Latest Episodes
Episode 135 'You are valuable just as you are. And so is your writing.' A conversation with Jen Louden.
In this episode, I have a great conversation with the writer and international speaker Jen Louden. I talk about my own personal philosophy for being a writer and we get into the hard questions: why do you want to write? What's your story REALLY about? And do you know who you are, and what you are writing for? This episode looks at the need for proper self-regard, self-care, resilience, self-awareness, and how to focus on the task at hand. ...
Episode 134 "All successful books have this one thing in common..." A conversation with Dr Ginger Moran
This episode is a conversation with the author, writing coach and academic Dr Ginger Moran. We talk about the right mindset for writing, the different disciplines that we need to bring to the first draft and editing, learning from great writers, and why we writers are such tender souls. And yes, Ginger tells us what that one thing successful books have in common is, enjoy! ...
Episode 133 - Why it's so important for writers to feel proud of their work
Can we talk about our work without hesitation, and without feeling like there's some aspect to it that could have been better? Have we done your best with our book project? In this episode, I look at what it means for us writers to be proud of our work, how we achieve that, and what the benefits are. ...
Episode 132 "Challenge Accepted!" A conversation with full time independent writer Steff Green
This episode is a conversation with Steff Green. Steff is a blogger, author, optimist, metal-head, and full-time author. She also suffers from a rare genetic condition which means she is now legally registered as blind. In our conversation, we discuss the challenges that writers who have a disability face, and also how should any writer present a character who has a disability. ...
Episode 131 - Get them off their smartphone and make them care about your work. A conversation with Tade Thompson
This episode is a conversation with award-winning writer and NHS doctor Tade Thompson. We discuss everything from the Wombles to the Fantastic Four, and from the fact that no one gives a **** about your writing unless you make them, to the tropes of English horror. ...
Episode 130 - Energising each scene in your novel with polarity shifts and scene turns
What must a scene have to really make it work? It's not action, it's not dialogue, it's not sparkling description, wonderful those these things can be. For a scene to work something that matters needs to change. In this episode, we explore these changes or polarity shifts to show this principle, with an example story that contains some scenes with these shifts and some that do not to show what a difference that make. ...