Who deserves to be a writer? When Sarah Turner was in her early twenties she had a baby, found it challenging and, unable to find writing online to match her experience, set up a blog. A couple of years later that blog, The Unmumsy Mum, had nearly 100,000 readers and landed Sarah a book deal. Her three very funny, honest non-fiction books about parenting have all been bestsellers, as has her debut novel Stepping Up, which came out this year. 

So why is Sarah on Write-Off. Well, because of that question: who deserves to be a writer? Sarah has more than 400,000 followers on Instagram and is famous to many people as an influencer, posting frequently about her three adorable sons, the daily difficulties and the magic of parenting and their house renovation in Exeter. As such she knows she’s seen by some as someone who has just been handed book deals, someone who maybe can’t or shouldn’t be allowed to write. But Sarah got the book deal because she was already writing stuff that resonated with people. And those books are really well written.

I absolutely loved dissecting this question of who deserves their place in publishing with Sarah and discussing all the self-doubt that comes with this sort of advantage. Because whatever you think of this sort of route in in the end putting a pen to paper as it were and hoping to do a good job is never easy. 

Do come find me on Twitter - @francescasteele - or Instagram - @francescasteelewrites - I'd love to hear your stories about self-doubt, rejection and – of course – success!

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