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WHO:
A happily married mother of two
mostly-compliant children. Caffeine addict. Teetotaller.
Vegetarian. Lover of feisty political/religious/sporting
arguments. Full-time writer.
WHAT?
My husband of twenty years is
still trying to work that out.
WHERE?
I live to the south of Brisbane
next to a state forest. We have a cosy house with a great
ramshackle yard where I potter with bulbs and pander to my
obsession with washing. There’s something about hanging
freshly washed clothes on the line that works like a
mini-meditation for me - apart from the fact that it smells
great. And it gives me a good stretch-and-walk break every hour
or so. Just don’t ask about my excess water rates bill.
WHEN:
Ten years ago I attended a TAFE
creative writing course. That year I entered the Woman’s Day
Mills & Boon short story competition and was a runner-up. On
that basis I decided to write romance, so I joined a new romance
writing support group on the Gold Coast mentored by the gracious
and beautiful Helen Bianchin, and shortly thereafter joined RWA.
Ten years later I’m still going
to monthly meetings with Lesley Millar (current RoBOTY
co-ordinator), Helen Lacey, Catherine Cockburn and Noela Cowell.
We work together supporting each other, setting goals and
critiquing. They keep me sane. In the first couple of years, I
wrote three HM&B novels and received three standard
rejections. That helped me decide that although I liked category
romance, I wasn’t passionate about writing it and should be
writing something I did feel passionate about. I’ll never
regret that time, though, as the discipline of finishing and
sending manuscripts was a great apprenticeship and I’m very
grateful for it.
Six years ago I interested Sydney
agent Selwa Anthony in representing me. Since then I’ve had
three erotic short stories published and, as a result of that,
was interviewed in bed with red satin sheets on the Midday Show!
I’ve also had a fantasy-romance novella published - “The
Goddess and The Geek” - which short-listed in this year’s
Australian Aurealis Awards. I’ve written a lot more,
naturally, that hasn’t been published (yet.)
BJ: How did your first “big
book” sale come about?
LC: I’d just finished writing a
collection of erotic short stories that weren’t going to sell
and my agent said, “What are we going to do next? What do you
want to write? Tell me what you feel passionate about?”
So, I said, “Let me tell you
about this story I’ve always wanted to write. About a little
princess looking for her missing twin brother.” It had been in
my imagination since I was a little girl (when naturally I was
the little princess); and over the years it had evolved from a
simple fairy tale into a complex adult story. I must have
sounded excited over the phone talking about it and so Selwa
said, “That’s the one. Write that one.”
Well, that one ended up being
three books when I plotted it out, but trilogies are okay in
fantasy so I completed the first book, Destiny of the Light,
and sent it with a brief outline for the subsequent books to
Selwa who showed it to several Australian publishing houses. Two
of them bid for the trilogy and we went with Simon and Schuster,
Australia, for release here in June 2001. Naturally I would be
thrilled to see it sold overseas in the future.
BJ: Are the other two
scheduled?
LC: Daughter of the Dark
and Glimmer in the Maelstrom will come out in June 2002
and June 2003 respectively.
BJ: What can readers expect
from Destiny of the Light?
LC: While it has many elements of
fantasy and science fiction, I don’t think you’d need to be
a science fantasy reader to enjoy it. A good story with strong
characters is going to work no matter where you set it. Mine
just happens to be set on the Earthworld of Ennae where the only
colours are shades of brown - landscape, sky, people, everything
- and that’s quite a shock to the heroine Khatrene when she
arrives there from our world.
There’s certainly romance in
the story and it has a very satisfying ending in that regard,
but there’s also intrigue, betrayal, murder and magic. It’s
a passionate book, but alongside that intensity there’s some
delightful humour and laugh-out-loud moments which were such fun
to write.
If I had to encapsulate the novel
in a sentence (which I’m sure I will need to) I’d say that Destiny
of the Light is about love in all its facets, and what the
heroine, Khatrene, will do for love: the love of a brother, a
child, a world, and a soul-mate.
BJ: Are you writing under your
own name or a pseudonym?
LC: Louise Cusack is my maiden
name and there’s never been any question that I would use that
name as an author. I’ve been telling people since I was ten
that one day they’d see a book with my name on the cover, so
presumably if they’re still looking, they’ll be looking for
Louise Cusack.
BJ: Is writing your full-time
job?
LC: Absolutely. On forms where it
asks for your occupation I’ve been putting “writer” for
the last six years and that’s helped me keep that career focus
in mind. There’s never been any doubt in my mind that I’d
stick with this, because I’m so sure it’s what I’ve been
put on this planet for, but handling it professionally helps
keep the financial (or lack of) situation in perspective. Most
businesses have to send money to get started. I was lucky enough
to be in the situation where I could stay home and work long
hours at writing, but that hasn’t come without sacrifice. Had
I stayed in paid employment, we would have annual holidays and
done some house renovations like ‘normal’ people do. So I’m
very grateful to my family for the sacrifices they’ve made to
help me achieve my dream.
BJ: Tell me about your writing
routine? A typical day n the life of Louise Cusack?
LC: I wake up at 4am when my
husband does and while he had a relaxing cup of tea before his
noisy day as a truck-driver starts, I grab the first of many
coffees and jump onto the computer to start working. It’s a
great time of day, quiet, no chance that the phone will ring. I
just love it.
I stop at 7am and do the
breakfast/make school lunches thing with the kids, then when
they’re off to school I start gain at 9am and work through
until 3pm. This five hour block is punctuated with trips to the
clothes line, to the kitchen for coffee and snacks, or to walk
the dog when I need to get up and think. I get much more work
done in the 4am to 7am block because my concentration diminishes
as the day goes on. By 3pm I’ve had enough and unless I’m
working to a deadline, that’s the end of the day. I’m always
in bed by 8 or 9pm at the latest.
This system works well for
day-to-day writing, however at the beginning of a project when I’m
still “thinking around the idea” I sometimes go to the local
shopping centre and sit in a coffee shop with a pad and pen to
make notes. There’s something about being in a foreign
environment that sets my brain working in a different way.
BJ: What of the future - what
is your writing goal?
LC: my ultimate writing goal is
not to make a million bucks (although I do have this
on-again/off-again fantasy about owning a full set of Louis
Vuitton luggage) but to write books that inspire people. When I
read Frank Herbert’s “Dune” as teenager, it changed my
life. Literally, changed my life. Those characters were real to
me, and their nobility, their courage, inspired me to be a
better person. I’m sure most RWA members will have had the
same experience with a book. I want to do that. I want to
inspire people.
I remember hearing Australian
fantasy author Sara Douglass say a teenage fan of hers told her
at a book signing that he’d been thinking about committing
suicide. Then he’d read her book and didn’t wan t to
anymore. Can you imagine how she must have felt to hear that?
Financial reward pales into insignificance. In the hope of
having that sort of positive influence, my main goal is to keep
writing and keep getting published, as widely as I’m able to
be and for as long as I’m able to. I plan to live to 90 so I’ve
got another 50 odd years to go.
Find out more about
Louise on her website at www.louisecusack.com |
At
Romance Writers of Australia’s “Romancing the Millenium”
conference in August, Louise Cusack is offering a tutorial
titled “Passion, Persistence and Potent Prose.”