Liminal Spaces: Annie Wilson

My third blog on writing and trying to get published features Perth-based writer, Annie Wilson. I hope you enjoy reading about Annie’s journey so far.

DESCRIBE YOUR WRITING JOURNEY SO FAR

I started writing seriously four years ago. I used to think that if a novel didn’t fall fully formed onto the page, I wasn’t meant to be an author. A few years ago, I finally understood the whole perfection trap. Writing a novel is a long process and, for me, it’s important to let it unfold and tread lightly most days - although when I get to ‘sticky middles’ I have to be firm with myself and just get words on the page! I’m also someone who needs large swathes of time where I can get lost in creativity. I hugely admire people who can fit writing around other work AND child-rearing, but I wasn’t one of them.

WHAT ARE YOU CURRENTLY WORKING ON?

I’m working on my fifth manuscript. My middle three are Young Adult. My first novel was adult fiction and is in a drawer because it’s not ready for the world. I didn’t have the skills to make it better back then, but I will get to it. I’ve returned to that genre now because I had an idea for a story about an author trying to write a romance novel while navigating her own long marriage to a loving but undemonstrative man and her complicated relationship with an ex-student. It’s set over a few days around a thirty-year school reunion. It’s exciting to be writing in an adult voice again, but I still have a passion for writing for teenagers too. Since I haven’t been picked up by a publisher yet, I have the freedom to chop and change genres for now!

WHAT HAS HAPPENED WITH YOUR COMPLETED MANUSCRIPTS TO DATE?

I had a lot of success pitching my first YA and one publisher who loved the full, but then the publishing house decided to move away from YA! I was lucky enough to receive an ASA Mentorship (Highly Commended) in 2021 for my second YA and got to work with Kristina Schulz, who is just a wonderful person to have in your corner. I’ve tweaked that manuscript to a level I’m happy with and submitted it to a competition. I really hope I’ll get some interest in it from somewhere as the story is very close to my heart. It centres on a 17-year-old trying to save the remnant banksia woodland next to her family’s dog shelter and not fall in love with a Deaf boy who doesn’t date hearing girls. The first draft of my third YA is doing its three-month percolation until I’m ready to read it with fresh eyes! I was lucky enough to pick up a place in the FAWWA Four Centres Emerging Writers Programme with the first chapters of that and Kristina has agreed to mentor this book too.

DO YOU HAVE STRATEGIES FOR DEALING WITH REJECTION WHEN YOUR MANUSCRIPTS DON’T GET PICKED UP FOR PUBLICATION?

Fab question! I’ve learnt to let myself wallow and feel all the feelings. I remind myself that it is the work getting rejected and not me personally, but it still hurts. It’s sad that the story and its flawed but lovable characters may never be on bookshelves. I mainly keep it to myself though and self-medicate with treats and tv shows and books! After a few days, the disappointment eases and I dust myself off and get back into it.

WHAT MAKES YOU RETURN TO THE PAGE DESPITE THE CHALLENGES IN GETTING PUBLISHED?

Firstly, I understand that my books are at the mercy of a capricious marketplace. There is much luck in finding the right publisher on the right day with space for your kind of book on their list. Apart from choosing which publishers I approach, I have no control over any of that. So, why should it stop me writing? Secondly, although writing is complete agony at times, not writing is worse. Anyone who writes needs no further explanation of this! Thirdly, and it’s a subclause of the second point, when I write I am in that elusive thing called ‘flow’. Guiding characters through stories and making interactions realistic and moving is an intensely satisfying process. (When it’s not making me tear my hair out! See second point.)

Fourthly, I’m lucky that I have had enough feedback via mentorships and elsewhere that I can (usually!) convince myself my writing has a future if I just keep going. But, finally and essentially, while fundamentally being about what you put on the page, I now know that writing is also much more than that. Becoming part of the writing community both in person and online has enriched my life. Writers and readers are just my people.

WHAT DO YOU SEE AS THE BENEFITS OF GETTING PUBLISHED?

I think being published is a validation that most novel writers crave. It’s not only about our hard-wired cultural expectations that good work is worth money (and needing cash to survive), it’s also about working long hours, weeks, months, YEARS, alone. The joy of being told that other people will also read that thing you think was important enough to have spent so much time completing! That they will meet your characters and experience the heart-piercing moments! I would love that. You have to develop the ability to get by on little feedback. Writers’ groups and beta-readers fill an essential role here, but it is still largely lonely work. So, when someone says, “Hey, let’s get this to a wider audience.”, I imagine that must be an amazing feeling. I’d like to find out for myself!

 DO YOU HAVE A SENSE OF WHEN TO GIVE UP TRYING TO GET A MANUSCRIPT PUBLISHED?

I think so?! I read a lot, so I think I have a good understanding of how my writing compares. I have a spreadsheet of publishers interested in the genres I write. I’ve shelved my first YA manuscript for now, but I still don’t think I’ve completely given up on it. Maybe I just won’t admit it to myself until it’s less painful to do so!

WHAT HAS WRITING (AND TRYING TO GET PUBLISHED) TAUGHT YOU?

So much but I’ll keep it to the two major things. Firstly, always, always, trust in the process. By that I mean, keep writing, keep learning, keep thinking, keep asking questions, and eventually I’ll get where I’m meant to be going. It may not be where I planned to go, but it’s where I was meant to arrive. Secondly, I have learnt that to be a writer, I must have the sensitivity to be able to inhabit the lives of others, but the resilience to endure rejection of my work. It’s a big ask, but increased resilience is never wasted, right?

ONE PIECE OF ADVICE YOU WOULD GIVE TO OTHERS TRYING TO GET PUBLISHED?

Apart from learning as much as you can about the industry, find other people who understand what it’s like, either in person or online.

 FINALLY, WHAT ARE YOU CURRENTLY READING?

I’ve just finished Diana Reid’s excellent debut ‘Love and Virtue’. My TBR pile is a towering threat but on the top of it is Charlotte Wood’s ‘The Luminous Solution’ which I dip in and out of with delight. And I’ve just started ‘Country: Future Fire, Future Farming’ by Bill Gammage and Bruce Pascoe. I am hopeful that we are finally starting to learn from our First Peoples’.

Annie Wilson is a Perth-based writer and language teacher who has to allow extra time to get places in case she meets a labrador on the way.