Not Too Busy To Write

Let The Bad Times Roll by Alice Slater

This series of the podcast is sponsored by award winning audio book app xigxag

Listeners of Not Too Busy To Write can receive their second book FREE

To redeem, download the xigxag app from the App Store or Google Play.

Go to My xigxag/Settings, then click on Account.

Under Vouchers, click on the ‘Enter code’ button and add your voucher code TOOBUSY to your account.

After your first purchase, your second title will be free!

Alice Slater on writing dark and immoral characters

Wed, 29 Oct 2025 06:00:00 +0100

Sunday Times best selling author Alice Slater is with me today talking about her second novel Let The Bad Times Roll, a dark and delicious follow up to her debut Death of a Bookseller.

Alice talks with me about the pleasures of writing immoral characters, finding her way into her 'difficult' second novel, the challenges of shift work (and why bookselling is a bad profession to have alongside writing) and why she is no where near ready to give up the day job just yet.

Links

Death of A Bookseller by Alice Slater

Alice Slater on Substack

Twelve Moons by Caro Giles

This series of the podcast is sponsored by award winning audio book app xigxag

Listeners of Not Too Busy To Write can receive their second book FREE

To redeem, download the xigxag app from the App Store or Google Play.

Go to My xigxag/Settings, then click on Account.

Under Vouchers, click on the ‘Enter code’ button and add your voucher code TOOBUSY to your account.

After your first purchase, your second title will be free!

Caro Giles on radical memoir

Wed, 22 Oct 2025 06:00:00 +0100

Caro Giles is an award winning writer and author of two memoirs. Unschooled is about Caro's experience raising children who don't fit in to the school system. Forced to homeschool out of necessity rather than choice, Caro weaves in her own experiences as a teacher at both mainstream and specialist provisions to uncover what is an inadequate and chronically underfunded system that is failing so many children in this country. It's a truly beautiful book about making the most of a system virtually impossible to navigate if you don't fit into a neat little box. Caro talks about how the book has been received in mainstream media, using your voice to stand up for those whose lives are at the edges and just how on earth she managed to finish the book to such a tight deadline whilst caring and homeschooling full time.

Links

Unschooled by Caro Giles

Caro on Substack and Instagram

Heart The Lover by Lily King

This series of the podcast is sponsored by award winning audio book app xigxag

Listeners of Not Too Busy To Write can receive their second book FREE

To redeem, download the xigxag app from the App Store or Google Play.

Go to My xigxag/Settings, then click on Account.

Under Vouchers, click on the ‘Enter code’ button and add your voucher code TOOBUSY to your account.

After your first purchase, your second title will be free!

Lily King on writing about love in challenging times

Wed, 15 Oct 2025 06:00:00 +0100

Lily King is an award winning and best selling author of 6 novels and a short story collection. Her latest novel Heart The Lover is an exquisite and profoundly hopeful book about first love and first heartbreak. Lily shares the most incredible wisdom from her 25 years as an author, from waitressing to pay the bills, to the holding on to herself as a writer during early motherhood, to writing about love and hope in a time of political upheval.

Links

Five Tuesdays in Winter by Lily King

Writers and Lovers by Lily King

Penny on Instagram

The Fold Writer's membership

This series of the podcast is sponsored by award winning audio book app xigxag

Listeners of Not Too Busy To Write can receive their second book FREE

To redeem, download the xigxag app from the App Store or Google Play.

Go to My xigxag/Settings, then click on Account.

Under Vouchers, click on the ‘Enter code’ button and add your voucher code TOOBUSY to your account.

After your first purchase, your second title will be free!

Huge thanks to xigxag for sponsoring the series

Series 11 Trailer

Wed, 08 Oct 2025 06:00:00 +0100

Not Too Busy To Write is back from series 11 from October 15th with some incredible authors. Here's a little preview of what's to come.

Links

pennywincerwrites.com

This series of the podcast is sponsored by award winning audio book app xigxag

Listeners of Not Too Busy To Write can receive their second book FREE

To redeem, download the xigxag app from the App Store or Google Play.

Go to My xigxag/Settings, then click on Account.

Under Vouchers, click on the ‘Enter code’ button and add your voucher code TOOBUSY to your account.

After your first purchase, your second title will be free!

Bonus Episode - Finding Motivation

Wed, 07 May 2025 06:00:00 +0100

A bonus episode today! It's peak inside the writing coaching audio sessions of my new writers membership The Fold.

This audio session is all about finding motivation when we are not excited to sit down and write. In it, I give a number of journaling prompts to get to the heart of your lack of motivation (which we all experience from time to time) and figure out what's causing it, in order to better address the problem.

If you enjoy this writing coaching audio session you can join The Fold to receive these weekly, along with co-writing sessions and monthly workshops with guest experts, all designed to help you get your writing done. The Fold is suitable for writers of all kinds fiction/non-fiction/memoir/poetry/substack, for new writers and old hats - any writer working on projects that would love support and accountability to achieve their writing goals.

Join by Friday 9th May and you can take part in the 21 day Writing Sprint which includes daily audio sessions, extra co-writing sessions and prizes for those who take part! Join The Fold to take pat in the sprint.

Join The Fold here pennywincerwrites.com/the-fold

More about Penny Wincer

Alice Kinsella on blending genre

Wed, 02 Apr 2025 06:00:00 +0100

Alice Kinsella is a poet based in the west of Ireland. She's the author of the poetry pamphlet Sexy Fruit, the prose poem memoir Milk: On motherhood and madness and the genre blending Wake of the Whale, co-authored with Daniel Wade, which was a Sunday Independent Book of the Year in 2024.

This conversation covers so much - from unpaid work in publishing, to blending genres, to the creative energy and frustrations of early motherhood. We also talk about why Alice and Daniel chose their local independent publisher Mayo Books Press to publish their latest book.

You can order Wake of the Whale directly from Mayo Books and use the code Whale25 to get free shipping.

Join The Fold writers membership

This series of the podcast is sponsored by award winning audio book app xigxag

Listeners of Not Too Busy To Write can receive their second book FREE

To redeem, download the xigxag app from the App Store or Google Play.

Go to My xigxag/Settings, then click on Account.

Under Vouchers, click on the ‘Enter code’ button and add your voucher code NTBTW to your account.

After your first purchase, your second title will be free!

Links

Wake of the Whale by Alice Kinsella and Daniel Wade

Milk by Alice Kinsella

Sexy Fruit by Alice Kinsella

Alice Kinsella on Substack

Poet Mark Grist

The Last Days of Summer is out March 27th

Sarra Manning on writing romantic fiction

Wed, 26 Mar 2025 06:00:00 +0100

Sarra Manning is the author of 8 adult novels, over 15 YA novels. She began her career on teen magazines and has been writing about love and sex ever since. Sarra talks about being a 'word count slut', writing books fast, how what she learned on magazines helps her pitch novels and the secret to writing about sex successfully.

Sarra is also the literary editor of Red magazine and is my go to person for book reccos - this episode is chock full of amazing books!!

This series of the podcast is sponsored by award winning audio book app xigxag

Listeners of Not Too Busy To Write can receive their second book FREE

To redeem, download the xigxag app from the App Store or Google Play.

Go to My xigxag/Settings, then click on Account.

Under Vouchers, click on the ‘Enter code’ button and add your voucher code NTBTW to your account.

After your first purchase, your second title will be free!

You can listen to The Last Days of Summer on xigxag :)

Links

The Last Days of Summer - Sarra Manning

London, With Love - Sarra Manning

Rachel's Holiday - Marian Keyes

A Sky Painted Gold - Laura Wood

Romantic Comedy - Curtis Sittenfeld

The Wedding People - Alison Espach

Maeve Kerrigan Series - Jane Casey

Deep Cuts - Holly Brickley

The Eights - Joanna Miller

Grants for Writers with The Society of Authors

Wed, 19 Mar 2025 06:00:00 +0100

Want to know how to get funding to write?

Today I'm speaking to Robyn Law, head of Fundraising, Grants and Prizes at The Society of Authors, a UK trade union for writers, illustrators and literary translators. As well as looking at everything the SoA can do for all of us, we do a deep dive into how to apply for grants to help support you while you write, including my own experience as an SoA grant recipient.

