming literary novel, GOOD CHRISTIAN GIRL, the main character struggles with memories of evangelical abuse that she endured as a child; this is a book about religious trauma continuing into adulthood. It explores how therapeutic the baking process can be for someone struggling with anxiety and depression. This is not talked about often enough, the cathartic nature of being in one’s kitchen, carving out a few minutes of quiet when possible and making something delicious.

As a creative, I try to divide my time equally between writing, recipe development and photography. While I work on fiction projects daily, as well as writing content for my website, I also shoot street photography and food photography using trusted brands that I love. It is exciting to see all of it come together and to be able to share recipes through my website and newsletter.

Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?

In my novel GOOD CHRISTIAN GIRL, the central theme is childhood religious trauma and how that impacts one’s adult life and daily decisions as a parent and spouse. A concurrent theme is identity and how growing up in a bigoted evangelical community is harmful to one’s self-perception. I plan to eventually use my author platform to bring awareness to the subject of religious trauma and to speak out on behalf of other adults in the LGBTQIA+ community who are struggling with traumatic memories related to biblical teachings.

Several years ago, I discovered Margaret Atwood’s writing. I picked up a used copy of her novel CAT’S EYE in the basement of a Nashville record store and, once I began reading, it was difficult to stop. The author writes about one woman’s traumatic childhood and the memories that cause her to feel almost paralyzed in her adult life; the haunting prose still resonates with me. I like the fact that Atwood addresses uncomfortable topics in her stories. In GOOD CHRISTIAN GIRL, I lean into dark subject matter. I want to make readers uncomfortable; I want them to feel a bit unsettled as they read. Humans are flawed; fictional characters are too. I hope that people will read this book and be entertained, but I also want to make readers think about the somber conflation of religious groups and societal issues as they relate to today’s political landscape.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

During the COVID-19 pandemic, I wrote a cookbook that intertwines baking recipes with personal essays about a time when I cooked and baked for the elderly residents of an assisted living home. I did not find an agent for that book, which was disappointing, and for a while my creativity felt stunted. A friend told me that if a project was not working out, I should pivot in a different direction; I took Jim’s advice and finished writing GOOD CHRISTIAN GIRL.

After deciding to stop pitching agents for my cookbook, my desire to bake had stalled, until the main character in GOOD CHRISTIAN GIRL reignited that interest. I built an author website to promote my novel and created a second website, in addition to a Substack newsletter, to post baking recipes and food photography. I worried at first that there would not be a clear connection between fiction and food, but I remembered that I don’t need to wait for validation from anyone else to create what matters to me. This is true for everyone; we all have stories to tell.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.lledgerton.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ll_edgerton/
• Other: Baking and Food Photography Website:
  https://www.theledgerkitchen.com/

  Newsletter:
  https://theledgerkitchen.substack.com/

Image Credits

Laura Edgerton