Interview Q&A with Lisa H. Owens
@LisaHOwens
We offer our first and exclusive Q&A Interview with Lisa H. Owens, a writer whose literary works have been featured on our Spillwords pages as well as being Author of the Month of June 2024.
- What does it mean to be selected as Author of The Month?
First of all, it means I have a lot of friends, some authors and some not, who seem to enjoy my stories and took time out of their busy schedules to cast their votes for me. This is the dream, to have a little name recognition where writing is concerned and that only means one thing. Keeping my nose to the grindstone, where honing my craft is concerned, has finally started to pay off and this makes me very happy indeed.
- How have your friends and/or family influenced your writing?
A great portion of my initial writing was inspired by my family, specifically my father’s antics fueled by his addiction to gambling. The next big thing was always around a distant corner, so he chased it most of his life. What this meant for his family—my mom and the four of us kids—was we moved a lot and lived in some sketchy areas. When I started writing, my childhood experiences were a gold mine.
- What inspires and motivates you to write?
I am often inspired by a weird thought or an opening line popping into my head. I am motivated by the joy of telling a story that I suspect will resonate with at least one person and hopefully more than one.
- Can you tell us about the catalyst that sparked your writing journey?
It initially started with an emotional dream. I woke up and immediately wrote it down. It was an odd little story that I came to realize was about my relationship with my sister.
- Please share a glimpse into your writing process.
I am a pantser. A line pops into my head, and it’s off to the races. Sometimes the words come faster than I can type them. Once I finish, I spend a lot of time (sometimes hours, sometimes days), filling in the fine details, those that will pull the readers in and get them invested in the characters and the storyline. I tend to edit as I go along, and the last thing I do is listen to a narration of the final draft using the Microsoft Word “Read Aloud” feature. I pick up on the errors I would have otherwise missed.
- What do you find most fulfilling about the act of writing?
It makes me happy when someone says they enjoy my work. I also get an adrenaline rush when I finish a story or poem that I have a feeling will be well received by a publisher or in a contest. I can’t stop smiling (or crying) while I listen to Microsoft Word’s AI voice, (Jane or Peter, recently updated to sound less robotic), read my words.
- How does the use of imagery contribute to conveying your story?
Imagery is everything. I want to bring all the reader’s senses into the scene. I want them to experience the story. If I can make the reader gasp or laugh or cry, I’ve done my job.
- What is your favorite reading genre?
I like all the genres, if the author has written a compelling story, but since that day I found a copy of Rosemary’s Baby, while I was actually babysitting a baby (fortunately, not the spawn of Satan), I have always been drawn to horror. I don’t enjoy extremely graphic or cruel horror, though. I love gothic ghost stories.
- What human being has inspired you the most?
I feel like I should say someone who dedicated their life to making the world a better place, like Mother Teresa, but realistically it was my father. He was flawed and broken but when he passed away in 2018, it shattered me. Though we frequently bumped heads, he was my biggest fan. He thought everything I did was brilliant. I wrote a dumb song when I was twelve years old and he was amazed by it. Seriously, now that I am an author, I can say it was not a good song, but he gushed about that song for the remainder of his days, asking me to sing it at random times. Someone who loves a thing because of the person who created it, whether the thing is good or not, gives that person confidence. He was a highly intelligent man, a literal rocket scientist for NASA in the 1960’s, but also had a great sense of humor, though there were dark days. I regret he passed away before my writing took off because he would be equally amazed and proud of the dumb stories as well as the not so dumb stories.
- What message would you have for the Spillwords Press community that voted for you?
A great big THANK YOU! I am so grateful there are people out there who enjoy my stories and I want to thank each and everyone of you for taking time to vote for me. I was overwhelmed with emotion that I actually won Author of the Month. It was an honor to be recognized among a group of such talented writers.
- What would you like your legacy as a writer to be?
I haven’t written my book yet. I know it is in me, but I will have to take a journey through some dark places to get to the end. I hope I am able to do what it takes to get it out there and that it is ultimately published and inspirational to those who are having or who have been through some truly dark days.
- Is there anything else you would like to add?
I believe writing saved my life. To let the cat out of the bag, I have suffered from depression my entire life. My medical record calls it “major depressive disorder.” Only a handful of people know this, as I manage to hide it very well. But now everyone who reads this will know, and that’s okay. Writing has been the key to keeping the demons at bay. I owe a lot to Sara V.B., a local newspaper editor who took a chance on me. She published my Ted Bundy memoir and then offered me a two year stint as a monthly humorist columnist. Likewise, I am grateful for those readers and publishers, particularly Spillwords, who support emerging writers, for assisting me on my ongoing journey into the light.
- Interview Q&A With Lisa H. Owens - July 16, 2024
- The Case of the Missing Brougham - May 26, 2024
- A Night in Gabriel’s Pub - December 3, 2023
