It was lovely to be asked to participate in a Q&A with Margaret Macpherson about her book, Tilting Towards Joy, and mine, Apples on a Windowsill. Especially since my book has been out for quite a while now. As I say in the convo, I’ve always expected that I would be selling my books one by one, winning over one heart, one reader at a time.
I was blown away by Margaret’s book, so this was doubly gratifying. Read the conversation in full here.
An excerpt:
MARGARET MACPHERSON: I’m very curious about the way your work(s) taps into the metaphysical world, the realm that travels beside us or surrounds us, but is often evasive because we humans are just too busy to see. Could you speak to your writing process as a way into that realm and what you think you impart in these essays?
SHAWNA LEMAY: This is the heart of writing for me. I’m acutely aware that we exist in multiple registers and the constant register is that we’re all in some form of heaven. But because of conditions, we might also be in hell, we might be in a thousand possible realms. And you’d like to say to people, choose your version of heaven!, but we all know that life is so much harder than that. And it’s probably going to get harder. In my longtime day job at the library, I’m privileged to talk to people who are going through difficult times. I’m always humbled when I talk to someone who shares some bright spot in their day, something they’d seen or experienced, and I think if they can do that, then I have no excuse.
There are all sorts of ways to get to the transcendent, to experience radiance. I’m a secular person, so my path to this other realm has been nature, poetry, art. And I think we all have access to it in our everyday lives. You don’t have to go on expensive trips or spend money to get there. The beyond is right here, maybe on your kitchen table when the light swings in at a certain time of day. That’s what I want people to know—you deserve transcendence.
MARGARET: This question is harder, I think. Given the current climate of insta-best sellers and diminishing returns for the small presses, with authors shouldering more and more of the marketing and promotional tasks, what do you see for the future of your work? You have a base of readers and people (including me) who are excited by your vision and its quiet execution, but how will you grow readership in a prize culture that often ignores or trivializes the meditative, the still small voice?
SHAWNA: Margaret, I feel like you’re in my head with these questions. I was just thinking about how I’m probably about as popular as I’ll ever be. As someone who has been on social media since the beginning and who avidly follows the latest in book publishing, I can see what it would take to maybe be more well-known. But I’m not interested in those things. And I guess those books that I most love are often the lesser known, the unsung, the quirky beautiful weird ones. That’s not bad company to be in. Of course, it doesn’t pay the bills. So, we’re always going to be giving something up to write or create something outside the mainstream. We’re always going to have to struggle to some extent. I have to be okay with that. Very few writers these days can operate without at least a part-time job. Why should I be any different?
It’s not that I wouldn’t like a greater readership. I’ve always hoped that the right book finds the right reader. So, I do try and put myself out there because I owe it to my work to give it a chance. I think I’ve always sold my books one by one, winning over one heart at a time. They’re not for everyone but what book is?