This series of the podcast is sponsored by award winning audio book app xigxag

Listeners of Not Too Busy To Write can receive their second book FREE

To redeem, download the xigxag app from the App Store or Google Play.

Go to My xigxag/Settings, then click on Account.

Under Vouchers, click on the ‘Enter code’ button and add your voucher code NTBTW to your account.

After your first purchase, your second title will be free!

Links

The Society of Authors - How to join

The Society of Authors - Grants

The Society of Authors - Advice and Resources

Aime McNee on why we need your art

Wed, 12 Mar 2025 06:00:00 +0100

Aime McNee is a writer and creativity coach and author of We Need Your Art - a look at the power and essential nature of creativity and how to kick start and maintain your own creative habits.

From perfectionism to permission and the difficulty in finishing work, Aime talks about some of the big challenges and joys we experience as artists, and why it's worth spending our precious time on the process of creating.

We Need Your Art is out 13th March

This series of the podcast is sponsored by award winning audio book app xigxag

Listeners of Not Too Busy To Write can receive their second book FREE

To redeem, download the xigxag app from the App Store or Google Play.

Go to My xigxag/Settings, then click on Account.

Under Vouchers, click on the ‘Enter code’ button and add your voucher code NTBTW to your account.

After your first purchase, your second title will be free!

Links

We Need Your Art - Aime McNee

The Rules Upheld By No One - Aime McNee

Regrettably, I Am About To Cause Trouble - Amie McNee

Range - David Epstein

Alice Wilkinson on writing personal non-fiction

Wed, 05 Mar 2025 06:00:00 +0100

Alice Wilkinson is an award winning journalist and the author of How To Stay Sane in A House Share, her debut book about the joys and challenges of cohabiting. In this conversation we discuss some of the challenges of writing personal non-fiction, finding a gap in the current discourse and some of the differences she found in book writing and publishing, from her day to day life as a journalist and editor. We also talk a bit about her experience working with a book coach on the proposal - me!

How To Stay Sane in A House Share is out March 6th

This series of the podcast is sponsored by award winning audio book app xigxag

Listeners of Not Too Busy To Write can receive their second book FREE

To redeem, download the xigxag app from the App Store or Google Play.

Go to My xigxag/Settings, then click on Account.

Under Vouchers, click on the ‘Enter code’ button and add your voucher code NTBTW to your account.

After your first purchase, your second title will be free!

Links

How to Stay Sane in a House Share by Alice Wilkinson

Grace Timothy on writing and ADHD

Wed, 26 Feb 2025 06:00:00 +0100

Grace Timothy is a journalist and author of Is It My ADHD? On the podcast today Grace talks about getting a late diagnosis of ADHD and how wading through the misinformation online drove her to write a book in order to understand her own brain better.

Is It My ADHD? is out 27th February

This series of the podcast is sponsored by award winning audio book app xigxag

Listeners of Not Too Busy To Write can receive their second book FREE

To redeem, download the xigxag app from the App Store or Google Play.

Go to My xigxag/Settings, then click on Account.

Under Vouchers, click on the ‘Enter code’ button and add your voucher code NTBTW to your account.

After your first purchase, your second title will be free!

You can purchase Is It My ADHD? on xigxag here

Links

Is It My ADHD? by Grace Timothy

Lost in Motherhood by Grace Timothy

Earthed by Rebecca Schiller

Tessa Hadley on the pleasures of fiction

Wed, 19 Feb 2025 06:00:00 +0100

Tessa Hadley is an award winning author of eight novels, many short story collections and one of my personal favourite writers. In this conversation Tessa talks with me about the pleasures and irresponsibility of the short story, her first novella The Party, writing as a performance and the benefits of publishing for the first time in mid life.

This series of the podcast is sponsored by award winning audio book app xigxag

Listeners of Not Too Busy To Write can receive their second book FREE

To redeem, download the xigxag app from the App Store or Google Play.

Go to My xigxag/Settings, then click on Account.

Under Vouchers, click on the ‘Enter code’ button and add your voucher code NTBTW to your account.

After your first purchase, your second title will be free!

You can purchase The Party on xigxag here.

Links

The Party - Tessa Hadley

Free Love - Tessa Hadley

Bad Dreams - Tessa Hadley

The Best Intentions - Ingmar Bergman

Going Home - Tom Lamont

Long Island - Colm Toibin

Parades End - Ford Maddox Ford

Writing Literary Fiction with Tessa Hadley - Curtis Brown Creative

You're Booked with Daisy Buchanan

Daisy Buchanan on reading yourself happy

Wed, 12 Feb 2025 06:00:00 +0100

Daisy Buchanan is a bestselling author, journalist and broadcaster. Today we're talking about her latest book Read Yourself Happy and the unique power of books to make us feel better, as well as how reading makes us better writers.

Read Yourself Happy is out now

This series of the podcast is sponsored by award winning audio book app xigxag

Listeners of Not Too Busy To Write can receive their second book FREE

To redeem, download the xigxag app from the App Store or Google Play.

Go to My xigxag/Settings, then click on Account.

Under Vouchers, click on the ‘Enter code’ button and add your voucher code NTBTW to your account.

After your first purchase, your second title will be free!

You can purchase Read Yourself Happy on xigxag here

Links

Creative Confidence Clinic with Daisy Buchanan

Brigit Jones Diary - Helen Fielding

Exit Interview - Kristi Coulter

Can You Ever Forgive Her? - Anthony Trollope

So Thrilled For You - Holly Bourne

Mad Woman - Bryony Gordon

This Is Not A Pity Memoir - Abi Morgan

The Come Up - Jonathan Abrams

The Lost Art of Keeping Secrets - Eva Rice

Happy All The Time - Laurie Colwin

Middlemarch - George Elliot

Alison - Lizzy Stewart

A Little Life - Hanya Yanagihara

The Great Believers - Rebecca Makkai

Don't Look At Me Like That - Diana Athill

Rachel's Holiday - Marian Keyes

I Capture the Castle - Dodi Smith

Probably Nothing - Lauren Bravo

When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit - Judith Kerr

Cazelet Chronicles - Elizabeth Jane Howard

Into the Woods - John Yorke

What's to come in series 10

Wed, 29 Jan 2025 16:06:00 +0100

A little taster of what's to come in series 10 featuring Tessa Hadley, Daisy Buchanan and Grace Timothy.

The new series begins 5th February

You can subscribe to Not Too Busy To Write on Substack

pennywincer.substack.com

pennywincerwrites.com

Penny on Instagram @pennywincer

4bf661332a54c42dda99f791c1378d9407200820

Women's Prize Discoveries 2025 with Dreda Say Michell, Chloe Timms and Emma Van Straaten

Wed, 18 Dec 2024 06:15:00 +0100

Join me for a special episode digging deep into the Women's Prize Discoveries 2025, a prize and program for unpublished women fiction writers in the UK and Ireland, with two of this years judges Dreda Say Mitchell, an award winning and bestselling crime and mystery author and Chloe Timms, journalist, author and podcast host. We are joined by the winner of the inaugural Discoveries Prize 2021, Emma van Straaten, whose debut novel This Immaculate Body will be published in February. This episode is packed full of advice and will get you itching to pull out your Work in Progress and enter the prize.

Links

Women's Prize Discoveries 2025

Girl, Missing - Dreda Say Mitchell

The Seawomen - Chloe Timms

This Immaculate Body - Emma van Straaten

Dreda Say Mitchell - dredamitchell.com

Chloe Timms - chloetimms.co.uk

Confessions of A Debut Novelist with Chloe Timms

Emma van Straaten on Instagram @evswrites

Book Proposal Group Program - pennywincerwrites.com/bookproposalgroup

The Home Style Handbook - Lucy Gough

S9 Ep5. Lucy Gough - from interior stylist to author

Wed, 25 Sep 2024 06:00:00 +0100

Lucy Gough has come to writing via her career as a stylist and art director. From working in house at magazines, to freelance art direction with John Lewis and Marks and Spencer, Lucy took a leap of faith in lockdown, when all her work disappeared, and wrote a course on Interiors Styling. That creative risk changed everything fo her. In this episode we talk about what the journey looked like and the practical and creative challenges of writing an illustrated book.

