Dear Rach & Soph

When we started this podcast we don’t think either of us had a single thought about how long it might go for - probably not this long! It's hard to believe we’ve released an episode a week for the past 17 Sundays, but we haven’t run out of things to talk about and we still have a long list of subjects we’d like to discuss. However, we’re going to take a little break as we both have books to write.In this, our final episode of season 1 (as we do plan to do a season 2), we discuss Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert, a book that Rach has held dear for a while and which Soph read for this podcast but wishes she’d read earlier. She listened to the audiobook, narrated by Gilbert, and loved that experience, but then went and bought the print book as I wanted to have it to refer to. It’s a special book, partly because of how cleanly and clearly Gilbert expresses herself. In this episode Rach and Soph discuss some elements of the book - definitely not all - in light of our own experience as writers. Happily listening, and we’ll be back!For more about Rachael Johns: https://www.rachaeljohns.comRachael's latest book is The Other BridgetHer next book is The Work Wife (to be published in January 2025)For more about Sophie Green: https://sophie-green-author.comSophie's latest book is Weekends with the Sunshine Gardening SocietyHer next book is Art Hour at the Duchess Hotel (to be published in August 2024)

This is the penultimate episode of the first season of Dear Rach & Soph - Rachael and Sophie both have books to write, so we need to focus on those - but we have a long list of subjects we’d like to cover in future episodes so we will be back! In this episode we were very happy to chat to Susannah Begbie, author of The Deed, which won the Richell Prize in 2022. The Richell is a joint project of @hachetteaus and @emergingwriters; entries for the 2024 prize are open now and closing on 7 July. Details at https://emergingwritersfestival.org.au/the-richell-prize-for-emerging-writers/If you’ve ever thought about entering a literary competition, it’s worth listening to Susannah talk about how and why she did and what it’s meant to her. She’s also all-round interesting!Susannah Begbie grew up in rural New South Wales on a sheep farm and is now a GP who has worked all over Australia. In 2006, Susannah started a Graduate Diploma in Professional Writing at Canberra University and was awarded the Editor's Pick for her short story 'Fly to Meet You' in the University's First Anthology. She was also awarded the best-written text for her children's book Don't You Dare! in The Get Real Project. The Deed is her first novel.This episode was recorded as the Sydney Writers Festival was starting so we have a bit of a chat about festival programming, as Sophie anticipates going to see Michael Connelly at his event at Sydney Town Hall.Speaking of events … Rach will be in Sydney to do an event with Lizzy Dent on Wednesday 3 July at 6 p.m. and Soph will be there too, in the audience. If you’d like to join us go to: https://www.trybooking.com/events/landing/1209662

**NB This episode was recorded in April so our intro chat will be out of sync with recent episodes.**This week we have a wonderful guest: children’s author Ashleigh Barton, who has written several CBCA Notable and Shortlist titles including What Do You Call Your Grandpa? and What Do You Call Your Grandma? (more information below). Ashleigh’s latest book is the picture book Dinosaur in My Pocket and on 26 June she’ll release two Freddie Spector, Fact Collector titles: Go for Gold and Space Cadet. Ashleigh writes for a range of ages of children and is endlessly creative. We talk to her about where she gets her ideas, how she manages writing while running a household and family, and her path to publication. ABOUT ASHLEIGH BARTONAshleigh Barton is a children's author and copywriter. Before writing full time, she pursued her love of books (children's books especially) by working in some of Australia's biggest publishing houses, running marketing and publicity campaigns for globally renowned authors and illustrators. Ashleigh has previously published five successful and highly acclaimed picture books and a junior fiction series. She lives in Sydney with her husband, three children and their dog.For more about Ashleigh: https://www.ashleighbarton.com/For more about Rachael Johns: https://www.rachaeljohns.comRachael's latest book is The Other BridgetHer next book is The Work Wife (to be published in January 2025)For more about Sophie Green: https://sophie-green-author.comSophie's latest book is Weekends with the Sunshine Gardening SocietyHer next book is Art Hour at the Duchess Hotel (to be published in August 2024)

Rejections are par for the course for all writers, whether they’ve been published or not. Even once you have a publisher they may reject your next idea - or readers may reject your book by not reading it! Both Rachael Johns and Sophie Green have been rejected - multiple times (and both of us by Mills & Boon, which we talk about in this episode). As a publisher, and when she was an agent, Sophie does some rejecting, and she also sees a lot of submissions, so she has some things to say about where writers go wrong in the submission process. (She made a ten-minute TikTok about how to write a submission letter and that is linked below.)Therefore, if you are a writer - or engaged in any creative pursuit - and want to here us chat about being rejected, how to deal with rejection, what leads to manuscripts being rejected, and who knows what else we have in there, this is the episode for you. How to write a query/submission letter (TikTok video)https://www.tiktok.com/@sophiegreenbooks/video/7360218814610443538?_t=8mdflLRbf5G&_r=1For more about Rachael Johns: https://www.rachaeljohns.comRachael's latest book is The Other BridgetHer next book is The Work Wife (to be published in January 2025)For more about Sophie Green: https://sophie-green-author.comSophie's latest book is Weekends with the Sunshine Gardening SocietyHer next book is Art Hour at the Duchess Hotel (to be published in August 2024)

