An Interview with Laura Gaddis

Laura (she/her) is an author, educator, and writing coach/developmental editor from Oxford, Ohio. Her memoir Mosaic (Unsolicited Press, March 2025) delves into loss, motherhood, and parenting a child with disabilities. Mosaic was named on LitHub’s Notable Small Press Books of 2025 list. She has been published in Thin Air Magazine, Stonecoast Review, Brevity Blog, and elsewhere. Her essay in Ligeia Magazine was nominated for a Pushcart Award and she was selected as a 2024 teaching fellow for the Desert Nights Rising Stars Writers’ Conference with the Virginia G. Piper Center for Creative Writing at Arizona State University. Connect with Laura on Instagram @lauragaddiswriter. More about Laura can be found at www.lauragaddis.com.

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What inspired you to start writing this book?

Writing a book, for me, is the meeting of the right conditions at the same time. In this case, it was the right moment in my life’s story, I got accepted to an MFA program, and I had the time after having to quit a job to move to a new state for my husband’s work. The birth of my daughter, Evelyn, was a culminating moment in my journey toward motherhood. After three losses, all different from each other, we had finally reached the moment that a tiny person joined our family. Documenting this journey was something I had tried to do after my first loss, but that book never got published. Once Evelyn was born, I knew the story was now there.

Tell us the story of your book’s current title. Was it easy to find, or did it take forever?

I’m so horrible at titling anything! But somehow Mosaic turned out to be perfect as it serves as a metaphor for life and also for the structure of the storytelling in the book. The book’s first title was Rainbow Road. Through my pregnancy losses, I had learned that a ‘rainbow baby’ was a baby born after a loss. I wrote a whole essay about rainbows and finding one, but it was highly metaphorical and didn’t quite fit with the rest of the essays in the book. So, I cut it from the manuscript. And then, of course, my title went with it. I don’t honestly remember how or when I came up with Mosaic, but I’m sure glad I did. It was fun to play around with the concept of life falling to pieces and putting it back to together and then doing the same with the essays and pieces in the book.

Describe your dream book cover.

My book already has a cover, and when I went through that process, I didn’t have a concept or dream image in mind. I knew I wanted something that matched the mosaic metaphor, and my publisher (Unsolicited Press) had every book in 2025 use red as a major color to tie our books together in the catalogue. Beyond that, I was open. I went through about eight cover designs with the artist before landing on the one it has.

If your book had a soundtrack, what are some songs that would be on it?

My book actually does have a soundtrack! My publisher, Unsolicited Press, asked us to submit a list of songs that would go along with our books. I have ones like You Are My Sunshine, Tears in Heaven (Eric Clapton), and The Waiting (Tom Petty). To see the rest, visit my book on the Unsolicited page: https://www.unsolicitedpress.com/shop/p/mosaic.

What books are you reading (for research or comfort) as you continue the writing process?

When I wrote Mosaic, I read a lot of memoirs. I always read the genre I am writing in. I read about fourteen books including The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion and The Two Kinds of Decay by Sarah Manguso. I wanted to study how others approached writing about loss and death and the medical establishment.

What other professions have you worked in? What’s something about you that your readers wouldn’t know?

I have a bachelor’s degree in psychology and a master’s of science in clinical psychology. For fourteen years, I worked in various roles in the psychology world and even had my licensure to practice therapy in the state of Wisconsin. My last job was in neuropsychology, where I administered testing batteries for neurological diagnostics with both pediatric and adult patients.

Who/what made you want to write? Was there a particular person, or particular writers/works/art forms that influenced you?

I always liked language and telling stories, even as a kid. There was no one person or book that inspired me. In college, I nearly became an English major but didn’t. When I seemed to be at an impasse in my life, leaving my career for a big move and being unemployed, it seemed like a good time to give writing a try.

Where is your favorite place to write?

I write in a lot of places, but often on my bed or couch at home. I get distracted when I’m in coffee shops, and I have to have music on in the background but not with lyrics. I’d get carried away singing instead of writing.

What advice would you give your past self at the start of your writing journey?

The number one way to be successful in writing is to never give up at any stage—drafting, editing and revising, searching for a publisher, etc. It is a hard field to be in, but only those who keep going ever make it to see their goals achieved.

What’s one thing you hope sticks with readers after they finish your book?

Life is hard for everyone. We all suffer loss and trauma to varying degrees and in our own ways. And we all survive them. What we do with ourselves afterward and how we make sense of our lives is what matters.

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