Writer's Routine

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 the 'Isaac Turner Investigates' series, which sees Isaac on a quest across Italy, to discover the wonder of light. Sam loves to take an interest, learn every strange fact he can about it, and then use it for a gripping adventure. In the series, he's explored time with 'The Clockwork Conspiracy', maps in 'The Forbidden Atlas', and now light in 'The Galileo Heist'. Sam has also published two non-fiction books - 'Epic Adventures' and 'Epic Cities'.You can hear why he struggles to get things finished, also how he managed moving from co-writing to solo-writing, and why he builds words around a quirk of numbers.If you know a child who needs to read more, you'd do well to introduce them to Sam's work. Get a copy - uk.bookshop.org/shop/writersroutineThis week's episode is sponsored by Philippa Hall's 'Quick Book Reviews' podcast. Take a listen wherever you've got this.Support the show - patreon.com/writersroutineko-fi.com/writersroutineSubscribe to the newsletter - https://writersroutine.substack.com/@writerspodwritersroutine.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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 followed it up with 'Never Had a Dad', which sees Georgie advertise for a father figure. It was inspired by a strange meeting with an older man on holiday with her mum. We talk about how she expanded on that idea, and how much she can plan and plot an adventure memoir.You can hear about the differences in the process of fiction and narrative non-fiction, and how she decides what her next adventure should be. We chat about how she makes a reader care, being trained to write prose fiction, and how she works on the go whilst being easily distracted.Get a copy of the book - uk.bookshop.org/shop/writersroutineThis week's podcast is sponsored by 'Whale Cemetery: Murder On A Smuggler's Tide', the new book in the 'DCI Finnegan Yorkshire Crime Thriller' series by Ely North. Find out more and get a free book at elynorthcrimefiction.comSupport the show -patreon.com/writersroutineko-fi.com/writersroutineSubscribe to our newsletter - writersroutine.substack.com@writerspodwritersroutine.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Dan Houser was the lead writer, creative director and co-founder of Rockstar Games. Rockstar are the studio behind the 'Grand Theft Auto' and 'Red Dead Redemption' series. They're responsible for over half a billion video game sales. 'GTA V' and 'Red Dead Redemption 2' are both in the top 5 bestselling video games ever... and Dan wrote them.Since leaving Rockstar, he's set up Absurd Ventures, a studio he says will create new universes in video games, podcasts, animation, and now it's spawned his debut novel. 'A Better Paradise - Volume 1: An Aftermath' is the start of a world of stories across different forms of media.Here's the blurb - Mark Tyburn dreams of building the perfect video game. Kurt Fischer dreams of being a rich and successful executive. Daisy Tyburn dreams of having the ideal father. John Tyburn Smith dreams of fitting in. NigelDave just dreams of becoming human. Set in the near future, A BETTER PARADISE tells the story of the ill-fated development of an ambitious but addictive video game project that goes very wrong. As the software they developed starts to produce unexpected and disturbing results, the project is shut down and abandoned. Until now. We discuss what he's learned from writing his first novel and how that'll influence future stories. Also you can hear how he dealt with the weight of expectation while working on the biggest video games around, how he's trying to build boundaries, and how he knows where a story idea will live. There's also a good amount of chat about GTA's fantastic radio stations.Get a copy of the book - uk.bookshop.org/shop/writersroutineThis episode is sponsored by Ulysses. Go to https://ulys.app/writeabook to download Ulysses, and use the code ROUTINE at checkout to get 25% off the first year of your yearly subscription.Also, this episode is supported by Faber Academy. Make the most of their fantastic writing courses in 2026 at https://faberacademy.com/writing-a-novel/You can support the show at -patreon.com/writersroutineko-fi.com/writersroutine@writerspodwritersroutine.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Adam Skolnick earned his writing chops as a travel and adventure sports journalist for the New York Times, ESPN, the BBC and Lonely Planet. It taught him the vital skills of getting the words out immediately, and writing fast. He was the ghostwriter for David Goggins' memoirs 'Can't Hurt Me' and 'Never Finished'. Also published 'One Breath', about the world of free-diving, which was turned into a Netflix documentary, and 'Forever Swim', about open-water swimming legend Antonio Arguelles. Adam also appears in Rich Roll's fantastic podcast, discussing health and wellbeing. His new novel is 'American Tiger', about Bell Tern who, when on the school bus, sports a tiger roaming around the streets of suburban Los Angeles. It's rooted in the stunning southern Californian landscape and stacked with vivid characters. We discusses his attempts to 'de-sacredise' his space and day, also the different passes he does for each individual character, and what an idea needs to be to get him excited. You can hear about his new cue-card process, how the idea came during a free-diving competition, and how he deals with the fine line between creative burnout and being productive.This episode is sponsored by Ulysses. Go to https://ulys.app/writeabook to download Ulysses, and use the code ROUTINE at checkout to get 25% off the first year of your yearly subscription.Also, this episode is supported by Faber Academy. Make the most of their fantastic writing courses in 2026 at https://faberacademy.com/writing-a-novel/Support the show - patreon.com/writersroutineko-fi.com/writersroutineGet a copy of the book - uk.bookshop.com/shop/writersroutine@writerspodwritersroutine.