A little while ago Rachael Johns suggested we do an episode on ‘retirement energy’ after one of her favourites, Elin Hildebrand, announced she was stepping back from her regular writing pace. Writers obviously don’t have the same working structures as those in other careers and the decision to step back or retire can happen for a variety of reasons. Rach also suggested that we chat to fellow Western Australian author Fiona Palmer about her decision not to write novels for the foreseeable future (her last published book is The Wrong Sister from 2022). Books mentioned: Regeneration by Pat BarkerThe Tea Ladies by Amanda HampsonJackie by Dawn TrippExpiration Dates by Rebecca SearleWe are releasing out of our recording sequence so please forgive us for little anomalies like saying Fiona is our third guest when we’ve had some other guests on!If you have a question for us, please email sophie@sophie-green-author.com and put ‘Dear Rach & Soph’ in the subject line.And if you’d like to actually be in the podcast with us while we answer your question, please let us know in the email.For more about Rachael Johns: https://www.rachaeljohns.comRachael's latest book is The Other BridgetHer next book is The Work Wife (to be published in January 2025)For more about Sophie Green: https://sophie-green-author.comSophie's latest book is Weekends with the Sunshine Gardening SocietyHer next book is Art Hour at the Duchess Hotel (to be published in August 2024)

In this episode Rachael Johns and Sophie Green talk about the parts of writing that we may or may not find tricky: no, not the existential stuff like 'I feel like I'm ripping my soul out of my body' (NB: we don't) but the technical stuff ... showing vs telling, action tags and dialogue tags, keeping track of timelines, whether or not we describe our characters' appearances, and other subjects of that ilk.We also catch up on our news, which includes Soph writing a Farmer Wants a Wife recap for Rach, and generally enjoy chatting to each other, as always.For more about Rachael Johns: https://www.rachaeljohns.comRachael's latest book is The Other BridgetHer next book is The Work Wife (to be published in January 2025)For more about Sophie Green: https://sophie-green-author.comSophie's latest book is Weekends with the Sunshine Gardening SocietyHer next book is Art Hour at the Duchess Hotel (to be published in August 2024)

In this episode Rach and Soph talk about their Farmer Wants a Wife viewing, Rach asks Soph if she'd ever write a country music novel and we have a special guest: rural fiction author Renae Black. Renae had some questions about literary agents and Sophie used to be one, so we talk about the reasons for having one or not and, if you want one, how you’d choose one.Rach also asks Soph if she has a tattoo - and she wants to know if any of you have a literary-themed tattoo …We recorded this one before last week’s episode, so you’ll hear Rach saying it’s her first time introducing the episode … even though she introduced last week’s. This is our prerogative, to change order! Visit Renae Black's website: https://renaeblack.com/Writers - do you have a challenge or conundrum, or a question about process, how to get started, or anything at all to do with writing? We’d love to be your writing agony aunts.Readers - we would love to hear from you too! You can ask us questions about our books … and we’d also be happy to be YOUR agony aunts. We may not have professional qualifications but we sort out problems for our characters all the time, so if you’d like to get something off your chest/ask for some input/just see what we think about something, let us know.If you have a question for us, please email sophie@sophie-green-author.com and put ‘Dear Rach & Soph’ in the subject line.And if you’d like to actually be in the podcast with us while we answer your question, please let us know in the email.For more about Rachael Johns: https://www.rachaeljohns.comRachael's latest book is The Other BridgetHer next book is The Work Wife (to be published in January 2025)For more about Sophie Green: https://sophie-green-author.comSophie's latest book is Weekends with the Sunshine Gardening SocietyHer next book is Art Hour at the Duchess Hotel (to be published in August 2024)

This week bestselling authors Rachael Johns and Sophie Green answer a couple of listener questions - one from a writer we’ll call Mindy, as she wishes to remain anonymous, and another from Ike Levick. In the course of answering their questions Rach and Soph talk about why they write, how they define success, and how they move past blocks in their writing and get out of their own way.If you have a question for Rach and Soph, you can email it to sophie@sophie-green-author.comFor more about Rachael Johns: https://www.rachaeljohns.comRachael's latest book is The Other BridgetHer next book is The Work Wife (to be published in January 2025)For more about Sophie Green: https://sophie-green-author.comSophie's latest book is Weekends with the Sunshine Gardening SocietyHer next book is Art Hour at the Duchess Hotel (to be published in August 2024)

Rachael Johns decided to scale back her presence on social media for a little while - not leaving it entirely but restricting how much time she spent on it. With two books to write this year, it's no surprise she needed the time. The surprise came when around the same time as she made that decision she discovered that fellow Western Australian and international bestselling author Natasha Lester made a similar decision, and so did so did Jack Heath, prolific author of books for children and adults.So Rach suggested that we invite Natasha and Jack come on the podcast to discuss this with us, and a lively and highly interesting discussion ensued. Whether you're an author wondering if you need to build a social media presence or scale back the one you have, or just generally wondering about it, we hope you'll find what we have to say thought-provoking. Books mentioned:Stolen Focus by Johann HariDoppelganger by Naomi KleinFor more about Rachael Johns: https://www.rachaeljohns.comRachael's latest book is The Other BridgetHer next book is The Work Wife (to be published in January 2025)For more about Sophie Green: https://sophie-green-author.comSophie's latest book is Weekends with the Sunshine Gardening SocietyHer next book is Art Hour at the Duchess Hotel (to be published in August 2024)