Not Too Busy To Write

Join me for a special episode digging deep into the Women's Prize Discoveries 2025, a prize and program for unpublished women fiction writers in the UK and Ireland, with two of this years judges Dreda Say Mitchell, an award winning and bestselling crime and mystery author and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.LinksWomen's Prize Discoveries 2025Girl, Missing - Dreda Say MitchellThe Seawomen - Chloe TimmsThis Immaculate Body - Emma van StraatenDreda Say Mitchell - dredamitchell.comChloe Timms - chloetimms.co.ukConfessions of A Debut Novelist with Chloe TimmsEmma van Straaten on Instagram @evswritesBook Proposal Group Program - pennywincerwrites.com/bookproposalgroupNot Too Busy To Write on Substack

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.LinksThe Home Style Handbook - Lucy GoughLucy Gough's Online Interior Styling Courses - course.lucygoughstylist.comLucy Gough on Instagram @style_by_lucyHome Matters - Penny WincerPenny's Book Proposal Group Program - pennywincerwrites.comNot Too Busy To Write on Substack - pennywincer.substack.com

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.LinksWhy Women Grow - Alice VincentRootbound - Alice VincentHark - Alice Vincent (pre-order)Savour Newsletter - savour.substack.comHome Matters - Penny WincerNot Too Busy To Write on Substack - pennywincer.substack.comThe next Book Proposal Group Program begins Oct 1st. You can book your place at pennywincerwrites.comYou can find all the books from Series 9 of Not To Busy To Write at Bookshop.org

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.LinksThe Giant in the Skyline - Clover StroudThe Wild Other - Clover StroudHome Matters - Penny WincerClover Stroud on Substack - cloverstroud.substack.comNot Too Busy To Write on Substack - pennywincer.substack.comNon-Fiction Book Proposal Program - pennywincerwrites.com/bookproposalgroup

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. LinksThin Places - Kerri ni DochartaighCacophony of Bone - Kerri ni DochartaighIn The Garden: Essays on Nature and Growing (Daunt Books)The Garden Against Time - Olivia LaingUnearthed - Claire RatinonUprooting - Marchelle FarrellHome Matters - Penny WincerKerri on Substack kerrindochartaigh.substack.comPenny on Substack pennywincer.substack.com

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.LinksHome Matters - Penny WincerTwelve Moons - Caro GilesAll The Houses I've Ever Lived In - Kieran YatesThe Lonely City - Olivia LaingMonkey Grip - Helen GarnerPenny on Substack pennywincer.substack.comCaro on Substack carogiles.substack.com

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 28thLinksNow Is Not The Time For Flowers - Stacey HealeStacey Heale on Instagram @stacey_healeNot Too Busy To Write on Substack - pennywincer.substack.com

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.LinksThe Good, The Bad and The Aunties - Jesse SutantoDial A For Aunties - Jesse SutantoVera Wang's Unsolicited Advice for Murders - Jesse SutantoJesse Sutanto on Instagram @jesseqsutantoNot Too Busy To Write on Substack pennywincer.substack.comWrite Your Non-Fiction Book Proposal with Penny Wincer is at 7pm March 27th Book you place here - pennywincerwrites.com/workshopsPodcast listeners can use the code TOOBUSY at checkout to receive £5 off

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.LinksStone Yard Devotional - Charlotte WoodThe Weekend - Charlotte WoodThe Natural Way of Things - Charlotte WoodThe Writers Room - Charlotte WoodThe Slap - Christos TsiolkasThe Golden Age - Joan LondonThe Good Parents - Joan LondonThe Conversion - Amanda LohreyCharlotte Wood's Substack - charlottewood.substack.comcharlottewoodauthor.com.auNot Too Busy To Write on Substack - pennywincer.substack.com

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.LinksWomen Who Work Too Much - Tamu ThomasTamu on Instagram @tamu.thomasTamu on TikTok @tamu_thomasBook your place on the Non-fiction Book Proposal Workshop 27th March 2024 7pm Discount code for podcast listeners - TOOBUSY pennywincerwrites.com/workshopsNot Too Busy to Write on Substack - pennywincer.substack.com