Brydie Lee-Kennedy: On the Importance of Prioritizing Taking Breaks

Brydie Lee-Kennedy is an Australian screenwriter and author who splits her time between London and Sydney. She has written on shows for Netflix, Apple TV, and Disney. In a former life she was a cabaret performer, kids party entertainer, and sex columnist. Follow her on X (Twitter) and Instagram.

Brydie Lee-Kennedy

In this interview, Brydie discsusses how one creative endevour led her to writing her debut novel, Go Lightly, her hope for readers, and more!

Name: Brydie Lee-Kennedy
Literary agent: Imogen Pelham at Marjacq (U.K.) and Meredith Miller at UTA (U.S.)
Book title: Go Lightly
Publisher: Bloomsbury (U.K. and Commonwealth) and HarperCollins (U.S. and Canada)
Release date: March 2024 with Bloomsbury and April 2024 with HarperCollins
Genre/category: Literary fiction
Elevator pitch: A spiky bisexual love story centered around Ada, a Holly Golightly type character for the age of DMs.

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What prompted you to write this book?

I never planned to be a novelist but had written some longform storytelling pieces as part of my work as a cabaret performer. As an experiment I took one of those pieces and fictionalized it, and I realized I enjoyed trying a different kind of writing. That became my first chapter and from that point I just … kept going. When I hit about 15,000 words, I sent them to my literary agent Imogen (who had been hinting for a while that I should try fiction!) and asked her if I should keep going. If she hadn’t responded positively, I definitely would have dropped it at that point!

How long did it take to go from idea to publication? And did the idea change during the process?

I started messing around with it in May 2020 (anything to stave off the lockdown dread) and it’s being published in 2024 so … a long time! I was fortunate enough to keep my other job through the pandemic (I’m a TV writer) so I couldn’t focus on the book but would pick it up between contracts and add a little. It definitely changed over time—I didn’t know how it would end until about a week before I finished it.

Were there any surprises or learning moments in the publishing process for this title?

It’s all been surprising; I honestly had no idea how anything worked. Probably the biggest learning moment was discovering I’d have multiple publishers and that the territories weren’t just done by country. Finding out Bloomsbury was buying “Commonwealth rights” was so retro.

Were there any surprises in the writing process for this book?

As a TV writer I stick pretty closely to my outlines, but I found myself veering away from the book outline a few times.

What do you hope readers will get out of your book?

I mostly hope they enjoy spending time with my characters and that they feel inspired to cook for their friends.

If you could share one piece of advice with other writers, what would it be?

If you’re able to walk or swim or do another body moving activity, then make that a priority when you take breaks! My brain simply ceases to function if I’m sitting in front of a computer all day. 

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