In this interview, I chat with American-in-Sydney debut memoirist Lindsay Bartels on writing Imogen in Waiting by hand across four notebooks, protecting early fiction from feedback, and why home is where the books are.
This is part of the Interviews with Creatives series, a curated library of conversations from the Creative Momentum with Meg podcast.
Lindsay Bartels is an American writer living on Sydney’s Northern Beaches whose debut memoir Imogen in Waiting: A Memoir of Modern Reproduction was published by Third Rail Press in June 2026. The book centres on one of the most ethically complex decisions a parent could face: Lindsay was diagnosed with breast cancer in her 20s and found she carried the BRCA1 genetic mutation. When she and her husband underwent IVF, they were left with three viable embryos, one of them a female carrying the same gene. The memoir, addressed directly to that embryo, is a meditation on agency, surrender, what makes a life worth living, and how we navigate the unknown. Small, precise and told in vignettes, it is a book that earns every word.
This is a conversation about how Lindsay wrote it, what she learned about process along the way, and what she is working out now as she moves into fiction. In this conversation, we talk about:
- How Lindsay wrote her memoir almost entirely by hand, across four 100-page notebooks, with a pragmatic page-count schedule that kept her moving forward
- The advice from writing teacher Mary Adkins that changed everything: start with a big, thorny ethical question and follow it through, rather than trying to write ‘the whole story’
- How the three-act structure gave her memoir a loose but usable shape, and why a story you already know is a very different thing to write than one you are making up
- Why she now protects her early fiction from feedback, and why she sets aside workshop responses rather than acting on them immediately
- The difference between the encouragement you need in the early stages and the critique you need later, and how to ask for exactly what you want from a reader
- What refuels her creative life: living more, following curiosity into uncomfortable places, and doing things because she herself is excited to try them
- Why home, for Lindsay, is where the books are, even when they are the wrong books in the wrong country
Whether you are sitting with a story that feels too personal, too complicated or too big to write, or trying to work out how to protect a fragile early draft from well-meaning feedback, this episode will give you both the framework and the permission to keep going. Lindsay is warm, thoughtful and disarmingly honest about what she still does not know.
Listen or watch the podcast interview
Lindsay Bartels, Author
LB: My name is Lindsay Bartels, and I am over in Sydney. My creative practice is writing, and this is a relatively new chapter for me. My previous creative endeavours were filmmaking and digital advertising, and I also did some interior design and drawings. Then I had some children and was away from the workforce in that capacity for a while, and came to writing, and I love it.
MD: So it sounds like you’ve had a fairly creative career the whole way. Are you still doing any of that other creative work, or is it now just writing?
LB: Totally fair question. I found once I had children that for the clients that I had, this was when I was living in San Francisco, they wanted all or nothing. There was a lot of me required for that creative endeavour, hand-holding, if you will, for those projects, and my kids needed more of the hand-holding. So that got released, and there are different regulations to keep up with, especially overseas in Australia now, that I just haven’t kept up with. So I focus on the writing, and then Instagram is my video creative outlet, so where I get to tap into my editing skills, even though they’re not the sharpest, they’re super fun.
MD: I always find it interesting, the other creative things that people do, because I think none of us are just creative in one way. We are doing other creative things as well.
LB: People have cooking, or taking care of plants, and all those things, and I don’t do those things. I just noticed your plants in the background, they’re so beautiful.
MD: Yeah, I do love my plants, and it’s so exciting to have come home and they’re all alive. Actually, no. One plant did die, but anyway, two months away, that’s what happens. Yes. I love that you creating Instagram Reels is a creative pursuit, because I also love doing things like that, and I think it is part of that creative element. You get to play with it and have fun with it. And for those who are dissing things like social media, it is actually so much fun to make a fun Reel.
LB: People get captivated by Canva. I know a lot of writers who do that, and what they create is amazing. Yes, they go hand in hand.
MD: Canva, for those who have not used it and are frightened of any kind of graphic design work, is so user-friendly, much more than Adobe in the old days.
LB: It’s all so easy now to get rid of a background with a push of a button, where we used to have to cut it out by hand, almost.
MD: Yes, gosh, that’s giving me a bit of trauma. Yes.
LB: Writing! Yes, writing is the now, and it’s lovely.
Creative Routine
MD: Your book has actually just come out this week, and I’m sure that this week feels extraordinary compared to other weeks. Do you have a routine for your writing, and has it changed since the book is now published?
LB: Yes and yes, it is an ever-evolving routine. It is not a set-in-stone routine. I recently came across an article from Ann Patchett, because she just released Whistler, about how she says in the beginning of a project she just writes a little bit and thinks about it for a little bit, and then once she gets in a groove, it’s more consuming, and she’ll just write and write.
I was starting a fiction story with a fiction writing class in person in Sydney, which was fantastic, while I was waiting for edits on my memoir, just to keep me in the zone, in the practice, and not freaking out. And while I was doing that, I found that if I just held myself lightly to an expectation, it allowed more creativity to come through and to flow, and that was such a friendly feeling.
