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My guest today is author and editor Kerry Barrett. Kerry Barrett is the author of eight novels, including the Strictly Come Dancing-themed A Step in Time, and The Girl in the Picture, about a crime novelist who solves a 160-year-old mystery. Kerry’s latest novel is a time slip called The Hidden Women.
For more about Kerry and her books, head to kerrybarrett.co.uk
Or find her on Twitter or Facebook.
IN THE INTRODUCTION
I give thanks for the wonderful Patreon support and a shout-out to new patrons.
I love the ‘community within a community’ that we’ve created over on Patreon and I really enjoy making the audio extras (which go up in the middle of every month).
Thank you so much to everyone supporting The Worried Writer in this way – it means so much to me.
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THANK YOU!
WORLD ANVIL INTERVIEW
I talk about my recent live interview on the World Anvil Twitch stream (video now available on YouTube HERE).
And here is the link to World Anvil – an app which helps you to create and organise your fantasy world for book-writing or RPG gaming.
LISTENER QUESTION
If you have a question you would like answered on the show
contact me via email or Twitter or leave a comment on this post.
IN THE INTERVIEW
On making time to write:
‘I wrote a lot on the train, I kind of squeezed my writing in wherever I could.’
‘My son is a swimmer so I do a lot of writing poolside, watching him.’
On transitioning to full-time writing:
‘It was quite lucky as soon as I finished at the magazine, I was stright into edits on the The Girl in the Picture… I didn’t really have time to think which was brilliant… The edits on that kind of got me into the swing of things.’
‘If I hadn’t had those edits with the deadline, I might have been a bit floaty… I did watch quite a lot of Netflix, I have to be honest. It was quite funny to have all that time and it almost made me less productive,
Kerry’s writing process:
‘I’ve been a journalist for a long time so I thrive on a deadline.’
‘I aim for a chapter a day… I consider it a triumph if I write more.’
‘I just write on Word.’
‘I do write down my word count every day and I cross it off and write the new amount.’
‘Head down, keep going.’
On getting blocked:
‘My mantra when it comes to writing is I’m very inspired by Dory and how she says ‘just keep swimming’… I wear a charm bracelet that’s a fish which reminds me… Just keep going, it will happen eventually.’
‘Just keep swimming!’
‘I write an outline initially with a beginning, middle and end, on an A4 sheet of paper, and I print it out and then I start writing. And as I write, things change and I realise things that won’t work… I’m very old school and I scribble on my outline and stick post it notes and write in different colours and draw arrows…And when it’s got to the point when I can scribble no more I type it up again and print it out. And then I staple the new one on so by the end of the novel I will end up with 12 or 15 outlines that have all come from that initial outline.’
On self-doubt:
‘I can always write something… When I was preparing for this podcast I started thinking about what worries me and it’s not the writing… Maybe because it’s been my job for a hundred years… I just write… But once I have that’s when – oh my – I’m just so scared…’
‘For me it’s not the process, it’s the aftermath – I just want to hide.’
Recommended:
Save The Cat by Blake Snyder
On Writing by Stephen King
Into The Woods by John Yorke
Thanks for listening!
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