Author Name:
Lisa Louis
Book Title:
Autism Outdoors: A Guide to Spending Time in Nature
Website URL:
Social Media Links:
http://facebook.com/HikingAutism
What is your “day job”?
I work as a Japanese technical translator to pay the bills, and have done so for the last twenty-plus years. I mostly translate electronics and mechanical patents. Even when I’m not working on a personal creative writing project, I am immersed in words all day.
What is your latest book about and when was it published?
Autism Outdoors: A Guide to Spending Time in Nature presents practical, uplifting information to help individuals on the autism spectrum of any age—as well as their families and support staff—enjoy time in nature, increasingly recognized as a powerful source of physical and mental health benefits. I just signed a contract with Globe Pequot/Falcon Guides for publication probably in early 2027.
What inspired you to write your book?
For years, I’ve been trying to sell a memoir that tells the back story of how I came to create my HikingAutism.com website. My severely autistic son was so overwhelmed by neurosensory input and other autism-related issues that he—and therefore the whole family—were virtually trapped at home. A brilliant, mysterious young special education teacher appeared in our lives when we were at the edge of despair. With his help, we were soon getting our son out on hiking trails and more importantly found a renewed sense of hope. Our helper died unexpectedly and the devastation and recovery from that is what spurred me to write the memoir.
One insightful agent told me that these days, it is very difficult to get non-celebrity memoirs over the finish line, but if I gave her a proposal along the lines of my website in terms of helping people affected by autism enjoy the benefits of nature, she believed she could sell that. I gave her the proposal and she sold the book idea very quickly. Her instinct that I already had another book in waiting within the material of my website was spot-on, and gives me a wonderful steppingstone to get this book out first and then go back to selling the memoir.
What success did you achieve with your book that you’d like to share?
This new book will probably not hit shelves until early 2027, but knowing I will now be able to share the knowledge and experience I use to help other autism families on a much broader scale through this book is very uplifting and gratifying.
How has publishing your books helped support your career?
I have one traditionally published book from the early 1990s (Butterflies of the Night: Mama-sans, Geisha, Strippers, and the Japanese Men They Serve) that was a good base to understand the publishing world from, but it did not make it super easy to get another book deal this far down the line. Having Autism Outdoors published will help my labor-of-love work helping other individuals and families dealing with the challenges of autism be more available to a wide range of people.
If the NFAA and/or our community was instrumental in helping you achieve this success, how?
First off, meeting Stephanie Chandler several years ago when I attended the San Francisco Writers Conference was an inspiration and led me to becoming an NFAA member. I have attended various NFAA webinars, and though the process of trying to get a book out can involve active periods and then stretches when publishing efforts go on the back burner, tapping into NFAA classes and information kept me feeling like I was still on the right track to pursue a publishing deal.
What’s next for you?
First I have to submit the completed manuscript for Autism Outdoors, since this book was sold on proposal. After that, I will work with my agent to get the already-written memoir out as a follow up to this book. .After that, I am planning to dust off the novel I had written that was put on the back burner to write the memoir. Hopefully the domino effect will allow me to get all of these books out on shelves!
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