Write, Damn It! with Zoe Richards

Louise writes historical fiction, focussed around unheard voices or from unusual perspectives. Her internationally bestselling debut novel, People Like Us ( Daughter of the Reich in the US edition) published 2020, was translated into 12 languages and is set in 1930’s Leipzig. Her second novel, The Hidden Child , about the eugenics movement in 1920’s England and America, was a Globe & Mail best...

This is the longest 'short' episode I've done, but believe me, it's worth it! I've invited my dear friend, Emma-Claire Wilson to join me, but not as an author, rather as a journalist. She shares her expertise with us about how to be featured, and there are real nuggets in this episode. So forgive me a long 'short' on this occasion, but I know you'll find it...

Jennie Godfrey was raised in West Yorkshire and her debut novel, The List of Suspicious Things, is inspired by her childhood there in the 1970s. Jennie is from a mill-working family, but as the first of the generation born after the mills closed, she went to university and built a career in the corporate world. In 2020 she left and began to write. She is now a writer and part-time Waterstones book...

Apparently the greatest fear we have is not spiders - or in my case, daddy long legs (crane flies). It's public speaking, so it's no wonder that people get nervous when it comes to putting ourselves out there as an author. This episode is all about being nervous - and no, that's not a typo. It is all about BEING nervous. The truth is, you will be nervous, unless you really don'...

The Valentine's episode! Charlotte Stein is the RT and DABWAHA nominated author of over fifty short stories, novellas and novels, including the Library Journal starred When Grumpy Met Sunshine. When not writing deeply emotional and intensely sexy books, she can be found eating jelly turtles, getting way too excited over a million movies and TV shows, and occasionally lusting after moustaches....

This week is part 2 of the series all about putting yourself out there as an author, and in this episode I share a load of tips I picked up from experience over the last 35 years, including on stage, on radio, doing the podcast, being on panels (though not author ones), and more. These are actionable steps for the new and the experienced authors who are putting yourselves out there for podcasts, e...

W.A. Kelly is an author, filmmaker and musician. His debut crime novel, Safe Hands was released in November 2023 with its sequel due for release later this year. SAFE HANDS is a gritty British thriller about Mickey Blake, a safe cracker forced out of retirement to protect his estranged son and Hazel, a mother driven to kill to stop her teenage boy being sucked in to a life of crime. It is availabl...

Are you an author who has an agent, maybe a publishing deal - and maybe you're already published ... but you hate putting yourself out there? This is the first in a series of 4 episodes that teach you how to be ready for any situation such as recording a podcast, a radio interview, or being on a panel. In the first of this series, we look at a set of questions you can use to help yourself be...

Heather J Fitt was born in Scotland and raised across Europe. An avid reader as a child, her dreams came true when her debut novel,Open Your Eyes,was published in 2022. Described as,Agatha Christie on a plane, The Flightfollowed a few months later and her third book,The Boat Trip,was published in June 2023. When she isn’t writing, Heather is the General Coordinator for the Crime Writers’ Associati...

This week is all about kindness and caring, and getting your writing done. Listen in for 3 simple ways you can be kind to yourself and care for you, and 3 simple ways to get the writing done. Support the show Join me on Substack - here - for more insights into writing and being published, as well as mindset tips and tools. You can subscribe to get access to much more from me, including workshops a...

Helen Parasel is a Londoner who has lived in Hamburg, Germany over 25 years. She is married, has an adult daughter and rescue dog. Her debut novel, A Mother's War, set in Norway, came out in May 2023, and her second novel, The Austrian Bride, set in the town where her grandparents lived, came out in January 2024. Helen in an alumni of the Jericho Writers Self Edit Your Novel course run by Deb...

Continuing with the Writing Reboot, this week is steps 3 and 4, all about habits, triggers and responses. You might also find it useful to listen in to Episode 41, which is about Habit Stacking, to go along with this week's episode. The book I mention at the end of this episode is Atomic Habits by James Clear which is a great read if you're interested in developing your understanding of...

