Back Roads; A Writer's Journey

Mary Kay LaBrie

Welcome to My Blog, Back Roads, A Writer's Journey!

My name is Mary Kay LaBrie. I am a best known as a food writer.

Twenty years ago, I had some success as a comedy screenwriter; that included agent representation, options, and even a script in development with a producer. When that deal fell apart, I was devastated, but I didn't let that stop me. I dabbled for a while and in 2009, I told my agent (now my publicist) that I needed to try my hand at a different creative outlet. I took a detour into the cooking contest and food blogging world, where I created my own food blogs. I placed and won cooking contests, I competed in the World Food Championships any my recipes have been featured in cooking magazines and cookbooks including "Taste of Home" and "Country Woman." In 2019 I was hired by "Menu Innovator," an online publication for chefs to blog, and I was also commissioned by Spicelopedia to develop and post recipes to promote their great line of non-GMO and low sodium spices. In 2019 and through the pandemic, I also began writing comedy screenplays again and at a feverish pitch. Now I have a whole new bank of work to share. Even though the industry has changed, I'm starting to make inroads. I recently had a two-part writers' re-launch with the assistance of my publicist. Now that the movie industry is waking back up after COVID, I am starting to get requests for my scripts from places I never imagined. Wish me luck!

Now, I'm a country/small town girl at heart. So, taking a back roads' journey is nothing new to me. So many of us want to get on the Freeway, but what happens when you hit a traffic jam? Do you just sit there, or do you get frustrated and get off? When you take the back roads, you get to see things - off the beaten path, that you never imagined seeing. You get to enjoy the scenery and enjoy the ride. During my detour, I saw things that I never dreamed that I'd see. I'll talk about some of those experiences in this blog.

Why am I hosting this blog? I have over 22 years' experience in employee counseling and staff development. I started thinking, as I feel blessed at having this second chance at a screenwriting career, how can I give back? I decided to use my skillset to bring you this blog. It's a place that any creative can land. My hope is this blog will help creatives - especially those who aren't able to do that one thing that they really want to do - find other creative outlets to satisfy their inner muse - and to enjoy those detours along the way without feeling like a failure.

Calling all Creatives!

I hope to showcase others' "back roads" stories on this blog, and I hope you'll also contribute and comment with your own ideas on how to channel your creative energies and how to live a full creative's life.

Do you have a back road creative journey of your own? Are you working in a creative field that isn't your first choice as you explore your main creative goal? I'd love to hear from you. Contact me on my contact page and we'll set up a time to chat. Maybe you can guest-post.

Brown Family Farm Photos by J. Christopher