Creativity saved my life

featuring Lauren Hackney

Listen now:

Listen now:

When things aren’t going so well in your life, it can be easy to fall into a funk and get down. It is less easy, however, to reframe your situation and take the positive out of it.

In this episode of Creativity: Uncovered, Lauren Hackney shares her story of how at the lowest point in her life, her creativity saved her. 

In one year, Lauren lost her job and almost lost her husband, and her imaginative bedtime stories with her kids turned all of that around for her. Lauren is now the author of a series of kids books, The Lolly Shop series, and has no plans to stop writing.

Tune into this episode to hear how:

  • Losing her job and her husband’s near-fatal heart attack rocked Lauren’s life
  • Lockdown brought up the big questions in life
  • Her bedtime story routine with her kids started a new career
  • Lauren wrote a series of books with her two sons
  • How she battled rejection and self-published her books
  • Lauren discovered her creativity (but still doesn’t consider herself an author)
  • Writing helped her heal from and reframe the lowest point in her life
  • Lauren has created a legacy for her kids

Happy listening!

xo Abi

More About Lauren Hackney

from The Lolly Shop
Lauren is an author from a seaside suburb of Brisbane, Australia.

She love exploring with her family, travel, trying new things, laughing out loud and being out doors.

Her favourite pastime is story telling. Whether it be a bedtime story, a campfire story or a road trip story. She love combining these into her work and sharing them with people in creative ways.

She love to help children grow their ‘imagination muscle’ while encouraging them to make their own stories. Encourage them to read, create, imagine and laugh out loud!

She started writing after a horrid year in 2020. Covid put an end to her aviation career and only a few months later, her husband of 41 suffered a life-threatening heart attack that left him diagnosed with heart failure. Refusing to have those events as her main memories, she made up stories with her children and together they created, wrote, illustrated and published their family bedtime story ‘The Lolly Shop’.

Through IngramSpark ‘The Lolly Shop’ book series has sold over 1000 books since it’s publication in 2021. She have reviews from the UK, USA, New Zealand and Australia. She have been on podcasts in the USA and Australia to help market the book as well as make homemade ads and host book signings at her local book stores. She have learnt about marketing her books, hosting book signings and school visits with her independent publishing journey.

Recently ‘The Lolly Shop’ received an honorable mention in the StoryMonsters awards in both middle grade and children’s chapter books.

It doesn’t matter how old you are, imagination can save the day!



Creativity: Uncovered® is a registered Trademark of Crisp Communications. Thank you for tuning in!

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