Links

Lucy Gough's Online Interior Styling Courses - course.lucygoughstylist.com

Lucy Gough on Instagram @style_by_lucy

Why Women Grow - Alice Vincent

Penny's Book Proposal Group Program - pennywincerwrites.com

Not Too Busy To Write on Substack - pennywincer.substack.com

S9 Ep4. Alice Vincent on finding home in the garden

Wed, 18 Sep 2024 06:00:00 +0100

Alice Vincent is a writer and broadcaster, and the author of Rootbound: Rewilding a life and Why Women Grow: Stories of Soil, Sisterhood and Survival, both of which were longlisted for the Wainwright Prize. In this conversation we talk about how books begin and evolve for Alice, how she structures her time between columns, book writing and her newsletter and finding home in a balcony garden.

Links

Rootbound - Alice Vincent

Hark - Alice Vincent (pre-order)

Savour Newsletter - savour.substack.com

The Giant in the Skyline - Clover Stroud

Not Too Busy To Write on Substack - pennywincer.substack.com

The next Book Proposal Group Program begins Oct 1st. You can book your place at pennywincerwrites.com

You can find all the books from Series 9 of Not To Busy To Write at Bookshop.org

S9. E3. Clover Stroud on home and belonging

Wed, 11 Sep 2024 06:00:00 +0100

Sunday Times bestselling author Clover Stroud's latest book The Giant in the Skyline begins with a difficult decision about whether to uproot her family from their home in Oxfordshire in order to keep the family together, and leads to a pilgrimage of discovery about what it means to feel at home and belong. We talk about grief's affect on our feelings of belonging, how our experience of mothering is affected by our immediate environment and how her life has changed (and not changed) since her family's move from rural Oxfordshire to the suburbs of Washington DC.

The next Non-Fiction Book Proposal Group Program begins Oct 1st. Visit pennywincerwrites.com/bookproposalgroup to grab your place. You'll also find information there for the Grant Place for writers on a low income.

Links

The Wild Other - Clover Stroud

Thin Places - Kerri ni Dochartaigh

Clover Stroud on Substack - cloverstroud.substack.com

Not Too Busy To Write on Substack - pennywincer.substack.com

Non-Fiction Book Proposal Program - pennywincerwrites.com/bookproposalgroup

S9 E2. Kerri ni Dochartaigh on finding home in the Irish landscape

Wed, 04 Sep 2024 06:00:00 +0100

Kerri ni Dochartaigh is the award winning author of Thin Places and Cacophany of Bone. Kerri's work delves deep into home and belonging, from her childhood in Derry during the troubles, where her family were forced to leave their home, to an adulthood of wrestlessness, unable to find a feeling of home, until she returned to the Irish landscape of her early years.

We talk about intergenerational trauma, what it means to our sense of safety and belonging to have a home forcibly removed, as so many are facing in the world today, and finding home in the Irish landscape, in community, in our bodies and ritual.

We also talk about creativity and caregiving, and the joys of teaching and mentoring other writers.

Links

Cacophony of Bone - Kerri ni Dochartaigh

In The Garden: Essays on Nature and Growing (Daunt Books)

The Garden Against Time - Olivia Laing

Unearthed - Claire Ratinon

Uprooting - Marchelle Farrell

Kerri on Substack kerrindochartaigh.substack.com

Penny on Substack pennywincer.substack.com

S9. E1. Penny Wincer on why Home Matters

Wed, 28 Aug 2024 06:00:00 +0100

The tables are turned for the first episode of series 9 - host Penny Wincer is being interviewed by author Caro Giles about her new book Home Matters.

We talk about what draws Penny to write about home, digging beneath the surface of homes to find meaning behind the choices we make and how objects become portraits and tell stories about our lives and identities.

We also talk about weaving memoir and non-fiction together, making choices about the personal and political aspects of the book and the challenges of writing and publishing a book that doesn't fit neatly into categories.

Links

Twelve Moons - Caro Giles

All The Houses I've Ever Lived In - Kieran Yates

The Lonely City - Olivia Laing

Monkey Grip - Helen Garner

Penny on Substack pennywincer.substack.com

Caro on Substack carogiles.substack.com

Stacey Heale on writing about death and life

Wed, 27 Mar 2024 06:00:00 +0100

Stacey Heale is a fashion academic and writer whose husband Greg was diagnosed with terminal cancer when their youngest daughter was just a baby. Greg died 5 years later. In her memoir Now Is Not The Time For Flowers, Stacey writes about the big conversations that arise from imminent death. In this epsiode Stacey and I talk about writing about the dead, abandoning the typical memoir structure and the very funny side of a very dark experience. Now Is Not The Time For Flowers is out March 28th

Links

Now Is Not The Time For Flowers - Stacey Heale

Stacey Heale on Instagram @stacey_heale

Not Too Busy To Write on Substack - pennywincer.substack.com

Jesse Sutanto on writing a best selling series

Wed, 20 Mar 2024 06:00:00 +0100

Jesse Sutanto is the best selling author of Dial A for Aunties and Vera Wang's Unsolicited Advise for Murders and the winner of the Comic Writer in Print Award 2021. Jesse and I chat about her latest book in her very funny Aunties crime series The Good, The Bad and The Auntie, about her journey from Oxford MFA in Creative Writing, to leaning into her irreverent funny side and the success it led to. We also talk about writing drafts in 5 weeks (yes 5 weeks!!), the joy of sharing her Indo-Chinese culture with the rest fo the world and her favourite funny authors.

Links

The Good, The Bad and The Aunties - Jesse Sutanto

Dial A For Aunties - Jesse Sutanto

Vera Wang's Unsolicited Advice for Murders - Jesse Sutanto

Jesse Sutanto on Instagram @jesseqsutanto

Not Too Busy To Write on Substack pennywincer.substack.com

Write Your Non-Fiction Book Proposal with Penny Wincer is at 7pm March 27th Book you place here - pennywincerwrites.com/workshops

Podcast listeners can use the code TOOBUSY at checkout to receive £5 off

Charlotte Wood on writing craft and Australian fiction

Wed, 13 Mar 2024 06:00:00 +0100

Charlotte Wood is an award winning Australian author of 10 books including the 2016 Stella Prize winner The Natural Way of Things and the 2020 international bestseller The Weekend. Her latest novel Stone Yard Devotional is about a woman who abandons her life, her marriage, her career and retreats to a religious community in a remote area of Australia, where she grew up. Charlotte and I talk about the themes that come up in her work, how her craft has changed over the course of her career, why it's so important to her to not over explain to the reader and of course, her favourite Australian fiction writers.

Links

Stone Yard Devotional - Charlotte Wood

The Weekend - Charlotte Wood

The Natural Way of Things - Charlotte Wood

The Writers Room - Charlotte Wood

The Slap - Christos Tsiolkas

The Golden Age - Joan London

The Good Parents - Joan London

The Conversion - Amanda Lohrey

Charlotte Wood's Substack - charlottewood.substack.com

charlottewoodauthor.com.au

Not Too Busy To Write on Substack - pennywincer.substack.com

Tamu Thomas on women who work too much

Wed, 06 Mar 2024 06:00:00 +0100

Tamu Thomas is a transformational coach whose debut book Women Who Work Too Much helps over-achieving, over-functioning women set boundaries, find joy and flourish. In this conversation we talk about natural (rather than toxic) productivity, radical rest and why work (not over work) can be a positive thing. This is such an important conversation for those of us who are writers and have blurred boundaries between work, rest and play.

Links

Women Who Work Too Much - Tamu Thomas

Tamu on Instagram @tamu.thomas

Tamu on TikTok @tamu_thomas

Book your place on the Non-fiction Book Proposal Workshop 27th March 2024 7pm Discount code for podcast listeners - TOOBUSY

pennywincerwrites.com/workshops

Not Too Busy to Write on Substack - pennywincer.substack.com

Bijal Shah on the power of bibliotherapy

Wed, 21 Feb 2024 06:00:00 +0100

Author Bijal Shah is a trained Bibliotherapist who brings the power of reading into the therapy room. It's a technique that dates back to Ancient Greece and Bijal shares some of the tools and techniques she uses in todays episode.

Certain that reading is a big part of your mental wellbeing? You will love this episode which does a deep dive into why books matter and how we can get the most out of our reading experience.