I really appreciate that I’m not on a deadline for this new endeavour. When writing my memoir, that was the first time I’d done something long form, with the goal of 70,000 words for a first draft. I think I got to 85, but I wrote it by hand, using four different notebooks that were 100 pages each. I was very pragmatic about it and scheduling, like, if I want to finish this notebook by this day, I need to write this many pages. But that was easier, because it was a story I knew. Having the memoir in mind, I had the structure, and for something that I’m creating and making up, I find the routine is perhaps just committing to setting aside a couple of hours a day to just be with it and think of the story, and that helps to keep it building momentum. There’s no momentum right now. It is tabled, and it is launch time, and I’m just surrendering.
MD: Yeah, I love that. There was also something that you said: holding myself lightly. That’s a beautiful line.
LB: Thank you.
MD: And I think, from speaking with many authors, this kind of lead-up to launch can feel like a liminal space. I think it’s been great that you’ve had that lovely distraction of playing with something in fiction, but also knowing that you need to put it aside and just have complete focus on the launch.
Creative Process
MD: The process that you have for your creative work, going from idea to putting it all together: can you talk me through that, for the memoir and for the fiction?
LB: Yes. I had a very wonderful teacher in the US named Mary Adkins. She has a writer’s podcast called The First Draft Club, and that’s how I came across her. She gave me this great advice to start with a big question, a big, thorny, ethical question where, as a writer, you’re curious about it, so you want to dive deeply and follow that question through. You’re not hitting the nail on the head with the whole story, but it’s something you’re exploring, and the work is always tapping into that question. That way, you can look at the pros and cons and these different perspectives. It just makes a richer story. And for my memoir, I wrote to this question of whether or not I would bring this embryo into being, knowing it had this cancer-causing genetic mutation that I had and had experienced.
It was something that I, as a person, sat with for many years, and once I got to a place in life where I felt complete with that, I was like, I really want to capture this on the page for others who have a similar experience and want to look at the sides I considered. So just having that question in mind is kind of how I start. I’m very much a pantser with what’s gonna come. For the memoir, because I knew the story, I fit it into a three-act structure: this is the setup and where I was going, this is where things turned around, then I hit a low point, and what I was thinking in the beginning was totally different, and at the end I had a total paradigm shift. So that was a very loose structure. And it all flowed out really easily with that in mind, again, because I knew the story. So with fiction, I’m trying not to plot too much, because I’ve had ideas in the past that didn’t take off because I feel like I killed my own vibe by finding all the answers from the get-go.
MD: Are you holding a question for this fiction as well?
LB: Yes. I am. It can kind of change, because it’s a made-up story. So as I write it, and I’m writing towards this question, I’m like, Well, now, do I want to answer a different question? Or is that really the question I want to answer? Or is this leading to something deeper, something more complex than I initially thought? So I’m still in the first draft.
MD: Yeah, sometimes I think we don’t know what that question is until we get to the end of that first draft. But I’m also curious about sharing your work in this early stage. I went through the RMIT program in Melbourne, and we shared a lot, and sometimes that complicated the understanding of what you’re trying to write, because you’ve got maybe 20 people giving you feedback on something. Are you finding that sharing it is potentially not so helpful at this stage for this project?
LB: Yes, but at the same time it’s a good experience, because it’s helping me know what works best for me and what doesn’t. What I love about being in community with other writers is having people to just talk with. It’s just so nice to not write in isolation, and to have other people as accountability partners almost, and just say, I’m gonna work on this right now, or I have this question, and be conversation partners, not necessarily reading each other’s writing. Although, if I do get to a place where I feel really good about something, and I share it, it is hard to take in 12 different people’s opinions. It’s nice to hear if something’s not working from three different people, but then at the same time, I feel like I have to set that aside and see if it filters in subconsciously, or revisit it later, because if I take it to heart, I won’t continue. I just don’t want it to be a barrier for me.
It’s so important, I think, to just listen to your own voice in the beginning, and believe in where those whispers and weird places take you. And sometimes I get too excited, and I’m like, I want to share this weird place I went, and someone might be like, that’s too weird, or I don’t get it, and then you can be deflated. So I’m just cautious of that, so that the writing can flow, and sharing maybe with two people that you know and trust, who know your work a little better and are more on the encouraging side in the early stages, that fuels you to keep going.
MD: Yeah, I actually think that’s such great advice for writers: you don’t need many people to get feedback from. If you’ve got two people, or even one person, who you can really trust, who will encourage you, because in that early stage what writers need, what creators need, is encouragement when we’re trying to bring a world into being. And just to keep going. I think that’s potentially the best advice any writer needs to hear: keep going, just keep going.
LB: Yeah, keep going. And then there will be a time and place to get that feedback where it is really helpful, if somebody isn’t picking up on what you’re laying down. If you’re like, oh, that’s what you interpreted from what I wrote, that’s not what I meant, so that’s helpful to make it clearer.
