We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Lauren LaRocca a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Lauren, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Can you talk to us about a project that’s meant a lot to you?

My most meaningful project to date is a book-length manuscript titled “Dear Road.” I think something profound happens to people when they live nomadically and spend months or years alone on the road. I know it has had a profound effect on me—psychologically, spiritually, even physically. It taught me how to live. I want to share those insights with others, maybe inspire them to see the world differently or even try it themselves. I want to translate, as best as I can, how to live a more meaningful life and the questions to ask yourself to get there. I do this through the lens of the road, because living on the road was my greatest teacher.
This project is meaningful to me personally because I have wanted to write books since I was a small child, and, shortly after turning 40, I had to take a good hard look at why I hadn’t written a single full-length manuscript that I liked. I’d written a few, never published any—simply put them down and moved on to something new. In 2023, I was determined to focus on one book and one book only and work on it until I got to the point where I liked it. It was hard to push through difficult parts (usually the points where I would have given up in the past), but finally I got to experience the breakthroughs that happen when you do push through. And I finally completed a draft of my first book in January 2024. So it was meaningful to me to work through the creative process, into unknown territories, and do something I’d never done before.

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

I have always been a writer, writing compulsively since I was young. Like most people, I changed my college major a bunch of times and ended up majoring in creative writing only because I’d taken so many courses by junior year, I’d basically already earned the degree. From there, I landed in journalism—something I swore I would never do unless I was writing about art and music. I’ve spent 18 years now doing exactly that, as an arts and culture writer and editor for various publications. About a decade in, I realized I loved editing, even more than writing. Writing is like therapy for me. I’m never going to not do it. But editing is an art and a science all itself. I love taking someone’s draft—whether a book or article—and thinking about its structure, its meaning, what could make it stronger, and making sure it flows well and sings. I’m currently working through the final draft of a book project I’m very excited about, written by a man who is known regionally as a metal sculptor but who also happens to have a wonderful writing voice.
All the while, I have also published zines for many years, featuring art and writing by me and other artists. I write music, paint, collage, design posters and books and magazines, publish ebooks, and am otherwise always consumed with some project.
I also ran an online apothecary and micropress for 10 years until I became nomadic again in 2023 and did not have the space to take the inventory on the road. I created dozens of herbal blends, made salves, teas, candles, bath salts, prayer bundles, bouquets, spell jars, etc. I really miss that work and can’t wait to get back into it when space allows. I do still wildcraft and collect dirt pigments to use as paint while I am on the road. I am always collecting something.
Most recently, I began chronicling my travels via Substack (karmarocca.substack.com)—which requires a much lighter load than boxes upon boxes of tincture bottles and packaging materials.

Have you ever had to pivot?

Like so many people, I had to pivot when Covid hit. I’d been traveling alone on the road throughout 2019 and settled in Northern New Mexico, working as a freelance writer and editor. But come March, all of my freelance work dried up in a matter of a week or so. I’d been writing for several publications, all of whom immediately cut their freelance budgets to cut costs and instead turned to staff writers.
Complicating matters, I was alone in a new town, thousands of miles away from my network back in Maryland. Several friends thought I should go back East, where I could find a job, but I was determined to stay in Santa Fe, a place I’d fallen in love with, even if it might be more difficult.
Within a month or so, I was able to find a few new clients for freelance projects, but I also dove deeply into my apothecary at that time. Though I’d had it open for years, it was in those early days of the pandemic that I went full in. Instead of listing the same dozen or so products, I created dozens more and anything I could think of. A few metaphysical shops across the country began carrying some of my items—sage burn bundles and zines—and my sales began to soar.
I also began a Patreon at that time to share astrological knowledge and began offering astrology readings by video call. I still occasionally offer readings but discontinued my monthly astrology newsletter after about three years because I wanted to move on to other projects, namely my book, and found that, despite my love for astrology, I didn’t love writing about it! I guess you never know until you try.

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

Artmaking is a sacred practice for me. I would not be able to survive in this world without it. But I have also found that art connects and inspires people—and, as far as the apothecary goes, sometimes even physically heals people. I don’t go into my work thinking of it as a service, but rather my mission is to always tell the truth through my work, the best I know how, and I believe when I do that, it will resonate with others and serve as a way to connect us, to make this human experience better, even joyful and ecstatic. Primarily through my writing about living nomadically, I want to share my journey and open people up to their own.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://karmarocca.substack.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/karmarocca
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/llarocca
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/laurenlarocca
• Other: WRITING: https://laurenlarocca.net
• ASTROLOGY: https://karmarocca.com
• APOTHECARY & MICROPRESS: https://www.etsy.com/shop/karmarocca