Interview Q&A II with Lisa H. Owens
We offer another exclusive Q&A Interview with Lisa H. Owens, a writer whose multiple literary works have been featured on our Spillwords pages as well as being Author of the Month of May 2026, and previously of June 2024.
- 1. You have participated in our ‘Spotlight on Writers‘ series, and now officially have been voted as Author of the Month for the second time. Is there anything else about Lisa H. Owens that you would like to add from our last interview?
First of all, I am elated to be voted Author of the Month for a second time. Thank you all for that. Since my previous interview, I have added a few hats to my repertoire. As an author with a full time job, I wear many hats. Environmental Compliance Coordinator/Coworker, Author, Artist, Mama, Sister, Daughter, Sister-in-Law, Mother-in-Law, Aunt, Niece, Friend, Dog Mama, Neighbor, Quirky Lady who walks her dog, Fred, at night, Collector of Things (cool rocks, vintage books, bad art, etc) and probably some hats I’m forgetting… which actually reminds me of the Red Hat Society hat that is coming all too soon on December 30, 2026: Senior Citizen on Medicare Hat. I say all this to proudly announce the hat I recently added to my eclectic collection on May 29, 2025. The Grandmother (Granna) hat. It is a fun and important hat, with old lady pearls and hard candy, one of my very favorites. A great big beautiful hat!
- Could you describe the mundane details of writing: How many hours a day do you devote to writing? Do you write a draft on paper or at a keyboard (typewriter or computer)?
I have never considered writing to be mundane and that could be because I don’t write on a daily basis. I also never formulate a plan or an outline. It all started after a head injury. I lost my ability to sing and am mostly tone-deaf at this point, devastating when the guitars come out at family gatherings and the singing begins. I felt like I had lost a big part of myself. Then in the wee hours of the morning in 2017, I woke up from an emotional dream. It was so real and I pulled out my phone and quickly typed the things I remembered. It wasn’t too bad and it all snowballed in the best possible way from there. My first short story was published with a local newspaper in 2018, and shortly after, I was offered a position as a monthly humorist columnist with free-reign on subject matter.
So I wake up each morning with the thought, Perhaps I’ll write a little something today, or maybe not. I write on my Android phone most of the time, which is why I haven’t gone over to the dark side and switched to an iPhone. I am that relic who “androids” the videos in a group chat.
- What has had an influence on you or your writing since the last time we connected?
In 2024, I actually had two indie publishers invite me to send them a collection of short stories. I had continually sent stories to them over the course of a couple years and I guess they thought my writing wasn’t half-bad, so I spent the last two months of 2024 and all of 2025 putting my collection of mostly dark comedy together for one of the publishers. As you will guess when you read the publisher’s name in the next sentence, some of them showcased zombies. Fingers crossed it all comes together with my publisher, Zombie Works Publications (a subsidiary of Dark Myth Publications), in the near future. I had to pinch myself to be sure I wasn’t dreaming.
- If you could have been the original author of any book, what would it have been and why?
When I was a tween, I spent my days and nights dreaming about becoming a veterinarian working alongside James Harriot, and his cute younger brother Tristan, in what Grant Hudson, publisher of Clarendon House Publishing, said is in his neck of the woods in Derby, England. I obviously romanticized the experience because there is nothing fun or sexy about tromping out in the middle of a dark and stormy night to a messy ten-hour calving. But all reality set aside, I would have given anything to live that life, way back then in the early 1970s and I guess writing the series of books would all be part of that.
- What, according to you, is the hardest thing about writing?
Comparing my number of submissions to those of my tireless writer friends, some of whom have hundreds of published works. I have to tell myself to stop being hard on myself. We each have a different role to fill within the span of our lifetime.
- What would you say is the easiest aspect of writing?
I used to fear giving feedback to social media friends, typically in the same writing groups, contests and anthology publications, but I made a decision early on to do it and be honest in a gentle constructive manner. It’s easy now and doing this on a regular basis with writers from all around the world, has certainly been a great way to actually improve on my ability to recognize what a story needs to take it to the next level. So it is a win-win. I help my friends and also improve my own writing.
- Over the years, what would you say has improved significantly in your writing?
Trimming the fat. In other words, getting rid of excess words and not adding filler words in order to make a certain word count. Entering monthly writing contests with strict word limits, like 53 words, 100 words, and once only 6 words, has helped immensely.
- Any advice you would like to give to your younger self?
There are so many things I would like to tell my younger self, but I won’t go into all of that. That is a miasma of sad and confusing. I think I would tell myself to keep on keeping on and it all works out in the end.
- Any advice you would like to give to aspiring writers?
Practice, practice, practice. Find your tribe of feedback friends and develop thick skin. If you get hurt or angry when you receive rejection or constructive criticism, you will never improve. Pick one or two free monthly themed contests to submit to on a regular basis. Don’t pick too many because then it becomes stressful. I have participated in three themed drabbles per month (to the same three publishers/groups) for years and it is finally starting to pay off.
- Out of your literary works we’ve published, which is your favourite? And why?
I would have to say it is a toss-up between The Case of the Missing Brougham and The Last Storyteller. Both of these stories involved some research, yet practically wrote themselves. They are completely different genres. The Last Storyteller is a mish-mash Memoir/Sci-fi and The Case of the Missing Brougham, a Regency Era Thriller and is when I first realized how much I enjoy writing historical fiction, taking lots of liberties, of course.
- Is there anything you are currently working on that may intrigue the interest of your readers?
I have a comedy western sci-fi I have been working on for a while. It is up to around 6,000 words at the moment, but I have put it on the back burner for now. I am in the process of making changes in my life. Moving and consolidating and being a Granna.
- Anything you would like to communicate with the Spillwords Press Community?
Thank you for being such a supportive group (artists supporting artists) and for reading my oddball stories. I have certainly enjoyed your stories and feel humbled by the gravity of many of them.
- Interview Q&A II With Lisa H. Owens - June 18, 2026
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