The Writing Room

The Writing Room is a space for authors to exchange positive ideas, professional advice and motivation.   In this series, you'll find interviews with authors, publishing professionals, and wider industry contacts about writing and publishing.   In this episode, we spoke to author JD Kirk about the perks of being independent, his writing schedule, and his writing inspirations.    JD Kirk is the pen name of multi-award-winning author, screenwriter, and writer of comics, Barry Hutchison. Born and raised in Fort William in the Highlands of Scotland, Barry/JD wanted to be a writer from the age of nine, when a kindly librarian wrote his name on the spine of a notebook in which he’d written a terrible short story and put it on the shelf. Since then, he has written over 140 books for children as Barry Hutchison, over 15 books for adults as Barry J. Hutchison, and is now thoroughly enjoying murdering people as JD Kirk. Barry still lives in Fort William with his wife and two children.    You can find more about JD here: https://jdkirk.com  If you'd like to see more content from us, please like and subscribe.  Follow The Writing Room on Facebook to keep up to date with further episodes and to join our community conversations: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100075761215734

The Writing Room is a space for authors to exchange positive ideas, professional advice and motivation.    In this series, you’ll find interviews with authors, publishing professionals and wider industry contacts about writing and publishing.      In this episode, we spoke to author Chris Merritt about his publication journey, his writing process, and how he deals with rejection.    Dr Chris Merritt is a Clinical Psychologist and crime author. Following a career in the UK Foreign & Commonwealth Office, where he worked as a diplomat in Middle East conflict zones, Chris returned to university to study psychology, led by an interest in Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. He went on to train as a Clinical Psychologist, working in the NHS in London and specialising in treating PTSD with victims, witnesses, and even perpetrators of crime. Chris’s first crime novel, Bring Her Back, was published by Bookouture and Audible in 2018, and to date his books have sold over 110,000 copies. His latest novel is a standalone psychological thriller, The New Home.    If you’d like to see more content from us, please like and subscribe.     Follow The Writing Room on Facebook to keep up to date with further episodes and to join our community conversations: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100075761215734

The Writing Room is a space for authors to exchange positive ideas, professional advice and motivation.    In this series, you’ll find interviews with authors, publishing professionals and wider industry contacts about writing and publishing.      In this episode, we spoke to author Heleen Kist about her publishing journey, writing process, and tips she has learned from her time in the industry.    Heleen Kist is a Dutch businesswoman who lived all over the world while growing up and for her career. Then she fell in love with a Scotsman and his country, and now writes about its (sometimes scary) people from her garden office in Glasgow. She was awarded a Spotlight as ‘up and coming author’ at Bloody Scotland 2018 for her debut ‘IN SERVITUDE’. It was shortlisted for The Selfies 2019 awarded at London Book Fair and won a silver medal at the Independent Publishers Book Awards 2019 in the USA.  ‘STAY MAD, SWEETHEART’ received third prize in the inaugural Book Bloggers’ Novel of the Year Award 2020 and a silver medal in the Next Generation Indie Book Awards 2020.  Heleen has recently published her novel 'WHAT I HID FROM YOU', a standalone suspense novel and there are more completed and in the works. Watch this space.    If you’d like to see more content from us, please like and subscribe.     Follow The Writing Room on Facebook to keep up to date with further episodes and to join our community conversations: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100075761215734

The Writing Room is a space for authors to exchange positive ideas, professional advice and motivation.  In this series, you'll find interviews with authors, publishing professionals, and wider industry contacts about writing and publishing.   In this episode, we spoke to Literary Agent Emily Glenister about the role of an agent, best practice for querying, and gained some insight into the submission process. Emily trained to be an actress at Bristol Old Vic Theatre School, graduating in 2010 before working as an agent and agent's assistant in offices that represented the likes of Charlotte Rampling, Sir Roger Moore, Liv Ullmann and Max von Sydow. In 2020, after assisting David Headley for four years in all aspects of the agency, Emily was made an Associate Agent, before becoming an Agent at the tail-end of 2021.     You can find more about Emily here: https://www.dhhliteraryagency.com/emily-glenister.html Twitter: https://twitter.com/emily_glenister?lang=en    If you'd like to see more content from us, please like and subscribe.  Follow The Writing Room on Facebook to keep up to date with further episodes and to join our community conversations: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100075761215734 

The Writing Room is a space for authors to exchange positive ideas, professional advice and motivation. In this series, you'll find interviews with authors, publishing professionals and wider industry contacts about writing and publishing.   In this episode, we spoke to Phoebe Morgan, an Editorial Director at HarperCollins, working on crime, thrillers, women’s fiction and saga. She is also the author of four thriller novels.  In this conversation, Phoebe tells us what an editor is looking for, best practice for when submitting, and so much more!  You can find more about Phoebe and her work on her website: https://phoebemorganauthor.com/ You can also follow Phoebe on social media: Twitter: www.Twitter.com/Phoebe_A_Morgan  Instagram: www.Instagram.com/phoebeannmorgan   If you'd like to see more content from us, please like and subscribe.   Follow The Writing Room on Facebook to keep up to date with further episodes and to join our community conversations: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100075761215734

The Writing Room is a space for authors to exchange positive ideas, professional advice and motivation.    In this series, you’ll find interviews with authors, publishing professionals and wider industry contacts about writing and publishing.     In this episode, we did a quick-fire Q&A session with Awais Khan about his publication journey, the querying process and his top advice for other authors. Awais Khan is the author of the critically acclaimed 'In the Company of Strangers' and 'No Honour'.   If you’d like to see more content from us, please like and subscribe.     Follow The Writing Room on Facebook to keep up to date with further episodes and to join our community conversations:  https://www.facebook.com/The-Writing-Room-106581911788979

The Writing Room is a space for authors to exchange positive ideas, professional advice and motivation.  In this series, you’ll find interviews with authors, publishing professionals and wider industry contacts about writing and publishing. In this episode, we did a quick-fire Q&A session with Ellie Pilcher about her publication journey, writing process and top advice for other authors. Ellie is a writer based in London and works as a Marketing Manager in the publishing industry. She is also a journalist, blogger and public speaker. Her debut novel, What Planet Can I Blame This On?, was published last summer. If you’d like to see more content from us, please like and subscribe.     Follow The Writing Room on Facebook to keep up to date with further episodes and to join our community conversations: https://www.facebook.com/The-Writing-Room-106581911788979

The Writing Room is a space for authors to exchange positive ideas, professional advice and motivation. In this series, you’ll find interviews with authors, publishing professionals and wider industry contacts about writing and publishing.  For our first episode, we spoke to million-copy selling author Imogen Clark. Imogen writes contemporary fiction about families and secrets. Her books have topped the Amazon kindle chart eight times and Where the Story Starts was shortlisted in the UK for Contemporary Romantic Novel of the year 2020.   Imogen initially qualified as a lawyer but after leaving her legal career behind to care for her four children, she returned to her first love – books. She went back to university, studying English Literature part-time whilst the children were at school. It was a short step from there to writing novels. Imogen’s great love is travel and she is always planning her next adventure. She lives in Yorkshire with her husband and children.    If you’d like to see more content from us, please like and subscribe.     Follow The Writing Room on Facebook to keep up to date with further episodes and to join our community conversations.