Araminta Hall has worked as a writer, journalist and teacher. Her first novel, Everything & Nothing, was published in 2011 and became a Richard & Judy read that year. Her second, Dot, was published in 2013. She teaches creative writing and currently has guestslots on the Goldsborough Writing Academy. She lives with her husband and three children in Brighton. Her latest novel, One of The Go...

Ever sabotaged something that in your heart you really want? If you answered no to that question, you're a very rare beast! Because sabotage is something we all do. It's a form of protection for us. Listen in to this episode if you want to feel like you're in amongst the majority, and if you want some tips on how you can manage your sabotage. Support the show Join me on Substack - h...

Debi Alper is an author with 5 novels published in the Nirvana series, a freelance editor, creative writing tutor and fearless slayer of Doubt Demons. She runs Jericho Writers’ Self-Edit Your Novel course, which has 6 bursaries available in 2024 for underrepresented writers. She is also interested in mudlarking, singing with my choir, micro gardening, working class peeps and radical Jewish voices....

Every now and again we could all do with a writing reboot, and over the next 4 weeks I will take you through a series of episodes that introduce you to the Write, Damn It! writing mindset formula that I've used for myself, and that I've taken others through when coaching them - the results are publication deals and wins or shortlisting in competitions, which is quite something. And this...

Much of the inspiration for Neil Alexander's debut novel, 'The Vanishing of Margaret Small', came directly from the voices of people with a learning disability, and the incredibly moving first person accounts of living in long stay institutions, which he heard while working for the UK charity Mencap. Neil, who has a Masters degree in English Literature from the University of Kent at...

We end 2023 with a reboot that will help your writing - rebooting your writing reboot. In this episode I give you a couple of simple techniques to help you change the way you think about your writing through a mini reboot of your mindset around writing. If you're ready to make a difference to your writing in 2024, then this episode will get your started. Support the show Join me on Substack -...

This is my first conversation with 2 authors at the same time, and it's fascinating - we get to hear a comparison between 2 people's approaches to their writing, which is really interesting. Harriet Tyce was born and grew up in Edinburgh. She graduated in English from Oxford University in 1994, and after gaining legal qualifications worked as a criminal barrister for nearly ten years. Af...

In this episode I reflect on the last year and share the 5 things that made a huge difference to my writing - and one of the 5 things is my writing mindset system, Write, Damn It! which is what gave birth to the name of my podcast. I mention the episode about the 150 Rule - Ep2 of the podcast, which you can listen to here And if you would like to have a try at using the Write, Damn It! writing min...

After forty-one years at the chalkface, Gill retired from English teaching to write full time and is now the author of four historical fiction novels, all set in and around World War Two. She has recently been appointed Royal Literary Fund Fellow at the University of Chichester. Gill lives with her family in West Sussex. Gill on Social Media Facebook: Wordkindling Twitter: GillThompson@wordkindlin...

I have a set of questions I use that help me think about my editing process, and in this episode I share them with you. Because I want to publish a few novels, I'm keen to have systems I can replicate from one novel to the next to help me with the process of writing and editing. The questions I share here is one of those systems I use to help myself. Listen in to learn what the questions are,...

Saz Vora is an author of East African Asian origin who migrated with her family to England in the ‘60s to Coventry, West Midlands, where she grew up straddling British and Gujarati culture. Before she started writing South Asian melodrama, she had a successful career in Television Production and Teaching specialising in Film and Media Studies to A Level. As a writer she draws on her upbringing in...

The results are in - if we want our books to sell, we have to get involved in the marketing of them. Even when we have a publicist. In this episode I take you through the mini campaign I did for my cover reveal, and how that fits with a wider campaign to help get sales in the future. And if you've seen the cover, I'd love hear what you think about it. Connect with me on social media at @...

Alison Irving lives in a village in Northern Ireland with her husband, 2 children and a spoiled cat called Hamish. She works as a physiotherapist in a hospice in Belfast and Casual Cruelties is her first novel. Casual Cruelties iss published by Bloodhound Books and came out on 3rd November 2023. It is a psychological suspense novel about a middle aged woman who gradually realises that her husband...