Author Interview: Julia Lawrinson

Our members have been reading How to Avoid a Happy Life by Julia Lawrinson. In the following interview, Julia speaks about the book and her experiences as an author:

Tell us about your book

How to Avoid a Happy Life is a memoir about the things that happened to me growing up in the Australia of the 70s and 80s. It is my attempt to make sense of the odd collection of events that comprise my life, and I hope readers will laugh and occasionally cry along the journey. 

To give you an idea, the chapters include Be Born Into Intergenerational Misery, Marry Your Ex-Girlfriend’s Brother, Experience Vicarious Trauma through Your Friend Being Raped and Murdered by a Japanese Serial Killer, Find Out Why Your Husband is Urinating in the Kitchen of an Evening, and Find Yourself and Your New Partner Being Chased Down the Street by a Phalanx of Reporters.

How to Avoid a Happy Life shows that resilience is not inborn but learned.  

How is it different to what you’ve written before?

It was an entirely new experience. Writing for children and young adults means that you have to put yourself in the position of your characters, appropriate to their age.

But writing my own story, I had to remember how I felt and thought at different times in my life. This was a different kind of work. I hired a mentor from the US, Howard Norman, to help me work out what was best to include and what I needed to go to therapy with. 

What was it like to switch from fiction to non fiction and from young adult to adult writing?

It was similar in some ways to writing historical fiction, having to make sure things are right – dates, times, and all that.

It was different in that I was able to write more freely – I didn’t have to put myself in the shoes of my audience in the same way – I think my target audience is probably like me, women who have made some mistakes, had some hard stuff happen, but found they are stronger than they thought they were.

What does your schedule look like when writing?

I have always had a day job, so I am disciplined – I write before work and on weekends.

Early and often, I say! I don’t wait for inspiration to strike because I don’t have time for that.

How do you celebrate when you finish your book?

I go down to the dog park and breathe out!

What do you need in your writing space to help you stay focused? OR What are three things that we would always find on your desk?

I prefer solitude and quiet to write, but I can write anywhere if I have to, and I have often had to. When I’m writing, I stop focusing on whatever is around me, so World War III could be starting and I wouldn’t know until I look up. (Hey, what’s that out the window?!)

How much time do you spend researching for your books, and what sort of things do you need to research?

I need to research to make sure what I’m writing is accurate, and that if I say something happened in 1975, that it was 1975, not earlier or later. This should sound simple, but it isn’t always. For example, I’ve had to look up the release date of ABBA songs.

The internet will tell you that a single was released on a certain date, but that is usually the UK or US date, which could be six months different to the Australian date, back in the day. The past is full of quirks like that, once you start writing about it.

Are you a plotter or a pantser, and has that changed over the course of your writing career?

I’m a character driven writer – I have to be intrigued about why a character does what they do to pick up a pen – but I have learned through bitter experience that you must have a plot of sorts in your head, or else your story comes adrift.

If you could invite any three people for dinner, whom would you invite? 

I wouldn’t, as cooking for people gives me anxiety – but if I could take three people out, I’d choose Eleanor of Aquitaine, Boudicca and Leigh Sales.

When you aren’t researching or writing, what sort of books do you like to read?  Do you have any favourite authors?

I love memoirs because I’m fascinated by how people survive the things that happen to them. I try to read as widely as possible, to open up to experiences very different to mine. 

My favourite writer is Charlotte Wood – there is nothing she writes that I don’t love.

What are you currently reading?

Breath by Carly-Jay Metcalfe, it’s a beautifully written memoir of living with cystic fibrosis. She’s funny and real and pulls no punches, and yet, for all the suffering she describes, there is hope as well.

What is your favourite part of publishing?

Getting a shiny new book in your hands!

Tell us something about you that may not appear in your author bio?

I once went to a monastery in the UK to see if I could hack it as a Buddhist nun. Spoiler alert: I couldn’t.

What’s next for you?

I’m going to continue trying new things. Next year I have my first historical novel in verse called The Entombed Miner coming out with Fremantle Press. 

Where can our readers follow you?

I’m on Instagram @julialawrinsonwriter, YouTube @JuliaLawrinsonWriter-us4wg, and I have a newsletter called ‘What Were You Thinking’ on Substack at julialawrinson.substack.com