Links

Bibliotherapy: The healing power of reading by Bijal Shah

Bijal Shah's website

Not Too Busy To Write on Substack pennywincer.substack.com

Amy Arthur on pacing yourself as a writer

Wed, 14 Feb 2024 06:00:00 +0100

Amy Arthur is an award winning writer and science journalist whose new book Pace Yourself is a practical guide to pacing - a tool developed to the manage symptoms of chronic illnesses like ME/CFS which Amy was diagnosed with as a teenager.

This is such an important (and practical) conversation, not just for those who are managing chronic illnesses but for any writer juggling writing alongside many other responsibilities, who constantly feel like they never have quite enough energy.

Links

Pace Yourself - Amy Arthur

Amy Arthur on Instagram @a_e_arthur

Not Too Busy To Write on Substack pennywincer.substack.com

Penny on Instagram @pennywincer

Jessica Bull on blending fact and fiction

Wed, 07 Feb 2024 06:00:00 +0100

Jessica Bull's debut novel Miss Austen Investigates sets Jane Austen up as an amateur sleuth, when a dead woman is discovered at a ball and her beloved brother is arrested and facing the noose. I had so much fun talking to Jessica about the challenges of blending fact and fiction, her passion of Jane Austen (and the books and films that have been inspired by her) and the pleasures of researching late Georgian England.

Miss Austen Investigates is a delight and is out now

Links

Miss Austen Investigates - Jessica Bull

Jessica Bull on Instagram @jessicabullnovelist

Jessica Bull on Twitter @NovelistJessica

Not Too Bust To Write on Substack - pennywincer.substack.com

Book coaching with Penny Wincer - pennywincerwrites.com

Katherine May on writer boundaries

Wed, 29 Nov 2023 06:00:00 +0100

Katherine May is the Sunday Times and New York Times best selling author of Enchantment. Today we talk about the challenges of writing a follow up to her phenomenal bestseller Wintering, the importance of writers being open about the constraints they face, especially successful authors and advocating for accessibility while promoting your work. We also do a deep dive into Substack and why Katherine loves it so much and the importance of writers getting paid for their work.

links

Enchantment - Katherine May

Wintering - Katherine May

The Electricity of Every Living Thing - Katherine May

The Clearing - Katherine's Substack

Katherine May's Accessibility and Language Guide

Penny Wincer's book coaching - pennywincerwrites.com

Marisa Bate on writing the political and personal

Wed, 22 Nov 2023 06:00:00 +0100

Marisa Bate is a freelance journalist, women's rights advocate and author of Wild Hope. Part memoir, part reportage and part social history, Wild Hope tells the story of expanding and contracting women's rights in America through two bus journey's across the mid west - one by Marisa's mother in the 70s and the other, by Marisa in 2021. In this episode Marisa talks about finding hope in dark times, keeping faith in action and writing your own story when it so intertwined with the stories of others.

Links

Wild Hope - Marisa Bate

Writing About Women - Marisa Bate's substack

Sisters of Sword and Shadow - Laura Bates

Non-fiction writing coaching with Penny - pennywincerwrites.com

Penny on instagram @pennywincer

Laura Bates on the power of storytelling in activism

Wed, 15 Nov 2023 06:00:00 +0100

Laura Bates is a Sunday Times Bestselling author, an activist and speaker. Laura founded the Everyday Sexism Project in 2012 and has gone on to write multiple best selling non-fiction books about gender equality. She has spoken in the United Nations, the Houses of Parliament, is regularly called on to provide evidence for parliamentary reports and has been awarded a British Empire Medal for her work on gender equality.

Laura also writes Young Adult fiction and today we are discussing her latest novel Sisters of Sword and Shadow and why she's so passionate about writing for young people, the incredible power of storytelling and why activism needs fiction as well as non-fiction.

Links

Fix the System, Not the Women - Laura Bates

Men Who Hate Women - Laura Bates

Everyday Sexism - Laura Bates

The Burning - Laura Bates

Glitch Charity - Promoting Online Safety for women and girls

Playing Games - Huma Qureshi

Penny on Instagram @pennywincer

Huma Qureshi on fiction and borrowing from life

Wed, 08 Nov 2023 06:00:00 +0100

Award winning writer Huma Qureshi returns to the podcast to discuss her debut novel Playing Games, a story about two sisters, their very different ways of processing grief and the question over whether it's ok for a writer to take from real life. We talk about the challenges of moving from short to long form fiction, the pluses (and minuses) of having a two book deal and the pleasures of writing about a writer.

Huma is also a brilliant creative writing teacher and we discuss her style as a teacher and some of her favourite book recommendations for writers.

Playing Games is out Nov 9th

Links

Things We Do Not Tell The People We Love - Huma Qureshi

How We Met - Huma Qureshi

Huma's creative writing classes

Huma Qureshi on Not Too Busy To Write in 2021

Recommended Books

American Wife - Curtis Sittenfeld

Help Yourself - Curtis Sittenfeld

Writers and Lovers - Lily King

Dear Life - Alice Monroe

Unaccustomed Earth - Jhumpa Lahiri

Karen Haller on publishing non-fiction as an expert

Wed, 01 Nov 2023 06:00:00 +0100

What's it like to publish a book as an expert in your field? Karen Haller is a behavioural colour and design psychology expert and is the author of The Little Book of Colour. Karen and I talk about some of the highs and lows of traditional publishing, some of the particular challenges she faced, as well as the many opportunities it opened up for her when her book became a huge success and was published in 14 languages. We also dive into what colour psychology is and how the book fits into Karen's aim to help people be less afraid of using colour.

Links

The Little Book of Colour - Karen Haller

Karen Haller's website and newsletter

Download a free ebook on Colour Myths

Karen Haller on Instagram @karen_haller_colour

Penny's Cornish Writing Retreat Feb 2024 - pennywincerwrites.com/retreat

You can sign up to Penny's Substack Not Too Busy To Write

Kate Sawyer on second novels and career changes

Wed, 25 Oct 2023 06:00:00 +0100

Kate Sawyer is novelist and podcaster with a background in theatre producing and acting. Her first novel The Stranding was shortlisted for the Costa first novel award in 2021 and today we are talking about her second novel This Family. We talk about how her career in theatre has fed into her work as a novelist, genre expectations and how being a solo mother by choice made her rethink how she was going to earn a living and flex her creative muscles.

Kate is the host of the wonderful podcast Novel Experience - if you are a fan of Not Too Busy To Write, then this is right up your street. Available on all your favourite podcast feeds.

links

This Family - Kate Sawyer

The Stranding - Kate Sawyer

Novel Experience podcast with Kate Sawyer

Follow Kate on Instagram - @mskatesawyer

Follow Penny on Instagram - @pennywincer

Marchelle Farrell on memoir and belonging

Wed, 18 Oct 2023 06:00:00 +0100

Marchelle Farrell's debut memoir Uprooting is about a year of tremendous upheaval and Marchelle's attempt to find home in a garden. In this conversation, we talk about vulnerability in the garden and on the page, identity in medicine and as a writer and how Marchelle's garden gave her a new perspective on colonialism. Uprooting is out now.

Links

Uprooting - Marchelle Farrell

Marchelle on Instagram @afroliage

Marchelle on Substack - Afroliage

Penny on Instagram @pennywincer

Penny's Newsletter

REPLAY: Beth Kempton on being a fearless writer

Wed, 16 Aug 2023 06:00:00 +0100

Summer REPLAY series

Beth Kempton is a Japanologist, a best selling author and a writing mentor whose books have been translated into 24 languages. Her Latest book The Way of the Fearless Writer challenges the assumption that writing must be a struggle and filled with suffering. We talk about why it's important to know why we write, learning to let go in our writing, when to share our work (and when not to) and learning to trust in writing as a practice.