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Lucinda Berry is a USA Today bestselling author, who has published 9 incredibly successful novels, which have been optioned for films, and translated into several languages. She worked as a psychologist and leading researcher in childhood trauma - much of that has inspired her thrillers.Readers are huge fans of 'The Perfect Child', also the heart-pounding 'The Best of Friends', and the unsettling truths in 'The Secrets of Us'. Her new release is an audio thriller. 'This is a Safe Space', tells the story of the therapist Jenna who, after discovering a strange text exchange on her husband's phone, comes to wonder if he might be connected to one of her clients... who has disappeared.We discuss the gestation of an audio-only idea, how the approach was different, and whether it changed the planning, plotting and style. You can hear how she deals with the trickier writing days, also her tight working schedule, the hefty word counts, and how she handled the switch to full time.Get a copy of her books at uk.bookshop.com/shop/writersroutineThis episode is sponsored by Ulysses. Go to https://ulys.app/writeabook to download Ulysses, and use the code ROUTINE at checkout to get 25% off the first year of your yearly subscription.Support the show at -patreon.com/writersroutineko-fi.com/writersroutine@writerspodwritersroutine.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Patrick Syms started work trying to be a screenwriter, and he got ever so close, before life got in the way. He took a job in advertising, which became a 25 year long career in communications. In 2020, he gave it up to write again. This time, he took it seriously. Being accepted in to the Curtis Brown 'Writing Your Novel' course, he's just finished 'Am I The Asshole?', which is out to query as I type.It's all about entrepreneur Richard Whitecross, who invents what he thinks is a piece of world-changing technology. But when it malfunctions and he becomes the target of a social media pile-on, he must learn to face all the facts of his situation, not just the convenient ones, before he loses his family, his livelihood and his sanity. It was inspired by an interview Patrick saw with a celebrity on TV, and being dumbfounded by the terrible way they were presenting themselves.As the manuscript goes out to agents, Patrick has taken some unique steps of his own... and is releasing a limited batch of books, in order to spread the word and make some noise. He's printed a select set of white label books, inspired by independent record companies. He runs through the process of making that work - what's gone well and what's been trickier than imagined.You can hear what he felt when he was trying too hard to make a point with his prose, also why he's always playing catch up, and the 5 questions that he asks in every scene.You can find out more at patricksyms.com, and find his instagram in the show notes.If you're getting a book for christmas, think about doing it on our Bookshop.org page - uk.bookshop.org/shop/writersroutineSupport the show -patreon.com/writersroutineko-fi.com/writersroutine@writerspodwritersroutine.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hazel Barkworth is creative consultant, who graduated from Oxford with an English Degree, and when she decided she'd try and write fiction... she went back to school. She enrolled in the Curtis Brown Creative Novel Writing Course, and published her debut, 'Heatstroke', to rave reviews in The Guardian and the Evening Standard.Hazel's newest novel is 'The Drownings'. It tells the story of Serena, who grew up dreaming of being an olympic swimmer. When a brutal training injury wrecks those chances, she heads to University. One dark night, she saves a students life, and the process leads her to learn about a dark, twisted history unseen through the campus. We discuss why Hazel was desperate to write a Campus novel, and how she managed to pull together so many ideas and themes into one book, with one ending.You can hear about the break Hazel took between novels, and what she learned in those 4 years, also about the balance of writing and working freelance, and why her plotting technique is based on vibes.This week's episode is supported by the 'Quick Book Reviews' podcast, and by Fleur MacDonald's brand new novel, 'The Missing'. Support the show - patreon.com/writersroutineko-fi.com/writersroutineGet a copy of the book - uk.bookshop.org/shop/writersroutine@writerspodwritersroutine.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.