Ambition is a tricky subject for Australians - our Tall Poppy Syndrome is alive and well, and when you combine that with lingering Cultural Cringe, for an Australian writer to say they have ambitions/that they are ambitious can be seen as cringey in and of itself. Well, we decided that it’s too bad if anyone sees us as cringey - or, rather, we don’t care, because we do have ambition and we wanted to talk about it. Partly because we hope that by naming it, by talking about it, other writers (espe...
Sep 07, 2024•46 min•Season 2Ep. 1
When we recorded our first episode of our podcast, Dear Rach & Soph , earlier this year, we talked about her then-new novel The Other Bridget . So even though we've wrapped the first season, Rachael suggested we do an episode devoted to Sophie's new novel, Art Hour at the Duchess Hotel . So this is a bonus episode of the podcast - or a bridging episode, if you will, since we have already started recording season two! We have so appreciated the feedback from listeners, including telling us th...
Aug 17, 2024•52 min•Season 1Ep. 18
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 El...
Jun 15, 2024•1 hr 3 min•Season 1Ep. 17
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...
Jun 09, 2024•52 min•Season 1Ep. 16
**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...
Jun 01, 2024•1 hr 3 min•Season 1Ep. 15
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 w...
May 25, 2024•1 hr 3 min•Season 1Ep. 14
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 ...
May 18, 2024•1 hr 12 min•Season 1Ep. 13
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 R...
May 12, 2024•54 min•Season 1Ep. 12
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 befo...
May 04, 2024•1 hr 1 min•Season 1Ep. 11
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.com For more about Racha...
Apr 28, 2024•55 min•Season 1Ep. 10
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 adul...
Apr 20, 2024•1 hr 12 min•Season 1Ep. 9
The editorial process is something every published author goes through but which time and repetition tends not to ameliorate … alas! In this episode bestselling novelists Rachael Johns and Sophie Green talk about the different stages of the editorial process, both the ones we go through before turning in a manuscript and what happens as a manuscript is turned into a book. Hopefully it’s interesting for writers who haven’t experienced it yet and for published authors it may be cathartic to listen...
Apr 13, 2024•1 hr•Season 1Ep. 8
When Soph met author Amanda Knight at an event in Sydney for Rach's THE OTHER BRIDGET they chatted about the podcast that Rach and Soph had already started recording, and Soph mentioned that we would love to have questions from listeners. Amanda said that there was a subject she’d be interested in talking about: imposter syndrome. So the three of us did talk about it, at length, on episode 7 of the podcast and even if you don’t have imposter syndrome (although don’t we all at some stage?) we hop...
Apr 07, 2024•1 hr 19 min•Season 1Ep. 7
We're up to episode 6! How did that happen? In this episode Rach and Soph talk about their writing processes; whether they follow rules when they write; what happens in head hopping, Rach's panic about her new manuscript and how Soph has inadvertently become her writing therapist. During the episode Soph mentions Gretchen Rubin's Four Tendencies quiz and you can find that here . Writers - do you have a challenge or conundrum, or a question about process, how to get started, or anything at all to...
Mar 30, 2024•57 min•Season 1Ep. 6
In this week's episode bestselling novelists Rachael Johns and Sophie Green answer another listener question, about whether they read other people's books while writing (spoiler alert: they do).They also catch up on what they've been working on since the last episode, talk about whether or not they show their works in progress to anyone, and the fact that they have listener reviews. For more about Rachael Johns: https://www.rachaeljohns.com Rachael's latest book is The Other Bridget For more abo...
Mar 23, 2024•59 min•Season 1Ep. 5
In the fourth episode of Dear Rach & Soph, Rachael Johns and Sophie Green answer some listener questions about motivation and getting unstuck. And in the course of doing so Sophie talks about the importance of dancing and there is mention of possibly-maybe posting a playlist. That playlist can be found on Spotify and YouTube . The track listing is: ‘Nataraja’- The Dum Dum Project ‘Im Ninalou’ - Cheb i Sabbah ‘Into the Groove’ - Madonna ‘Dig’ - Fanny Lumsden ‘Abalele’ - Kabza De Small, DJ Map...
Mar 16, 2024•45 min•Season 1Ep. 4
In the third episode of Dear Rach & Soph, Rachael Johns and I talk about her recent book tour for her latest novel, The Other Bridget; my copy edit for my next novel, Art Hour at the Duchess Hotel, and the big question for the episode: why we write. You can watch the YouTube version of the podcast below, or find us on your favourite podcast platforms (some links below). We recorded this episode on the day our first episode was released, so we didn't yet have listener questions - we have sinc...
Mar 09, 2024•50 min•Season 1Ep. 3
When bestselling authors Rachael Johns and Sophie Green met in person for the first time - in Sydney, early in February - they discovered that they have something quite unusual in common. Something which, on the face of it, doesn’t seem to have anything to do with their writing … or perhaps it does. *** This podcast is called ‘Dear Rach & Soph’ for a reason - YOU! We would love to answer your questions. Writers - do you have a challenge or conundrum, or a question about process, how to get s...
Mar 02, 2024•56 min•Season 1Ep. 2
For this first episode Rach and Soph talk about The Other Bridget , Rach's latest novel, published in 2024. And they talk about a few other things too, including how they first met, the novels of Curtis Sittenfeld and eating disorders. But it’s called ‘Dear Rach & Soph’ for a reason - YOU! We would love to answer your questions. 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 ...
Feb 25, 2024•56 min•Season 1Ep. 1
