Name/age/job title

Laura Dockrill/23/poet, author and illustrator
 
Give us an overview of your average day...

Wake up, tea, play with my kitten Puff. Then walk to my mum's house, feed her dogs, wait roughly 24 years for her to get her crap together, jump in the car for a sneaky gossip. Drive to Hammersmith – I use a desk at her office, GlassHead (who by the way are really nice for allowing me to write there) – and drink more tea.

Then I write roughly for the whole day. At the moment I'm writing my third book, which is short stories and poems, but I flit between that, performance pieces and general emails.

Often during the day I will have a meeting with my publishers, which is round the corner, and sometimes do a phone interview. Then mum drives home. I usually would have to go and do a gig or a show to see in the evenings but at the moment I am rehearsing for my children's show GLUEMOUTH. If I do get a night of nothingness I open up the wine, eat, read, watch Family Guy or play with my gluegun.
 
What is the most common misconception about being a poet?
 
That we are dry, ugly and that we are super-intelligent.
 
What is the hardest thing about what you do?

Exactly the above. Performance is tough because audiences don't always know how to react. What I do isn't just poetry, it's not theatre, it isn't comedy, it isn't storytelling – it's all of them squashed in! It's even harder with the book; where to place them? It's a complete risk. Nobody trusts us poets. They all think we're going to bore them with our tales of cabbages, full moons and suicide.
 
When did you decide what you wanted to do with your life and how did you set out to achieve it?

Since I was little I knew I wanted to write, mostly books – and I loved to draw too. I was a natural show-off, so performance came naturally to me. It wasn't until I grew up and realised how awful I was at everything else, it just seemed to make sense!

The Brit School was a massive inspiration to me – it encourages risk taking and creative development. It's all about being influenced and supported when you want to make big steps.
 
What can you do to get a head start?

Treat others only how you would like to be treated yourself. TRY to remember people's names, be kind and humble. Even though I think this probably is all a lie, I think nice guys finish last, but still it helps you sleep better at night.
 
Could you describe the creative element to what you do?

I rely entirely on my imagination. It's like being five again; I write what I make up and then I draw and paint pictures to match. Performance-wise, I am writing and performing my own material and I want to tell stories properly. I don't just want to dictate or ramble; I want to show an audience, convey characters by becoming them, convey words by meaning them.

My recent project is my Word Orchestra, which has been a complete stretch for myself and my writing. The show is an hour long with nine female actresses. The show is very wordy and relies mainly on technique and verbal complexity. I am having to step out of my comfort zone on this project – writing, directing and listening in a way I have never done before.
 
What one thing do you wish you had known at the start of your career that you know now?
 
How to, as horrible as it is, see my art as a business. It's terrible but the only way you will ever make any sort of crumb of a living is to be brutal with your time and effort. Looking back at the amount of work I have done for nothing, it makes me sick.

Often people will ask of you more than you expected. People who don't perform or make art for themselves think that you can always do things for the love of it, but you wouldn't expect a hairdresser to cut hair for free.

Money is terrifying – it frightens me all the time, and sure, it's great to make art in a non-profitable scenario, but never underestimate or devalue your craft.

Which organisations/websites/resources do you think would be useful for people entering your industry?
 
Performance-wise, I'd head straight for the good promoters, good nights that are creative: OneTaste at the Distillers, Homework at Bethnal Green Working Men's Club, Hammer and Tongue, Apples and Snakes, Bookslam, Latitude Festival's poetry tent – Latitude in general, and most things at the Southbank Centre.

Ian Mcmillan's The Verb on BBC Radio 3 – wonderful show!

Poets to go and see:

Tim Clare

John Cooper Clarke

Bridgitte Aprodite

MC Angel

Scroobius Pip

Nathan Filer

Byron Vincent

Poeticat and Molly Case

Luke Wright

Luke Kennard

Caroline Bird