Links

The Way of the Fearless Writer - Beth Kempton

Freedom Seeker - Beth Kempton

Wabi Sabi - Beth Kempton

Do What You Love For Life - Writing classes with Beth Kempton

The Fearless Writer Podcast

Instagram @bethkempton

You can sign up to Penny's weekly newsletter about all things writing and finding time to write here

Instagram @pennywincer

REPLAY: Evie Wyld on writing about male violence

Wed, 09 Aug 2023 06:00:00 +0100

You can sign up to the waitlist for Penny's next Non-Fiction Book Proposal Group at pennywincerwrites.com

Summer REPLAY series

Evie Wyld is an award winning author of three novels, the latest of which, The Bass Rock, won the Stella Prize 2021. We discuss writing a novel about male violence against a backdrop of #MeToo, and speaking about the subjects in the book in a year of highly publicised violence against women. We also talk about how motherhood, and the nature of writing with young children, led to some of the structural elements of The Bass Rock and how an award like the Stella Prize can create change in a writing career.

Links

The Bass Rock - Evie Wyld

Review Book Shop Peckham

Devotion - Hannah Kent

The Interestings - Meg Wolitzer

You can sign up to Penny's weekly newsletter at pennywincerwrites.com

Instagram @pennywincer

REPLAY: Abigail Bergstrom - literary agent and novelist

Wed, 02 Aug 2023 06:00:00 +0100

To sign up to the waitlist for Penny's next Non-Fiction Book Proposal Group Program visit pennywincerwrites.com

Summer REPLAY series

Abigail Bergstrom is a literary agent and consultant, former editor, and now debut novelist. What A Shame is a darkly funny novel about grief, friendship and dabbling in the occult. Abigail talks about the challenges of having a lot of knowledge of the industry whilst writing and having to take her agent hat off in order to write, removing the constraints that made writing feel like 'work' and being conscious of the exchange that happens when we give up other things in order to write on the side of a demanding full time job.

Bergstrom Studio is a 360 degree literary consultancy, offering editorial consultancy and representation. As an agent Abigail represents multiple best selling authors and has some excellent advice for those who are going out on submission.

Links

Bergstrom Studio

What A Shame - Abigail Bergstrom

Beautiful Country - Xian Julie Wang

You can find Abigail on Instagram @abigailbergstrom and @bergstrom.studio

You can sign up to Penny's newsletter at pennywincerwrites.com

instagram @pennywincer

REPLAY: Chloe Ashby on writing art in fiction

Wed, 26 Jul 2023 06:00:00 +0100

Summer Replay Series

Chloe Ashby is an arts journalist and author based in London. Her debut novel Wet Paint is about a young woman struggling to move forward after the traumatic death of her best friend, who finds solace in a painting and a life of routine, until a sudden change of circumstances has her undressing for strangers as a life model. We talk about ways of finding your way in to a story as a writer, writing about visual art and exploring ideas of control in characters. We also talk about having an 'affair' with novel writing on the side of other paid writing work and Chloe's life as a freelance arts writer working on non-fiction art books and reviewing exhibitions.

links

Second Self - Chloe Ashby

Look at this if you love great art - Chloe Ashby

Colours of Art: The story of art in 80 palletes - Chloe Ashby

You can find Chloe Ashby at chloeashby.com

Instagram - @chloeashby

Twitter - @chloeashby

You can find sign up to Penny's Newsletter at pennywincerwrites.com

Instagram @pennywincer

Marina Benjamin and Caro Giles on writing and caring

Fri, 09 Jun 2023 06:00:00 +0100

It's Carers Week in the UK so I have recorded a bonus episode of teh podcast with two fellow writer carers. Marina Benjamin is the author of many books, the latest of which is A little Give: the unsung, unseen, undone work of women. She also cares for her elderly mother. Caro Giles is the author of Twelve Moons; A year under a share sky and is a single parent to four daughters, two of whom have complex needs.

This is a slightly different format to usual, with the three of us discussing our caring roles, the challenges of writing about the topic and the time we 'steal' away from our caring responsibilities to write.

This was such a wonderful and honest conversation and I'm so grateful for Marina and Caro for taking the time and being so open about the challenges.

Links

A Little Give - Marina Benjamin

Twelve Moons - Caro Giles

Tender - Penny Wincer

Daisy Buchanan: from journalist to novelist

Wed, 15 Mar 2023 06:00:00 +0100

Daisy Buchanan is an award winning journalist, author and broadcaster who has had a varied writing career beginning in teen magazines, and now as a novelist. She's also the host of the chart topping podcast You're Booked - one of my favourite podcasts of all time.

We talk about Daisy's move from journalist and non-fiction author to fiction, and how terrifying that was, the joys and challenges of writing about sex and the importance of reading for pleasure when you're a writer. Daisy is also very open about the highs and lows of her publishing career and how not everything has been smooth sailing.

Links

Careering - Daisy Buchanan

Insatiable - Daisy Buchanan

Limelight - Daisy Buchanan (pre-order)

You're Booked Podcast

Peter Hujar's Day - Linda Rosenkrantz

Kick The Latch - Kathryn Scanlan

Daisy Buchanan on Instagram @thedaisybee

Penny Wincer on Instagram @pennywincer

Nicola Washington on social media for writers

Wed, 08 Mar 2023 06:00:00 +0100

Are you tearing your hair out about social media? Do you want to use it to grow your profile as a writer or shout about your book but it makes you uncomfortable? Nicola Washington is a social media marketer and she is passionate about helping writers get their work out into the world. As she says in this episode, after the immense hard work of writing a book, what a huge waste if nobody hears about it!

This is a hugely practical episode looking at strategy, building genuine relationships and creating community to help you spread your ideas, share your work and create meaningful change through the power of social media.

Links

Nicola on instagram @toomuch_social

Nicola's personal account on instagram @toomuchmotheringinformation

Instagram with Impact Workshop

Work with Nicola

Instagram accounts mentioned

@joanna_wolfarth

@emilyhenrywrites

Penny on Instagram @pennywincer

Penny's weekly writing newsletter pennywincerwrites.com

Non-fiction Retreat with Penny Wincer - easeretreats.com

Suzy Reading on rest

Wed, 01 Mar 2023 06:00:00 +0100

Suzy Reading is a chartered psychologist, yoga teacher and coach whose work all centres around giving people the skills to nourish themselves. Her latest book is Rest to Reset: The busy persons guide to pausing with purpose. As well as talking about Suzy's journey from expert to author of 8 books, we talk about what rest actually looks like, the problem with the current conversations around burnout and moving towards the idea of rest as rebalancing, and that is going to look different for everyone. We also talk about relationship building in publishing, saying yes to opportunities and growing your authority as an expert in your field.

Links:

Rest To Reset - Suzy Reading

Self-care Revolution - Suzy Reading

This Book Will (Help) Make You Happy - Suzy Reading

You can find Suzy on Instagram @suzyreading

You can find Penny on Instagram @pennywincer

Joanna Wolfarth on non-fiction and writing intimate cultural history

Wed, 22 Feb 2023 06:00:00 +0100

Joanna Wolfarth is a cultural historian with a PhD in Southeast Asian art history. Her first book Milk: An intimate history of breastfeeding is a fascinating look at the social, historical and cultural contexts for this very personal of experiences, through art, philosophy, folk wisdom and interviews.

Joanna talks about how needing to make sense of the experience of new motherhood, led to a furious dive into the research between feeds and in tiny snatches of time when her baby slept, how motherhood made her fearless when it came to writing and non-fiction that seeks to ask questions, rather than provide all of the answers.

Links

Milk: An intimate history of breastfeeding

Joanna Wolfarth on Instagram @joanna_wolfarth

Penny on Instagram @pennywincer

Lucy Werner on how to promote your book

Wed, 08 Feb 2023 06:00:00 +0100

Lucy Werner is a PR expert and founder of The Wern, an agency specialising in PR and branding for creative small businesses. Lucy is not only an expert at book PR but also a published author herself and in this episode Lucy shares what she has learned about book PR and marketing from both sides.

From building your authority and your brand before you publish, to promoting a book that already exists in the world, Lucy is a goldmine of information on how best to spread the word and get people buying your books.

Her infectious enthusiasm and fun approach to an area that many writers find daunting, will have you dipping your toes in the PR waters.

