Dr Rachel Knightley is joined at the Writers' Gym by best-selling adult and children's author, Sue Bentley. 

Finishing the first draft is a massively important thing to celebrate. But it’s also the point we’ve reached the base of the mountain that looked smaller and easier from a distance, and now looks bigger than it’s ever going to. Dr Rachel Knightley shows paths to move through the next stage, from overwhelm, to possibility and celebration.

If you enjoyed listening to the Writers' Gym Podcast, head to our website at www.writersgym.com and follow us on instagram: @jointhewritersgym

Dr Caroline Sharples, author and historian 

Dr Rachel Knightley is joined at the Writers' Gym by non-fiction author and senior lecturer, Dr Caroline Sharples.

Dr Caroline Sharples is a historian of modern Germany, with longstanding research interests in memories of National Socialism and representations of the Holocaust. She has held the post of Senior Lecturer in History at the University of Roehampton in 2017.

Caroline is the author of West Germans and the Nazi Legacy (Routledge, 2012) and Postwar Germany and the Holocaust (Bloomsbury, 2016); and co-editor, alongside Olaf Jensen, of Britain and the Holocaust: Remembering and Representing War and Genocide (Palgrave Macmillan, 2013). She has a particular fascination in the post-execution fate of Holocaust perpetrators, writing several essays on Allied policymaking regarding the Nazi corpse and perpetrator burials, commemoration and exhumation. It is against this background that she turned her attention to the much-mythologised fate of Adolf Hitler himself, seeking to explore just why the demise of the Nazi dictator has fascinated public audiences for so many decades. The resulting book, The Long Death of Adolf Hitler: An Investigative History constitutes the first cultural history approach to this topic.

Caroline is passionate about public engagement and finding new ways to talk about her research. She has penned blogs for ‘History Matters’ (a site run by the University of Sheffield to explore the historical context behind contemporary news headlines or significant anniversaries) ; and magazine articles for History Today and Aspects of History. Most recently, she was commissioned to write features for both The Big Issue and The Daily Telegraph in connection with her Long Death of Adolf Hitler book and has featured on several leading podcasts, including BBC History Extra and the New Books Network.

Instagram: @carol1ne_louise

If you enjoyed listening to the Writers' Gym Podcast, head to our website at www.writersgym.com and follow us on Instagram: @jointhewritersgym

Dr Kim Fleet, prize-winning author and Writers’ Gym member

Showing up in the public sphere can feel overwhelming, but by noticing the messaging inside our heads, we start to enjoy showing up one authentic thing at a time.

Graham Bartlett, bestselling fiction and non-fiction author

What’s the most damaging advice you’ve ever received as a writer? Dr Rachel Knightley reflects on what the wrong and right ‘shoulds’ can do to our ability to make time for our writing and ourselves, and how to take control of our reactions to the messaging we receive. Rachel provides a creative confidence and writing ‘Think On The Page’ Writers’ Gym exercise to create the time and writing that works for you.

If you enjoyed listening to the Writers' Gym Podcast, head to our website at www.writersgym.com and follow us on instagram: @jointhewritersgym