Chin-Sun Lee
Age: 59. Residence: New Orleans. Book: Upcountry (Unnamed Press, November 2023), a Northern gothic novel following the converging lives of three women with varying socioeconomic statuses and religious beliefs who become bound together in a whirlpool of suspicion, animosity, gossip, and a local drowning. Agent: Pamela Malpas. Editor: Chris Heiser.
I was an early, avid reader and always considered writing to be the ultimate vocation—but my path to becoming a published author was long and circuitous. For twenty years I was a clothing designer in New York City, successful enough that my eventual walking away was difficult. My desire to write always niggled at me, so when I turned forty I started taking writing workshops at the New School, eventually earning my MFA there in 2009. For five more years I juggled writing with my design career, but I finally left that profession—and New York—in 2014, going straight to my first writing residency, PLAYA at Summer Lake in Oregon.
It changed my life. For two years I lived out of a suitcase, going from artist residencies to the homes of family and friends. It was chaotic, but I began getting more stories published and met so many other artists who are now part of my creative family.
In 2015 and 2016 I spent two consecutive summers in the Catskills, and a novel emerged from the rural community and landscapes I observed there. I turned what was a blissful, bucolic experience into an unsettling tale about class, race, religion, and fate, themes that have concerned me for much of my life. The novel also centers around three women from vastly different backgrounds, because focusing on women’s stories was and remains important to me.
By 2018 I had settled in New Orleans and finished writing Upcountry. I began querying and signed with my agent eight months later. The novel went out on submission in the summer of 2019, during which I encountered the unique hell of that emotional roller coaster: a cycle of hope, patience, revision, and crushing disappointment. When the pandemic hit, things slowed way down. What saved my sanity was starting a new novel—and I recommend this to any writer with a book on submission. I never gave up on my debut, but it was important for me to move on to another project, because when one manuscript stalls, you need to put your hope elsewhere, and hope is essential so you don’t give up.
It is also important to go into this work with clear expectations and for the right reasons. Writing is an art form; your primary incentive has to be about making and finessing your art. Believing in and committing to your work is the only thing that will sustain you through the challenging times. Publishing, on the other hand, is a business, and a tough one, so you have to learn not to take rejections and disappointments too personally.
It takes only one person saying yes to change everything. That yes happened for me over two years after my debut first went out on submission. It prompted other editors to perk up and pay attention (this happened when I queried agents too), and in the end I had five offers for publication. I have no idea why my luck changed so dramatically. Luck isn’t something we can control; all we can control is how long we stay in the game while we wait for it. I know I’ve worked hard, and, whether through optimism or sheer obstinacy, I’ve always felt something would finally crack open.
One advantage of being older is that, having taken calculated risks in the past, I have some confidence in my resilience. It has enabled me to be nimble and patient. I think those qualities helped me to stick around until luck finally rolled my way.
Author photo: Craig Mulcahy. Book photo: David Hamsley.