Links

Hype Yourself: A no-nonsense PR toolkit for small businesses - Lucy Werner

Brand Yourself - A non-nonsense brand toolkit for small businesses - Lucy Werner and Hadrian Chatelet

The Wern Agency

Lucy Werner on Instagram @lucywernerpr

Penny on instagram @pennywincer

Penny's weekly writing newsletter - pennywincerwrites.com

Catherine Newman on laughter, death and embracing your voice

Wed, 01 Feb 2023 06:00:00 +0100

Catherine Newman is a writer with a varied career including two parenting memoirs and a middle grade novel. She had written for the New York Times, O Magazine, The Boston Globe and was a columnist for Real Simple Magazine. Her debut novel We All Want Impossible Things is the story of Ash, whose best friend Edi is dying of cancer. Set over a few weeks in a hospice, this book is filled with laughter and heartbreak. Catherine and I talk about the relief of laughing in the face of death, learning to embrace your natural writing voice and the how years of having to make a living from writing has had a positive impact on Catherine's daily writing habit. We All Want Impossible Things is out now.

Ease Retreat - Non-fiction with Penny Wincer, Wales, April 20-23 2023

We All Want Impossible Things - Catherine Newman

#AmWriting Podcast

Love, Nina - Nina Stibbe

Catherine Newman on instagram - @catherinenewman

Catherine's website - catherinenewmanwriter.com

Penny on instagram - @pennywincer

Penny's newsletter

Caro Giles on memoir, nature and putting yourself in the foreground

Wed, 25 Jan 2023 06:00:00 +0100

Caro Giles is a writer based in the north east of England, whose first book Twelve Moons tells the story, across a year, of raising her 4 daughters alone in a wild and isolated part of the country. It's an incredible memoir about caring, isolation, and joy found in tiny pockets of time. We talk about how the pandemic totally changed how she the structure of the book, the challenges of writing and caring and this beautiful idea of writing as a way to put yourself in the foreground, when you have been in the background for so long.

Links

Twelve Moons - Caro Giles

An Evening with Caro Giles - Waterstones Newcastle 26th January

Alnwick Story Festival 25th February

Little Fires Everywhere - Celeste Ng

Empireland - Sathnam Sanghera

This Time Tomorrow - Emma Straub

Caro Giles on instagram @carogileswrites

Penny on instagram @pennywincer

You can sign up to Penny's weekly newsletter about writing and making time for creativity here pennywincerwrites.com

Janice Hallett on turning crime fiction on it's head

Wed, 18 Jan 2023 06:00:00 +0100

After a varied writing career including speech writing, journalism and screen writing, Janice Hallett turned to crime fiction and became a best-selling author that completely turned the genre on its head. Using transcripts, messages, emails, letters and articles, Janice's novels weave intricate, humourous and clever tales of murder and mystery. It was such a delight to take a deep dive with her into her writing process and how her varied experience as a writer informs how she approaches novels.

The Mysterious Case of the Alperton Angels is out January 19th

Links

The Mysterious Case of the Alperton Angels - Janice Hallett

The Twyford Code - Janice Hallett

The Appeal - Janice Hallett

You can find Janice Hallett on Twitter @JaniceHallett

You can find Penny on Instagram @pennywincer

You can sign up to Penny's weekly writing newsletter here - pennywincerwrites.com

Not Too Busy To Write - Series 6 coming soon

Wed, 04 Jan 2023 06:00:00 +0100

Not Too Busy To Write will be back for a new series on January 18th. Guests for series 6 include memoirists, debut novelists, non-fiction authors and much more. The series kicks off with best selling crime author Janice Hallett and oh my goodness is it a great episode about writing outside of the box. See you in two weeks for series 6!

Want to write a non-fiction book proposal this year? Penny's first online workshop of the year is on January 11th at 7.30pm. Tickets are just £39

Write Your Book Proposal - eventbrite

www.pennywincerwrites.com/workshops

Penny on Instagram - @pennywincer

Lindsey Kelk on writing Romantic Comedies

Wed, 14 Dec 2022 06:00:00 +0100

Lindsey Kelk is a Sunday Times bestselling author of over 20 novels. Her latest The Christmas Wish is a hilarious and delightful time loop story set during a family Christmas. Lindsey and I chat about subverting Hallmark movie tropes, being a full time novelist in a much maligned genre and the realities of being working class in the publishing industry.

The Christmas Wish is a joy and is out now in hardback.

Links

The Christmas Wish - Lindsey Kelk

The Change - Kirsten Miller

Her Majesty's Royal Coven - Juno Dawson

Book Lovers - Emily Henry

This Time Tomorrow - Emma Straub

Book Proposal Group January 2023 - pennywincerwrites.com/bookproposalgroup

Penny's weekly newsletter

You can find Lindsey on instagram - @lindseykelk and on Twitter @LindseyKelk

Lindsey on Facebook

Penny on Instagram - @pennywincer

Novelist and Discoveries Prize Judge Chibundu Onuzo

Wed, 30 Nov 2022 06:00:00 +0100

Chibundu Onuzo is a novelist whose first book was published when she was just 21 years old. Her third and latest novel Sankofa was short listed for the Women's Prize for Fiction Futures Prize, an Amazon book of the year and a Reese Witherspoon Book Club pick in 2021.

We talk about the inspiration behind Sankofa, how Chibundu's writing process has changed over the past 10 years and her role as a judge of the Women's Prize Trust Discoveries 2023.

Links

Sankofa - Chibundu Onuzo

Women's Prize Discoveries Prize 2023

The Spider King's Daughter - Chibundu Onuzo

You can sign up for Penny's newsletter here

Penny on Instagram - @pennywincer

Writing an illustrated interiors book with Emily Henson

Wed, 23 Nov 2022 06:00:00 +0100

Emily Henson is an art director and stylist and the author of five books. Her latest is Create: Inspiring homes that value creativity over consumption. In this episode Emily talks about her journey from stylist and blogger to author and the close collaborative, relationship she has with her publisher. It's a really fun and informative episode for all those who would love to know exactly what goes in to producing and writing gorgeous and thoughtful illustrated books.

Links

Create - Emily Henson

Life Unstyled - Emily Henson

Life Unstyled Blog

Life Unstyled on Instagram

Emily Henson's Styling portfolio

Penny Wincer's Newsletter - pennywincerwrites.com

Penny of Instagram - @pennywincer

What is publishing a book really like?

Wed, 16 Nov 2022 06:00:00 +0100

Ali and Penny are back together talking about the experience of publication. It has been three months since Ali's book The Last Days came out and it seemed like a great time to have a debrief and discuss the highs and lows, the hard work and the realities of publishing. We talk about reviews, proofs, blurbs, news events that drown out book publicity and the things outside of our control when publishing. We also take a little look ahead to our next publications.

Links

Strandings - Peter Riley

Lipstick Traces - Greil Marcus

An Angel at My Table - Janet Frame

Foster - Claire Keegan

The Hours - Michael Cunningham

Ali Millar on Instagram @ali_millar_writes

Penny Wincer on Instagram @pennywincer

Winnie M Li on complicity and power in fiction

Wed, 09 Nov 2022 06:00:00 +0100

Winnie M Li is a Taiwanese-American author and activist originally from New Jersey. Her second novel Complicit is about a film lecturer in an obscure American college who once was on the cusp of a major film career. When she is approached by an investigative journalist about an alleged incident that occurred 10 years earlier, memories of youthful ambition and guilt arise.

Winnie talks in this episode about how the lure of writing about film was what compelled her to write a second (very different) novel about sexual assault. About how using the framework of the protagonist telling her story to someone else from the distance of 10 years, gave her an interesting perspective to play with. We also talk about the arts grants that have allowed her to pursue her writing.

Links

Complicit - Winnie M Li

Dark Chapter - Winnie M Li

Arts Council England Grants

https://www.artscouncil.org.uk/ProjectGrants

https://www.artscouncil.org.uk/dycp

Winnie M Li website

Instagram - @winniemli

You can sign up to Penny's newsletter here

Penny on Instagram @pennywincer

Shakaila Forbes-Bell on Big Dress Energy

Wed, 02 Nov 2022 06:00:00 +0100

Shakaila Forbes-Bell is a fashion psychologist and the author of Big Dress Energy: How fashion psychology can transform your wardrobe and your confidence. It's a book that is a pleasure to read, filled with insights and backed up by rigorous research.

In this episode Shakaila talks dressing our different identities, the challenges of switching from academic writing to creative non-fiction, making academic research more widely available to the everyday reader and some of the difficult decisions she made around creating time to write this book, including being honest about her chronic pain condition and her role raising her sisters children.

