Not Too Busy To Write

By Penny WincerSociety & Culture Education Arts Books Personal Journals How To

Not Too Busy To Write episodes

September 11, 2024 S9. E3. Clover Stroud on home and belonging
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 Giant in the Skyline - Clover Stroud
The Wild Other - Clover Stroud
Home Matters - Penny Wincer
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

53 min
September 04, 2024 S9 E2. Kerri ni Dochartaigh on finding home in the Irish landscape
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
Thin Places - Kerri ni Dochartaigh
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
Home Matters - Penny Wincer
Kerri on Substack kerrindochartaigh.substack.com
Penny on Substack pennywincer.substack.com
1 hr 9 min
August 28, 2024 S9. E1. Penny Wincer on why Home Matters
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
Home Matters - Penny Wincer
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
52 min
March 27, 2024 Stacey Heale on writing about death and life
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
48 min
March 20, 2024 Jesse Sutanto on writing a best selling series
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

34 min
March 13, 2024 Charlotte Wood on writing craft and Australian fiction
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
43 min
March 06, 2024 Tamu Thomas on women who work too much
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
51 min
February 21, 2024 Bijal Shah on the power of bibliotherapy
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
58 min
February 14, 2024 Amy Arthur on pacing yourself as a writer
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
51 min
February 07, 2024 Jessica Bull on blending fact and fiction
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
48 min

About Not Too Busy To Write

From the publisher's feed

Penny Wincer is not too busy to write. Except of course, sometimes she is too busy to write as much as she would like. Join Penny as she has conversations with other writers about writing, publishing and creativity whilst juggling all the demands on them such as motherhood, caring and other paid work.