196: Carolyn Clarke - Author of And Then There's Margaret

This week’s podcast features Carolyn Clarke (And Then There’s Margaret, Black Rose Writing, July 2022). As the founder and resident guru of HenLit Central, Carolyn had a wealth of knowledge and contacts to draw from when she made the leap to novelist. Her idea to write a coming-of-middle-age story morphed into this light-hearted but ultimately touching tale of the challenges when your life includes not only the man you love, but his mother as well. We discuss working with a small press, the value of Kindle Unlimited and BookBub, and how entering your book in writing contests help with both discoverability and legitimacy for a debut author. Carolyn Clarke is the founder and curator of HenLit Central, a blog focused on ‘life and lit’ for women over 40. And Then There’s Margaret is her first novel. She has been an ESL teacher for over sixteen years and has co-authored several articles and resources with Cambridge University Press, MacMillan Education and her award-winning blog ESL Made Easy. She lives in Toronto, Canada with her partner, Tony, her two daughters and a bulldog, Sophie.           To learn more about Carolyn, click here.                                                                                                                   

Om Podcasten

If you’re an aspiring author and want insights into what’s involved in launching a book into the world, this is the podcast for you. Maggie Smith, author and blogger, interviews debut novelists from the Women’s Fiction Writers Association discussing not only the inspiration behind their book, but also their insights into the writing process, the best advice they ever got, and the joys and sometimes pitfalls they encountered on their path to publication.