WRITER’S GROWTH
It was a Tuesday night. March 10, 2015. Laura Joy was driving home after dinner with her brother’s family. It had been half a year since she’d packed up and moved to Hampton, Virginia to be near his kids. The sun was setting in her rearview mirror as she headed east on I-64, and Laura Joy sensed the sudden urge to write, though it had been years since she put pen to paper. That night, on her front porch, Laura Joy sat with a glass of wine on her white wicker love seat and lost herself in the written word.
She got in the habit of doing the same thing every Tuesday night. Writer’s Growth, her blog, is Laura Joy’s own form of writing therapy. She doesn’t plan what she’ll write, and she doesn’t revise and edit. It’s two solid hours, unplugged, and it’s where she’s most raw, real, and authentic. Laura Joy writes through whatever comes to mind, and her brain weaves in analogies as she processes life, ultimately growing as she does. She hopes you’ll grow along with her, maybe connect with something in her writing that encourages you when you need it most.
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Laura Joy was born and raised in Upstate New York and is the third of four children. She currently resides outside Greenville, South Carolina. Laura Joy finds inspiration relating with students, getting to the closest beach, spending time with her nine nieces and nephews, working in the garden, travelling abroad, tweaking recipes in the kitchen, and talking with strangers. So, that’s exactly what she writes about in her weekly blog, Writer’s Growth.
Teaching is one of her passions. In 2005, Laura Joy completed her BA in English Education with a writing concentration. After studying abroad in Spain to secure a Spanish minor, she began teaching in the Nashville Public Schools. She earned her MS in Instructional Technology from Wilkes University in 2012. She has taught in Tennessee, Virginia, and South Carolina, including English at the high school and middle school levels and Spanish, AP Language and Composition, Journalism, English as a Second Language, and even World Geography.
Recording memories is her primary passion. In her fifteen years of classroom teaching, Laura Joy has worked with students to produce twelve yearbooks and publish monthly to online newspapers. She also facilitated the production of four print and virtual literary magazines. In 2017, she took members of her high school blogging club on an educational tour of Italy. Laura Joy’s own stories, blogs, and poems highlight the power of writing about life that she hopes to inspire in students and readers alike: it makes the world more deeply connected.
Writer's Growth 
This is Janaya I was your student last year I just wanted to tell you something I spent 4days reading all your words and life stories and I just want to tell you something (free write word: story )your story May not be finished you have been through ups and down and life is full of these your heart is so big and wide and your words have so much meaning yet maybe it’s time for a new book fresh pages that haven’t been filled a new book for new beginnings and a new outlook on life you have taught me many of things last you but the most important thing you did teach me is that I can’t express myself and let the world enter my mind and I thank you for that always and forever. -Janaya
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Dear Laura,
I read your blog entries in batches, so they take on the form of a never-ending novel. I read your posts for June and July this afternoon (July 29, 2018) in my home office. Dapples of sunlight enter, dancing from the breeze of your parent’s trees and accompanied by the soft voices of young children at play. I found myself lost in thought when I finished reading; your courage and resilience touched my heart. You have become one of my favorite authors as well as a lifeline through what has been a most difficult year.
Our godson died last August 8 while on his morning run. He was a brilliant 28-year-old lawyer, graduated from the top Ivey League schools, federal law clerk, spoke 5 languages, practiced law in Paris, traveled the world, and was one week away from starting a job at an extremely prestigious law firm in Manhattan. And poof- with one erratic heart beat- he was gone. An undiagnosed heart defect was the cause. This year has been a had one for me as I try to understand the transient nature of life and why what had been an essential plot line in my life’s narrative was brought to a cruel and abrupt halt.
Your insight and eloquence, coupled with your courage and honesty, have provided light and enlightenment in this very dark year. As I write this one, of your young nephews is playing basketball and the rhythmic bounces bring me back to the days when you are your brothers would be bouncing, laughing, and filling the air with the joy of living in the moment. That joy is still here for both of us.
Know that the love and light within you is strong enough to carry you through whatever challenges you face. It certainly has brought solace and hope to your neighbor from long ago.
Peace & Blessings,
Donna
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Alright, one month off is enough, let’s get back to writing. I miss my Wednesday morning read.
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I miss seeing your words and imaging you speaking them as I read. You’re loved and prayed for often. 💗
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