MD: I also think it can be really helpful, when you are seeking feedback, to be really specific about what you’re wanting feedback on. I’m not wanting a copy edit on this. I want to know, does this scene work? Or what do you feel is missing? And I think it also helps the person giving you feedback to know what to look out for as well. Coming in with a red pen on a first draft, please don’t.
LB: Yes, yes. That same teacher, Mary Adkins, said, anyone can get a hammer and find a nail. And that’s mostly not what you’re looking for when you’re getting those first rounds of feedback, because you want it to feel alive and flexible and malleable still. So having the parameters from whoever’s work it is, is very helpful to know how to be most helpful.
Creative Inspiration
MD: Where do you get your inspiration from? Obviously the memoir came from your own life, but for your fiction, and maybe for the work that you’ve done before?
LB: It’s still from life, and from experiences that I have and want to capture, or really wonder why something is niggling at me so much, or if it’s a question I have, even just a little question from an interaction. I’m like, why did that interaction stick with me? Why can’t I shake it? Or why am I still turning it over in my head? Those kind of experiences in life are the ones I want to capture on the page. And for my memoir, I really looked to other memoirists whose work felt very deep and meaningful to me. I have a book I’m going to show you. This one is called Here After by Amy Lin.
It’s very succinct and told in vignettes, and it’s about her experience after her husband died when she was quite young, in her 30s, newly married. But it’s so beautiful, and every word has weight, almost. You don’t need all the details of her life, you don’t need her whole exposition of when she grew up, and that’s kind of what I love as a reader, and I wanted to have that in my memoir as well. So my memoir isn’t big, it’s small, and I just wanted it to have a weight to it that was significant but not heavy, if that makes sense. And now with the fiction, I basically want to cull feelings and experiences from my real life, but not have to tell my real life anymore. It’s a lot of motherhood stuff and kids, and I just don’t want to throw my kids under the bus. Fictionalising it and changing it into these characters takes the edge off for me, and I think for a reader too, because I can add more elements that maybe are a little unrealistic and lovely, which is fun.
MD: Well, you get to turn the dial up and have fun with it.
LB: Yes.
Creative Wisdom
MD: If you were chatting with someone who is thinking about getting into writing, or filmmaking, or graphic design, or making Reels, what wisdom would you want to share with them?
LB: I would say just keep your curiosity sparked, and have a beginner mindset. I love learning, that’s something that’s just innate in me, and I never think I’m the best, and I try to encourage that for my children too, to just lean on others, ask for their wisdom, and don’t be embarrassed to be a newbie at these things, because other people want to help and to share. Especially when you come at it with a curious mindset, it’s fun to learn from others, and then you get the connection too, which helps fuel you to learn and to get better. I find I’m still learning and getting better, and everything I learn is sometimes hard, but it’s exciting, and it keeps it fun and dynamic. But you’ve got to be the one to fuel it, and that’s why if it’s something that you love, it should come pretty easily to keep going and just lose track of time, because you’re enjoying that process.
MD: How do you refill your creative cup?
LB: Just live more life, just have more experiences. I remember when I was younger, I did always love to blog and write a little and capture experiences along the way as a way to just be creative on the side, and I had someone in my 20s tell me, you can’t write a memoir. I’d lived in different places, I’d moved interstate on my own, packed up my car, and had this new experience. And I didn’t like that advice. I don’t think that’s very nice, because there’s always something you can write about from your life, or from fictionalising something that you know and that you love or enjoyed and just want to share with others and remember. So just by living, and doing things that make me come alive, and living outside my comfort zone in a way that is interesting to me. Not because someone else says so, but because I’m excited to try it.
Home for Creativity
MD: What feels like home for you and your creative work?
LB: That’s so nice. I love home. I’m a homebody. My star sign is Cancer, and books. I feel like home is where the books are. I’ve moved overseas a few times, and I just always miss my books that are in the US, and I accumulate way too many books here, but even if I don’t read them all, they are very comforting. That’s why I think going into bookstores is so lovely, and I’m so glad they’re still around. And libraries. Libraries are lovely, but they feel, for some reason, less homey with the fluorescent lights.
MD: Improve the lighting.
LB: Yes, yes.
Connect with Lindsay
Other things mentioned in the conversation
Liked this interview?
Like, comment and share!
Creative Momentum with Meg podcast for creatives
This interview aired on the Creative Momentum with Meg podcast. It’s packed with insights and advice from creatives. If you haven’t discovered the podcast, go have a listen for more interviews with creatives talking about their creative process, routine and inspiration.
Listen or watch on your favourite podcasting platform
More interviews with creatives
Do you want to be interviewed on the podcast?
Season 2 of the Creative Momentum with Meg podcast features Australian writers and artists. I chat with them about their routines and processes and what fills them with joy and inspiration. Complete the EOI form if you are interested in going on the show. I’m really keen to hear from artists of all kinds and creatives of all kinds.