Not Too Busy To Write

Ilona Bannister, long time friend of Not Too Busy To Write is on the podcast talking about her new novel and her move from literary fiction to thriller. FIVE is set on a train platform, 5 minutes before a train will arrive and one of the five characters will die. The reader is asked who they think deserves to die.

Ilona talks with me about breaking the forth wall, unlikeabe characters and how readers are reacting to confronting their own prejudices, why law school is great training for a writer and the pleasures and humanity of the thriller...

Jane Harper is the Gold Dagger award winning, bestselling author who defined a new sub genre - Australian Noir - with her breakout debut The Dry in 2016. Today we're talking about her 6th novel Last One Out, a brilliantly dark and twisty novel about a missing son and a dying rural town. Jane talks with me about her extensive outlining process (which begins at the end), what motivated her through the writing of her first novel when she was a full time journalist and why isolated communities make such fantastic settings.

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Last One Out...

New York Times bestselling author Catherine Newman is back on the podcast talking about her hilarious new novel about midlife anxiety Wreck. Catherine talks with me about writing superstitions, hilariously terrible reviews, what success as a novelist has really meant to her and the joy she has found in owning her own publication on Substack after a lifetime writing for other people.

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Wreck by Catherine Newman

Sandwich by Catherine Newman

We All Want Impossibly Things by Catherine Newman

Crone Sandwich - Catherine's Substack

THE FOLD membership...

6 years ago comedian Helen Thorn's life was turned upside down when she discovered her then husband was having a years long affair. Within two years she had written a Sunday Times Best Seller about the experience and it's immediate aftermath - fags, dating and all - but especially about the women who hold us up when life gets us down. Now, she's written a new book reflecting on the strength gained from facing unexpected loss. Helen and I talk about just what there is to be gained from total honesty on the page, some of the women that inspired...

Rhiannon Lucy Cosslett is an author and journalist, and today we talking about her new novel Female, Nude, a sexy sultry book about seeing and being seen, which weaves visual art into a story of womanhood, motherhood and disability.

We also talk about The Republic of Parenthood, a book made up of the collected columns Rhiannon wrote for the Guardian, weaving in the personal, the political and cultural as she became a mother herself.

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Female, Nude by Rhiannon Lucy Cosslett

The Republic of Parenthood by Rhiannon Lucy Cosslett

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James Hunt's debut memoir Love Needs No Words is the story of a unique fatherhood, caring for his two sons, both of whom are non-speaking and autistic. James talks with me about the decision to write the things he didn't feel he could say out loud to friends and family, and how those words began to reach families all over the world with a shared reality. He talks about needing that connection so much early in his journey, how he came to be able to speak about his own mental health so much more openly and how he hopes...

Lauren Currie OBE is an entrepreneur, writer, speaker and founder of Upfront, an organisation on a mission to change the confidence of 1 million women. In her new book Be Upfront: 24 Rules of life changing confidence, Lauren picks apart the old rules of confidence that don't serve women and introduces the reader to new rules to live by.

We talk about how Lauren's confidence as a writer has grown, why she thinks self doubt is no bad thing (and some men could use a little more of it) and her different experiences of self publishing and traditional publishing.<...

Jodi Wilson is a health journalist and author of A Brain That Breathes: Essential habits for an overwhelming world. Jodi talks with me today about how after her third book was published and she was feeling depleted, she became curious about what our brains need to be creative and productive. This book is the result.

In the conversation we talk about the uncertainty, magic and hard work of writing books and how tiny pockets of breathing space can transform our creativity and lives.

It's lovely to be back for series 12!

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Francesca Segal is the author of Welcome to Glorious Tuga and Island Calling, the first two novels in a trilogy about the delightful fictional island of Tuga De Oro in the South Atlantic. Francesca talks with me about fictional world building, the deliberate choice to create a refuge and a community, not without challenges but incredibly hopeful as well as the influence of 19th century literature on the novels, and the joys and challenges of writing interconnected books. We also talk about Francesca's 2019 memoir Mothership, still one of the most incredible accounts of early motherhood I have ever read. <...

Today I am in conversation with not one but three guests! We're talking about the incredible impact of the Women's Prize Discoveries from three perspectives - 2026 Judge and Curtis Brown literary agent Ciara Finan, 2022 shortlistee and author of the extraordinary debut novel Ordinary Saints, Niamh Ni Mhaoileoin and Alice Trew, 2024 shortlistee who has just secured a 2 book deal, the first of which The Hungry Dark, will be out in 2027.

Ciara talks us through her work as a literary agent and what she'll be looking for amongst entries in the 2026 prize, and Niamh and Alice talk about their...

Chartered psychologist, coach and author Suzy Reading believes women need to learn to be a bit selfish. After many books on the subject of self care and self nourishment, Suzy focuses her new book How To Be Selfish, instead, on the importance of receiving care.

Suzy and I talk about why women struggle with self advocacy so much and why it's a vital skill to live a full life, especially one in which we contribute so much to our families and communities. We also talk about why writers specifically need to be a little bit selfish and...

Lily Dunn is the author of the acclaimed Sins of My Father and her latest book Into Being brings together her experience as a writer and teacher of literary memoir. It's an essential read for anyone embarking on personal narrative form. Lily talks with me about assumptions people get wrong about memoir, the unique relationship between memoirist and reader and the ethics and challenges of writing about other people.

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Into Being by Lily Dunn

Sins of My Father by Lily Dunn

London Lit Lab

Memoir Bootcamp with Lily...

Claire Lynch is on the podcast this week talking about her incredible debut novel A Family Matter, the story of a family torn apart and the decades of silence that follows. This is Claire's second time on the podcast - we spoke way back in 2021 about her memoir Small: On Motherhoods.

Claire talks with me about when she first discovered how lesbian mothers had access to their children forcibly removed by court order well into the 1990s in the UK and her decision to explore this heartbreaking recent history in fiction. Claire talks about the varied reception...

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.

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Let The Bad Times Roll by Alice...

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...

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.

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Heart The Lover by Lily King

Five Tuesdays in Winter by Lily King

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

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...

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...

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.

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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!!

The Last Days of Summer is out March 27th

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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...

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...

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...

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...

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 A...

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/Sett...

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

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pennywincerwrites.com

Penny on Instagram @pennywincer

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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...

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.

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The Home Style Handbook - Lucy Gough

Lucy Gough's Online Interior...

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.

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Why Women Grow - Alice Vincent

Rootbound - Alice Vincent

Hark - Alice Vincent (pre-order)

Savour Newsletter - savour.substack.com

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...

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 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...

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

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Now Is Not The Time For Flowers...

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...

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...

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.

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Women Who Work Too Much - Tamu Thomas

Tamu on Instagram @tamu.thomas

Tamu on TikTok @tamu_thomas

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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.

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Bibliotherapy: The healing power of reading by Bijal Shah

Bijal Shah's website

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.

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Pace Yourself - Amy Arthur

Amy Arthur on Instagram @a...

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

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Miss Austen Investigates - Jessica Bull

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