Liminal Spaces: Lisa Kenway

Welcome to the first interview on my blog about trying to get published. This interview features Lisa Kenway, a fabulous writer based in NSW. I hope you enjoy reading it.

DESCRIBE YOUR WRITING JOURNEY SO FAR

I’ve been dabbling in creative writing for 10 years, but over the last 5 years the way I view writing has evolved from a relaxing hobby to more of a vocation. Knowing nothing about writing and publishing, I initially launched into writing a novel to tap into my creativity. That first manuscript was completed in fits and starts over several years and will likely never see the light of day, but it taught me an invaluable lesson about patience and perseverance. That project also provided me with the first inkling that I might have a talent for writing. Since then, I’ve undertaken courses, have worked with a mentor, and have written another two fiction manuscripts (one polished and out on submission, and one at second draft stage) as well as several short stories and flash-length pieces.

TELL US ABOUT YOUR COMPLETED MANUSCRIPT AND WHAT YOU ARE CURRENTLY WORKING ON.

I am currently seeking a publisher for ‘All You Took from Me’, a psychological thriller set in the NSW Blue Mountains. Anaesthetist Clare Carpenter loses her husband and her memory in a crash. With a vengeful stalker threatening her for a deed she can’t remember, an anaesthetic drug may jog her memory, but taking it will jeopardise her career and her life.

My work in progress, ‘East Coast Low’, is another psychological suspense novel, this time set in a picturesque Australian seaside town. On the verge of losing her beachfront home to coastal erosion, Meg McMahon, a lonely stay-at-home mum, decides to fight for a seawall with the help of a high-flying lawyer who gate-crashes her school reunion. When she discovers her new friend is a fraud on a mission of revenge, Meg must confront past mistakes and an uncertain future to save what matters most: her family. 

WHAT HAS HAPPENED WITH YOUR WRITING AT THIS POINT IN TIME?

My short fiction and creative non-fiction have been published in various journals and anthologies including Island Online, the Meanjin blog, National Flash Fiction Day Anthology, Brilliant Flash Fiction, X-R-A-Y Literary Magazine and elsewhere. I continue to write the occasional short piece while working on my novel-length WIP and am incredibly grateful to the editors who have accepted my work.

My first fiction manuscript was longlisted for the Varuna Publisher Introduction Program Fellowship in 2017, which encouraged me to continue writing and building on my skills even though I knew the manuscript was never going to be ‘the one’.

‘All You Took from Me’, my second manuscript, made the longlist for the 2020 Richell Prize, which was an enormous thrill. Over the last couple of years, I’ve approached local agents and publishers, either via slush piles or through fantastic events like the ASA virtual literary speed dating. Several agents and publishers have given generous feedback on the manuscript, a commissioning editor worked with me on detailed edits, but to date nobody has taken the manuscript to acquisitions, and I continue to seek a home for this dark, page-turning thriller.*

Encouragingly, in 2021 an excerpt from my work in progress ‘East Coast Low’ was longlisted for the inaugural Fresh Ink Emerging Writer’s Prize for regional writers in NSW, which was a delightful and much needed confidence boost as I polish the manuscript for future submissions.

WHY DO YOU WANT TO BE PUBLISHED?

The greatest joy I’ve experienced as a writer has come from sharing my work with readers. After my piece ‘How to be a Better Mother’ was published online in Island Magazine last year, I was overwhelmed by the number of readers who contacted me, either privately or via social media, to tell me that the piece touched them in some way. I would love to share my novels with readers in the same way. My goal is to turn my passion into a career one day.

WHAT STRATEGIES DO YOU HAVE IN PLACE FOR DEALING WITH REJECTION?

Writing and submitting short fiction has given me considerable experience in dealing with rejection, but of course some rejections are more painful than others. My initial response is usually to offload in private to trusted writer friends. I give myself a day—or a week if it’s a particularly devastating rejection—to wallow in misery before brushing myself off, revising if necessary, and sending the work elsewhere.

In general, it helps to take a strategic, big-picture approach to publication. I use a spreadsheet to track submissions so that when rejections come in, I know where to send the manuscript next. Publishing is a business, and you need to approach submissions in a businesslike manner. To that end, if a publisher or agent has been generous enough to read my manuscript and offer feedback, I always thank them for their time. It’s a cliché but building a career as an author is a marathon, not a sprint. It also helps to have something new to work on while waiting for the outcome of the next submission.

WHAT DRIVES YOU TO KEEP WRITING DESPITE THE CHALLENGES IN GETTING PUBLISHED?

When I started writing, I did so with zero expectation of publication. It was the last activity in a long line of hobbies—knitting, organic gardening, making preserves, and so on—which I now realise represented a search for fulfilment. My career is rewarding in many ways, but I was craving an outlet for my creativity. With writing, I found my passion. Ten years later, that passion has grown to the point where I am willing to sacrifice a portion of my income to spend more time writing and less time at the day job. I can’t imagine a life without writing, regardless of whether my work is published.

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

I gave up on pursuing a publisher for my first manuscript early in the process after receiving the same advice from multiple sources: that I could write, but that this particular manuscript would be a hard sell. I knew in my heart that the advice was sound and recognised that this was going to be my apprenticeship novel. By the time I made the decision to abandon the manuscript, I was fully absorbed in the next project which helped cushion the blow.

I feel very differently about my latest two manuscripts. I believe wholeheartedly in their quality, that there is a market for these stories, and will continue to pursue every pathway that may lead to their publication. Although self-publishing isn’t on the table for now, the publishing landscape is changing rapidly, and I am not ruling it out in the future.

ALLISON TAIT (IN RESPONSE TO YOUR BLOG) SAID THAT EVERY BOOK YOU WRITE TEACHES YOU SOMETHING. DO YOU AGREE? WHAT HAS WRITING (AND TRYING TO GET PUBLISHED) TAUGHT YOU?

Absolutely! My first abandoned manuscript taught me about patience, persistence, and the importance of structure. It also taught me about humility and highlighted everything I still had to learn about the craft of writing. In the process of developing a ‘platform’, I have since made wonderful, genuine friends and have built a rich creative life which I could scarcely have imagined ten years ago. With each new project, I also learn more about myself. I suspect the manuscript I am currently querying is teaching me a lesson, although I may not figure it out for a few years. Perhaps it’s about tenacity and self-belief.

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

Once you’ve done everything you can to make your work as good as it can be (feedback, editing, time away from the project) send it out with a clear strategy in mind and begin working on a new project. It doesn’t need to be a novel—flash fiction has taught me how to experiment and make every word count—but you need a new creative project to sustain you through the inevitable rejections and silence. In the process of writing something new, you will produce new work to get excited about and will inevitably become a better writer.

FINALLY, WHAT ARE YOU CURRENTLY READING?

I’m currently reading Fiona Robertson’s debut short story collection ‘If You’re Happy’. Fiona has been a huge supporter of other writers over the years, has done her time in the trenches, and it’s a thrill to finally see her empathic, thoughtful, award-winning collection on bookshop shelves.

*UPDATE: Since interviewing Lisa, she has been shortlisted in the CYA Conference adult competition for her manuscript “All you took from me”. Huge congratulations, Lisa.

Lisa Kenway is a writer and anaesthetist who lives on the NSW Central Coast with her husband and two sons.