How Lisa Kenway landed a book deal for her psychological thriller ‘All You Took From Me’
Lisa Kenway had a rewarding career as an anaesthetist and the young family she’d always wanted, but she felt that something was missing from her life. She discovered the Australian Writers' Centre and loved that it offered short targeted courses she could fit around her busy life, and went on to complete eight courses. She kept writing, editing and honing her craft, before landing a publishing contract with Transit Lounge for her debut thriller, All You Took From Me.
“I phoned my husband in tears, read the email another half a dozen times in disbelief, then had two glasses of red wine and a profiterole for dinner.”
Craving creativity
Lisa had always been a keen reader and, in her forties, started writing in secret as a creative outlet.
“I craved creativity, and as a lifelong reader, I eventually found my way to writing as a hobby. But with a type A personality, it was never going to remain just a relaxing pastime,” Lisa told us. “When I began to take my hobby more seriously, I sought out courses to learn about the publishing industry and the craft of writing, and the AWC courses fit the bill.”
She had finished writing a manuscript but wasn’t sure what to do with it, so started out with Inside Publishing at the Australian Writers' Centre.
“I had no author friends, I wasn’t on social media and had no writing credits to put in a bio. That self-paced course set me on the path to building a career as a writer. Although my first novel manuscript will never be published, the course gave me practical tips that led to me becoming part of the writing community, and for that I will be forever grateful.”
After completing her first course, Lisa realised she had a lot more to learn about writing and the publishing industry.
“I live in a regional area and fit writing in around work and parenting, so the online self-paced AWC courses were perfect for me. I could gain knowledge in my own time without having to travel from my regional centre to a major city for face-to-face learning, and I could target areas of weakness with focused short courses. In that first year, I also did three other courses: Build Your Author Platform, 2 Hours to Scrivener Power and Short Story Essentials. I guess you could say I was hooked.”
Lisa was inspired by those courses to build her author platform. She developed a website, interacted with other writers on social media and attended events. And of course, she kept writing!
“The courses have impacted my life and my writing in many ways. Craft-based courses like Creative Writing Stage 1 and Short Story Essentials reinforced the essential elements of story structure and offered invaluable professional feedback on my work. After applying the feedback from Cathie Tasker to the short story I wrote for the Short Story Essentials course, that story was published in a literary journal, and my author bio began to grow.”
A stunning debut
Lisa’s debut novel is All You Took From Me, a thriller brimming with great characters and nail-biting tension, set between the Blue Mountains and a Sydney hospital.
It follows anaesthetist Clare Carpenter who has just lost her husband and her memory in a single-vehicle accident, who finds herself being followed by a stranger. After questioning patients about their dreams, she becomes convinced that an anaesthetic drug might help her access missing memories. But there’s no way to be certain without jeopardising her career or her life.
As unexplained threats escalate, Clare must take matters into her own hands to learn the uncomfortable truth about her secretive husband, his connection to a mysterious club and what she did to trigger a stranger’s crusade for vengeance. But how far will she go?
The manuscript started life during Nanowrimo, a yearly challenge to write 50,000 words in a month.
“I wrote 50K words, which astonished me because I’m not a fast writer. At the end of November, I had half a first draft, then I promptly collapsed in a heap. It took another eleven months to finish that draft, so about a year in total. After that, I spent another eight months self-editing the manuscript based on feedback from beta readers before engaging a freelance editor to undertake a structural edit.”
During this time, Lisa was also attending writing conferences, and taking part in pitching opportunities such as the Australian Society of Authors virtual speed dating events.
“I also entered unpublished manuscript competitions and was delighted when All You Took From Me made the Richell Prize longlist in 2020 and was runner-up in the 2022 CYA conference competition.”
While those prize listings opened doors, it took another three years of submitting and revising before an offer finally came through for that manuscript.
“The publishing offer came through when I was in the Blue Mountains on a solo writing retreat to work on a different manuscript, having almost given up on finding a publisher for All You Took From Me. But amazingly, only two and a half weeks after sending my manuscript to Transit Lounge’s open submissions with zero expectations, my publisher emailed to tell me that he’d like to publish my novel.”
Lisa now works part time and devotes two days per week to her writing. She also goes on regular writing retreats and squeezes writing time into her workday whenever possible.
“I prioritise writing and reading over other activities; that’s how I get the work done,” she says. “There were many days when the dream of being published seemed like it would never become a reality, but the warmth and inclusivity of the Australian writing community kept me going through the inevitable rejections and disappointments. Watching friends who had been on a similar trajectory to me become published and hearing their stories on podcasts like So You Want to be a Writer made becoming an author seem possible and kept me motivated to keep trying.”
Courses completed at AWC:
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