S2E19: Author, dance teacher & choreographer Lorena Otes on writing memoir

**Season 2: The Home Season** *The second season of Creative Momentum with Meg, The Home Season, features interviews with Australian writers and artists where I explore how and why people do their creative work.* **Episode 19: Lorena Otes, Author & Dancer** Lorena Otes is a Sydney-based author, dance teacher, choreographer and single mother by choice whose debut memoir *Solo Mum by Choice* was published by Hawkeye Publishing in May 2026. Her memoir traces her journey through 13 rounds of IVF as a solo mum, told with the same quality that defines her approach to life generally: curiosity, humour and a refusal to let the hard stuff go unexamined. Lorena has a degree in choreography and contemporary dance, spent 15 years working in retail and came back to writing the way she came back to dance: because it turns out you never really leave the things that are home to you. She is one of those guests who makes you feel that a creative life is not one thing but everything, all at once, and that is exactly what this conversation is about. In our conversation, we chat about: \- How Lorena writes around a freelance dance-teaching schedule, and why improv movement sessions between writing stints are not procrastination but part of the process \- The trick she used to keep her creative life alive during the hardest stretch of the IVF journey \- Why she wrote 100 words a day for a full year and entered short story competitions monthly to keep the prose muscle sharp during launch season \- What it felt like to discover partway through writing her memoir, that she was a pantser, and how craft books helped her find her footing with fiction \- How dance and writing have both been constants through rejection, whether IVF or publishing submissions, and how each form does something the other cannot \- What inspiration looks like when you are paying proper attention: seagulls flying low over the ocean, a child picking up stones, a woman at a bus stop with a story that changes everything Whether you are navigating a creative dry spell, looking for permission to keep writing even when your manuscript has to go on hold, or just wanting to hear from someone who genuinely lives creatively across multiple forms, this episode will give you that and more. Lorena is funny, generous and completely unafraid of the big stuff. **Connect with Lorena Otes** Instagram TikTok Facebook Website Book: Solo Mum by Choice Substack: Lorena Lollylegs! LinkedIn **Read the full interview:** Find all Creative Momentum with Meg show notes **and interviews:** https://megdunley.substack.com/s/creative-momentum-with-meg-dunley *A special thanks to Yvonne Morton for the music accompanying this episode. You can find Yvonne on* Bandcamp *and* Instagram*.* Get full access to Musings with Meg: megdunley.substack.com/subscribe Get full access to Musings with Meg at megdunley.substack.com/subscribe