Big Dress Energy is out now.

Links

Big Dress Energy - Shakaila Forbes-Bell

Big Dress Energy Podcast

Margaux Vialleron on writing about friendship and food

Wed, 26 Oct 2022 06:00:00 +0100

Margaux Vialleron is a French born, London based writer. Her debut novel The Yellow Kitchen centres around the friendship of three very different women over the course of a year, with a kitchen and the food prepared within it at its heart.

Margaux speaks about why she is drawn to writing about friendship and food, how she uses her sense to dive into the English language and why she has chosen to write in her second language. We also talk a bit about her day job as a translation rights literary agent.

Links

The Yellow Kitchen - Margaux Vialleron

The Salmon Pink Kitchen Podcast

The Salmon Pink Kitchen Newsletter

Penny's instagram @pennywincer

Contact Penny

Beth Kempton on how to write fearlessly

Wed, 19 Oct 2022 06:00:00 +0100

Links

The Way of the Fearless Writer - Beth Kempton

Freedom Seeker - Beth Kempton

Wabi Sabi - Beth Kempton

Do What You Love For Life - Writing classes with Beth Kempton

The Fearless Writer Podcast

You can sign up to Penny's weekly newsletter about all things writing and finding time to write here

REPLAY: Huma Qureshi on short stories and taking fiction seriously

Wed, 05 Oct 2022 06:00:00 +0100

Huma Qureshi is a former Guardian and Observer journalist and is the author of the memoir How We Met and her latest book Things We Do Not Tell The People We Love, is a short story collection about the distance between people - between mothers and daughters and between lovers. It includes the "The Jam Maker" which won the Harper's Bazaar Short Story Prize 2020. We talk about what drove Huma to set herself the challenge of writing 10 short stories in a fairly short period of time, the importance of short story prizes as a way of setting yourself deadlines and challenges, and how motherhood both affected her confidence as a writer but also gave her an urgency to get the words on to the page.

Links

Miniature Worlds: Writing short stories with Huma Qureshi

Things We Do Not Tell The People We Love - Huma Qureshi

How We Met - Huma Qureshi

Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen

A Ghost in the Throat - Doireann Ni Ghriofa

You can find Huma Qureshi on instagram @humaqureshiwriter

You can check out all the book recommendations from the podcast at our bookshop on bookshop.org which helps support independent booksellers

REPLAY: Cathy Rentzenbrink on life writing

Wed, 28 Sep 2022 06:00:00 +0100

Cathy Rentzenbrink is a Sunday Times best selling author of The Last Act of Love, A Manual for Heartache, Dear Reader and Everyone is Still Alive. Her latest book, Write It All Down, is all about writing from life.

Cathy talks about how her first memoir started because she need to write it out of her, how she's learned to trust the process of writing, even though she's still filled with self doubt and learning that external validation of our writing doesn't magically fix that doubt.

Links

Write It All Down - Cathy Rentzenbrink

The Last Act of Love - Cathy Rentzenbrink

Everyone Is Still Alive - Cathy Rentzenbrink

The Virgin Suicides - Jeffery Eugenides

Without Warning And Only Sometimes - Kit De Waal

You can follow Cathy on Instagram @catrentzenbrink and twitter @catrentzenbrink

You can follow Penny on Instagram @pennywincer and sign up for her newsletter here.

REPLAY: Julia Silk - Literary Agent

Wed, 21 Sep 2022 06:00:00 +0100

Julia Silk is a an agent with Greyhound Literary. Julia spent many years as an editor before becoming an agent who represents a wide range of fiction and non-fiction authors. We talk about what exactly an agent does, how agents find and nurture authors as well as how agents deal with rejection (yes they get rejected too!). She also talks about the common problems that she sees in manuscripts, including really figuring out what the point of your book is and the importance story and how to write a captivating cover letter. It is a packed epsiode full of gold for submitting writers.

Julia Silk is currently open for submissions

You can find Julia on twitter @juliasreading

Book Proposal Group Program with Penny Wincer

Links

Sisters - Daisy Johnson

Nine Perfect Strangers - Liane Moriaty

If This Is a Man - Primo Levi

Eat Up - Ruby Tandoh

You can find all the books recommended on the podcast at our Bookshop.org shop - Not Too Busy To Write Recommends - buying through our bookshop supports independent booksellers as well as supporting the podcast

REPLAY: Sophie Howarth on the joy of being an amateur

Wed, 14 Sep 2022 06:00:00 +0100

REPLAY: This episode was originally released in April 2022

Sophie Howarth has a varied and unique career spanning art, entrepreneurship, teaching, activism and writing. She has been Curator of Public Programs at Tate Modern, co-founded The School Of Life and Department Store for The Mind, has written several books on photography. Her latest book The Mindful Photographer is about slowing down and paying attention to what we see. Sophie is a big believer in the joy of being an amateur and the book is for anyone, regardless of equipment or expertise, to find a fresh way of paying attention in the world.

We talk about 'beginning in the middle' - how in middle age, with our awareness of impermanence, we are somehow freed from constraints by being more aware of death. We also talk about the process of writing a photography book, of approaching the artists she wanted to use to illustrate the ideas in the book and the range of work including diversity of gender, race and genre.

Our conversation spans so many areas - inspiration (and too much inspiration/input), work freedom, following joy and the idea of practise as a way of living.

Links

Book Proposal Group Program with Penny Wincer

The Mindful Photographer - Sophie Howarth

Street Photography Now - Sophie Howarth

Family Photography Now - Sophie Howarth

sophiehowarth.com

You can find Penny on Instagram @pennywincer and you can sign up for her newsletter here

Lulah Ellender on the personal and the universal in life writing

Wed, 03 Aug 2022 06:00:00 +0100

Lulah Ellender is an author, creative non-fiction writing teacher and writing coach based in Sussex. Her latest book Grounding: Finding home in a garden is about a single growing year in her garden after her mother died and her family was in danger of losing the home that they had lived in for 10 years. We talk about how Lulah weaves together the stories of many other gardens and the artists who created them into her own personal narrative alongside non-fiction elements of plant and garden history. She sees her role as taking the reader by the hand and leading them through, rather than memoir being particularly about her.

Lulah also tells me about her flexible online courses in Life Writing, her favourite books about writing, the importance of close reading your favourite books and reading widely around your topics of interest.

Links

Grounding - Lulah Ellender

Elizabeth's Lists - Lulah Ellender

Lulah's writing courses

Maggie Nelson - Bluets

EveryBody - Olivia Laing

The Artists Way - Julia Cameron

The Art of Memoir - Mary Karr

Bird By Bird - Anne Lamott

Angela Hui on food and belonging

Wed, 27 Jul 2022 06:00:00 +0100

Angela Hui is an award winning food and lifestyle journalist whose first book Takeway: Stories from a childhood behind the counter is about growing up in a Chinese takeaway in rural Wales. We talk about how the memoir began life as an article she wrote for VICE on how Chinese takeaways are disappearing and the dual identities of her childhood - going from yearning to fit in to coming to love and appreciate both her Chinese and Welsh heritage. We also talk about just how important food is in Chinese culture, what it was like to put her formidable mother down on the page and how food has followed her from a childhood behind the counter, to her career as the food writer for Time Out London.

Links

Takeaway - Angela Hui

Michelle Gallen on writing about community trauma with dark humour

Wed, 20 Jul 2022 06:00:00 +0100

Michelle Gallen is an Irish author raised in a border town in the north and now based in Dublin. Her first novel Big Girl, Small Town was short listed for the Costa First Novel Award, The Comedy Women in Print Award and An Irish Book Award. Her second novel Factory Girls, set in the summer of 1994 in a small town in Northern Ireland, as a group of friends await their A level results, wondering if they'll ever escape the deprived community they were born into. It's dark and incredibly funny.

We talk about how growing up in a divided community where violence was normal and was dealt with by turning to dark humour and the differences between writing her first and second novel. We also talk about her recovery from a brain injury, the bursaries that allowed her to quit her day job in order to write and the importance of having people to champion and encourage your work.

