Writer's Routine

Kate Lord Brown is a bestselling historical fiction author. She was a finalist in ITV's 'The People's Author Contest', has been shortlisted for Romantic Novel of the Year, and is read all over the world. Her books travel fantastically well, that could be because she has travelled far and wide too. She worked as an art consultant across Europe, and was part of the first book club in the Middle East for 2 years.

'The Golden Hour',...

This week, we're chatting to Lucy Ashe. Lucy trained at the Royal Ballet school, and now works as a teacher in Brooklyn, whilst writing brilliant books. Her debut, 'Clara and Olivia', was shortlisted for the CWA Historical Dagger Award. Her follow up, 'The Sleeping Beauties', was also set in the world of ballet.

The new novel is 'The Model Patient'. Set in 1960s London, it explores obsession and betrayal. In the quiet hush of h...

Deepa Anappara's debut, 'Djinn Patrol on the Purple Line' was a critically-acclaimed bestseller. It was named as one of the best books of the year by The New York Times, the Washington Post, The Guardian and National Public Radio. Time Magazine included it in its list of 'The 100 Best Mystery and Thriller Books of All Time'. It won the Edgar Award for Best Novel, was shortlised for the JCB Prize fo Indian Literature, and has been t...

Liz Alterman has written all sorts. Young adult fiction, uplit, memoir, and is back with a new psychological, campus thriller, 'A Different Type of Poison'. It's about the author Molly Archer, whose latest novel, 'Birds at Night', is an instant hit. She's invited to a book club, by an incredibly enthusiastic reader who she should remember from her hometown. The problem is, she can't place her... and might be stepping into a very de...

Ever since Mark Frost saw his actor father prepare all day for work, having to leave every evening to jump on stage, he knew he wanted to get his work done early in the morning. A life as a writer came calling. He's worked on all sorts, writing on 'Hill Street Blues', the 'Fantastic Four' movies, sports books, thriller novels, and it's his work with David Lynch, as the co-creator of the cult series, 'Twin Peaks', that he's most lov...

Sarah Vaughan worked as a reporter and correspondent for The Guardian for years, before finally starting a novel on her 40th birthday. She published 'The Art of Baking Blind' and 'The Farm at the Edge of the World', aimed at book-clubs, which in her words, 'didn't really trouble the bestsellers list'.

Then, out of contract, she wrote, 'Anatomy of a Scandal', and everything changed. It was a smash-hit and inspired a Netflix seri...

Annie Elliot has always been around words. She worked in local government, taught communication, as a newspaper reporter, which taught her the importance of being able to get the words down on time. She's written short-stories and flash-fiction which have been successful in competitions, and was longlisted for Mxslexia Magazine's Novel Award.

Her new novel is 'Mr & Mrs Charles Dickens: Her Story'. It's a self-portrait of Cat...

Stig Abell is a media polymath. He's worked for The Sun and LBC, was the editor of the Times Literary Supplement, and now hosts the breakfast show on national Times Radio. He's just published the fourth novel in the Jake Jackson series, 'A Twist in the River'.

His debut fiction novel, 'Death Under a Little Sky', won the Specsavers Debut Crime Novel Award' and CrimeFest 2024. Since then, he's published 'Death in a Lonely Place' ...

Elle McNicholl is a Carnegie Award nominated author. Her debut 'A Kind of Spark' won the Blue Peter Book Award and the overall Waterstones Children's Book Prize, alongside Blackwell's Book of 2020. It was turned into a BBC Children's TV show, which she wrote. That won a Royal Television Society Award, and was nominated for an Emmy.

She's published many more, 'Some Like It Cold', 'Wish You Were Her', 'Role Model', and many others...

Jane Doughtery writes magical, often apocalyptic fiction. She's been nominated for the Pushcart Prize, and is inspired by myth, history and classical tradition. Also, she's a poet, seeking to capture the moment in a spark of creativity.

Her new novel is 'Pasiphae'. It's a re-imagining of the Greek minotaur myth, a bid to reclaim one of its most maligned women. From the perspective of his mother, it's inspired by how women's rol...

Carmel Harrington is an Irish bestselling author of 13 novels. Her latests, 'The Stolen Child', was shortlisted for an Irish Book Award and won Good Housekeeping's 'Good Books Autumn Collection'. She left it late to start. After wanting to be an author for so long, it was a conversation with her husband, and a dream for her daughter, that pushed her to start.

She's written family dramas, a tie-in with the hit TV show, 'Cold Feet...

Kate Dramis is a Sunday Times Bestselling author, having writing the epic 'The Curse of Saints' fantasy trilogy. However, after a bout of writer's block and shiny-new-idea syndrome, she was inspired on a plane journey to write romance.

'The Odds of You' tells the story of Sage Collins, a bestselling author en route to Comic Con, who is distracted on her flight by Theo Sharpe, the infuriatingly charming British actor who just won...

Farah Naz Rishi is a busy do-er with fingers in many creative pies. She's worked as a lawyer, a video-game journalist, a voice actor and is a bestselling author. Farah has written memoir, 'Sorry for the Inconvenience', which details her experience as a Pakistan-American Muslim Woman, also has published many Young Adult books, including 'If You're Not The One', and 'It All Comes Back to You'.

Now, Farah has published, 'The Flight...

Fergus Craig is a stand-up comic and actor who has appeared across shows on the BBC and Disney Plus. In 2009, he was named 'Hackney Empire's New Act of the Year'. Through lockdown, he found internet fame with his videos parodying bad crime writers. He starred in both series of the BBC show 'Hoff the Record', and won a Chortle Comedy Award. He would read 'Detective Roger le Carre' stories, filled with pomp and cliche. They drew in a...

Shen Tao has always wanted to be a writer. For as long as she can remember, she's had ideas, developed characters, and written stories. It took her 9 attempts, 9 manuscripts, to finally get it done.

Her debut is 'The Poet Empress'. It's a Chinese historical fantasy, blended with a love story and a murder mystery. It tells the story of a young woman, who enters the Imperial Court as a concubine, and learns poetry-magic to try an...

David Goodman writes edge-of-your-seat spy thrillers. His debut, 'A Relucant Spy', was published in 2024. We follow Jamie Tulloch, a successful exec at a top tech company, who has a secret... he's part of the Legend Programme. It's a secret intelligence effort to help provide backstories for undercover agents. It's simple, real people, living real lives and are willing to hand over their identities for a few weeks to help a spy ble...

Sam Sedgman is a 'British Book Award' winning author, who writes fantastic adventure stories for children. He started co-writing with MG Leonard, who has also been a guest on this show, working on the 'Adventures on Trains' series. She was a published author, he was a train nerd, it worked perfectly. In the process they won and were nominated for many awards. Now, he's writing on his own.

'The Galileo Heist' is the new novel...

In this week's episode, we chat to creepy thriller writer Sally-Anne Martyn.

Sally-Anne didn't grow up wanting to be a writer. She studied performing arts, working in film and TV, before working many different jobs in many different places, even a stint as a carer in one of England's last asylums. In her 40's, she had the epiphany that perhaps writing had always been waiting for her. She took that realisation very seriously, enr...

Georgie Codd is a writer of all-sorts. She's dabbled in fiction, written for publications, created the 'BookBound' literary festival, and now focuses on narrative non-fiction.

Her first book, 'We Swim to the Shark', came out in 2020, and followed Georgie’s quest to overcome her deepest fears by crossing the planet, learning to scuba dive, and attempting to swim with the largest fish in the world: an adult whale shark. She's foll...