Links

Factory Girls - Michell Gallen

Big Girl, Small Town - Michelle Gallen

Irish Arts Council Literature Project Award

Arts Council England - Develop Your Practice Fund

Society of Authors Grants

Ali Millar on The Last Days and writing the truth

Thu, 14 Jul 2022 06:05:00 +0100

Our very own Ali Millar is on the podcast today talking about her debut book The Last Days. We talk about how writing this memoir was a necessity in truth telling, obsessing over structure, talking books into life and redrafting - lots of redrafting. We also talk about some of the challenges of writing a memoir both emotionally and legally and vulnerability of exposure. The Last Days is out now.

Links

The Last Days - Ali Millar

Original Sins - Matt Rowland Hill

Idol - Louise O'Neill

The Year of Miracles - Ella Risbridger

You can find Ali on instagram @ali_millar_writes and Penny @pennywincer

Chloe Timms on dystopian fiction and writing about outsiders

Wed, 06 Jul 2022 06:00:00 +0100

Chloe Times is an author, podcaster and former teacher based in Kent. Her debut novel The Seawomen, a dystopian tale about a closed community and one young woman who gets a small taste of freedom, is out now. Chloe and I talk about how her disability naturally leads her to write about marginalised characters, building worlds and complex female friendships on the page. Chloe is a graduate of the Faber Academy and talks about how that experience changed her life as a writer. We also chat about the joys of writing podcasts and her wonderful podcast Confessions of a Debut Novelist.

Links

The Seawomen - Chloe Timms

The Faber Academy - Scholarships

Confessions of a Debut Novelist Podcast with Chloe Timms

You can find Chloe on twitter @clotimms and instagram @clotimms

You can find Penny on Instagram @pennywincer

Chloe Ashby on writing about art, grief and being seen

Wed, 29 Jun 2022 06:00:00 +0100

links

Look at this if you love great art - Chloe Ashby

Colours of Art: The story of art in 80 palletes - Chloe Ashby

chloeashby.com

Instagram - @chloeashby

Twitter - @chloeashby

You can find us on instagram @pennywincer and @ali_millar_writes

Ilona Bannister on writing challenging women

Wed, 22 Jun 2022 06:00:00 +0100

Ilona Bannister's second novel Little Prisons, is set in one building, from four perspectives, each one a woman experiencing a kind of imprisonment. Emotional, mental and literal. Ilona is our first return guest on the podcast and we discuss the difference between the experience of writing book one and book two, the complex literary devices she uses in the novel to examine issues around human trafficking and how she challenges the reader and our expectations by writing characters that stretch our compassion and have us question how we see those who are the most invisible in our society.

Links

Little Prisons - Ilona Bannister

When I Ran Away - Ilona Bannister

Sophie Howarth - on writing about art and the joy being an amateur

Wed, 20 Apr 2022 07:00:00 +0100

Our conversation spans so many areas - inspiration (and too much inspiration/input), work freedom, following joy and the idea of practise as a way of living.

Links

The Mindful Photographer - Sophie Howarth

Street Photography Now - Sophie Howarth

Family Photography Now - Sophie Howarth

sophiehowarth.com

Sian Meades-Williams on freelancing writing, making money and newsletter love

Wed, 13 Apr 2022 06:00:00 +0100

Sian Meades-Williams is the brains (and muscle) behind the hugely popular Freelance Writing Jobs newsletter and co-founder of the award winning lifestyle newsletter Tigers Are Better Looking (formerly Domestic Sluttery). In today's episode we discuss Sian's new book The Pyjama Myth: The Freelance Writer's Survival Guide - an indispensable guide for writers from pitching to getting paid. Sian is full of fantastic advice for earning a living from the craft of writing, including pitching. We also do a deep dive into newsletters and the freedom and joy they bring to her work. A must listen for anyone experiencing the highs and lows of freelance writing life.

Links

The Pyjama Myth - Sian Meades-Williams

Freelance Writing Jobs Newsletter Sign up

Tigers Are better looking Newsletter Sign Up

The Feminist Quiz Book - Sian Meades-Williams and Laura Brown

You can find Sian on Twitter @SianySianySiany and sianmeadeswilliams.com

Maggie Gee on Empathy, language, and the non-human in fiction.

Wed, 06 Apr 2022 07:00:00 +0100

In this episode Maggie Gee reads extracts from her stunning new novel, The Red Children (Saqi Books). Set in the near future against a backdrop of increased migration pressure, climate change and increasing isolation, The Red Children explores themes of far right extremism and the aftermath of virus.

Ali talks to Maggie about the enduring power of fable. How characters with radically different personalities to ours can foster a deeper empathy, and how to write the non-human successfully.

Lizzie Damilola Blackburn on romantic comedies and writing the character you couldn't find

Wed, 16 Mar 2022 06:00:00 +0100

Lizzie Damilola Blackburn's debut novel Yinka, Where is Your Huzband? tells the story of 31 yr old British-Nigerian Yinka, who is feeling the pressure to settle down. When she finds out her ex-boyfriend is bringing his new fiance to her cousins wedding, she decides to go on a mission to find herself a plus one for the big day. Lizzie and Penny chat about how Yinka started life in a short story and how Lizzie felt characters like Yinka were missing from mainstream women's fiction. After the story won a prize, Lizzie decided to write her into a novel. Lizzie is passionate about representation in fiction and about writing religion in a way that feels true to her. She also discusses the importance of writing about colourism and body image for dark skinned black women and creating nuance and humour these complex issues.

Links

Yinka, Where is Your Huzband? - Lizzie Damilola Blackburn

Hope and Glory - Jendella Benson

The Christie Affair - Nina De Gramont

You can find Lizzie on twitter @DamilolaLizzie

Clover Stroud - Death, life and writing memoir in real time

Wed, 09 Mar 2022 06:00:00 +0100

Clover Stroud is a Sunday Times best selling author of a number of books including The Wild Other and My Wild and Sleepless Nights. Her latest book, The Red of My Blood, is the story of her sister Nell's death and the immediate aftermath. Clover talks about how her writing benefits from the immediacy of writing in real time and how it felt natural for her to write about the extremities of grief when she was deep in its throws. We also talk about taking yourself to the edge creatively and how it makes life more vivid and putting a magnifying glass up to human experience as well as some of the positive aspects of social media. Clover also has some excellent reading advice for writers.

Links

The Red of My Blood - Clover Stroud

My Wild and Sleepless Nights - Clover Stroud

The Stone Mason - Andrew Zeminski

Devil in a Coma - Mark Lanegan

Atlas of the Heart - Brene Brown

You can find Clover on instagram @clover.stroud

Doreen Cunningham on nature, climate change and motherhood

Wed, 02 Mar 2022 07:00:00 +0100

Doreen Cunningham began her a career as a climate science researcher and has spent the last 20 years as a journalist. Her memoir, Soundings: Journeys in the company of whales, is the story of her experiences follow the grey whale migration from Mexico to Alaska as a newly single parent with her very young son in tow. Woven into the book is the story of her time spent with an Inupiaq family in Northern Alaska, where she joined a traditional whale hunt and learnt about how climate change was already affecting artic communities. It's a memoir about love, wrestlessness, colonialism, motherhood and climate change. Doreen talks about the challenges and responsibility of writing about her experiences as a white person within an indigenous community, the urgent drive to write about climate change in a way that would resonate with readers and writing about science in an accessible, story driven way.

Links

Soundings: Journeys in the company of whales

Literary Kitchen

Society of Authors - Grants for work in progress

Big Magic - Elizabeth Gilbert

We Need New Names - Noviolet Bulawayo

Devotion - Hannah Kent

Writing the Literary Memoir with Lily Dunn

Wed, 23 Feb 2022 06:30:00 +0100

In this week's episode Ali talks to Lily Dunn, the author of Sins of my Father (W&N, 17th March) about the craft of memoir. Together they discuss how narrative techniques can be used to move the form past expected norms, taking the personal into the realms of the universal, how the 'I' on the page differs from the 'I' in every day life, and how at the heart of memoir lies a love of storytelling. They also consider where the writer sits - does the writer operate as observer or partaker, are they inside or outside, and how does the act of writing alter this position.

Abigail Bergstrom - debut novelist and literary agent

Wed, 16 Feb 2022 07:00:00 +0100

Links

Bergstrom Studio

What A Shame - Abigail Bergstrom