The Book Whisperers

Not My Finest Hour - Old Tits and Tupperware

Mary Turner Thomson, Sue Cohen and Lea Taylor — Tue, 22 Feb 2022 20:25:00 +0000

The Book Whisperers discuss the benefits and pitfalls of Tupperware and throw in the odd tit in the process. There may be a few writing tips, and certainly a performance of comedy poetry etc, and indubitably a lot of giggles from all quarters.

Not My Finest Hour - Mince Pies In The Cakehole

Mary Turner Thomson, Sue Cohen and Lea Taylor — Sat, 18 Dec 2021 16:05:00 +0000

The Book Whisperers are BACK with a Christmas special to launch our new series of podcasts, called 'Not My Finest Hour'. This month we are talking to Santa himself and trying to work out what means naughty, and what means nice. Funny, inspiring and festive - we look forward to you joining us!

Inspiration and Reconnecting

Mary Turner Thomson, Sue Cohen and Lea Taylor — Mon, 15 Mar 2021 11:06:22 +0000

With the first podcast of 2021 - Susan, Mary and Lea got together with Tom Rannachan - life coach, personal trainer and all around good egg - talking about how to change our lives and get more of what we want in life, We all need to make the best of any situation that we can. A lovely dose of mind/body/spirit balance to help get into the right mindset for the year ahead. Tom is the author of several books including 'Big Tam's Kilted Wurkoots', published by The Wee Book Company, as well as various other books such as: 'A Haunted History Walk: Edinburgh Old Town' and 'The Language of the Afterlife'. https://www.theweebookcompany.com/wee-book-shop/big-tams-kilted-wurkoots/?Page_ID=3610&refpid=76004&id=767957

Writing as Therapy

Mary Turner Thomson, Sue Cohen and Lea Taylor — Mon, 30 Nov 2020 00:00:00 +0000

# Writing as Therapy Reading and writing have been proven to have immense therapeutic properties. Until we started talking about it we didn't realise how much this had come into our lives. Each of us have used writing as a therapy without our own lives as well as running courses with children and adults on writing themselves out of a crisis or using writing to promote self-esteem and self-confidence. We hope you enjoy listening to our bookish antics as much as we enjoyed making it.

Gifting Books

Mary Turner Thomson, Sue Cohen and Lea Taylor — Sun, 22 Nov 2020 00:00:00 +0000

What makes a good gift book and how can you make a book more giftable? With Christmas coming around the corner The Book Whisperers discuss giving and receiving books, as well as creating products in the gift book market. Lots of hints and tips with regards to adding value to your existing book, and thinking about additional books you can write.

Making Time to Write

Mary Turner Thomson, Sue Cohen and Lea Taylor — Tue, 17 Nov 2020 10:38:57 +0000

Being writers we are very creative people - which can be a challenge when it comes to the more practical side of our work - and specifically time management. How easy is it to stop multi-tasking and focus on what is important, to prioritise and schedule in work when all you want to do is sit down in a quiet corner and pen some stories. We all have a finite amount of energy to give towards the things we do, so how do we get the best out of the time we have? With whisperings, questions, and shared writing.

Writing Tips - Show don't Tell

Mary Turner Thomson, Sue Cohen and Lea Taylor — Tue, 10 Nov 2020 10:24:00 +0000

*Showing and not Telling - a golden rule of writing. * This week the Whisperers are talking about writing tips using body language to show your reader how the characters are developing throughout the story. It allows the reader to judge for themselves what is going on and allows them to feel more part of the journey. It is therefore a style of writing that is more immersive for the reader allowing them to 'be in the room' with the characters. Chekhow said "Don't tell me the moon is shining. Show me the glint of light on broken glass." For example 'telling' might be: "Susan was frightened." Whereas 'showing' might be: "Susan tensed as she huddled under the covers. She gripped the sheets and held her breath as Lea read out the horror story she had just written." Thanks for listening to The Book Whisperers. If you are enjoying it and want to buy any of us a coffee, you can do so by visiting www.buymeacoffee.com/BookWhisperers

Writing Horror

Mary Turner Thomson, Sue Cohen and Lea Taylor — Mon, 02 Nov 2020 14:20:37 +0000

This week being around Halloween, we are talking about horror writing and frightening stories. Joining us is Mary's daughter, Robyn, who has an extensive knowledge of horror books, art and films, as well as customising dolls as horror victims. We hope you enjoy listening to our bookish antics as much as we enjoyed making it. Thanks for listening to The Book Whisperers. If you are enjoying it and want to buy any of us a coffee, you can do so by visiting www.buymeacoffee.com/BookWhisperers

Writing across Genre

Mary Turner Thomson, Sue Cohen and Lea Taylor — Wed, 21 Oct 2020 23:00:00 +0000

# Refresh your writing through crossing genres This episode is NOT FOR KIDS! This week we are talking about mixing it up to refresh your writing and switching genres to try something new. Each of us given the task to write something in two completely new genres. Comic erotica (not for kids), horror pantomime, and alien memoir. We hope you enjoy listening to our bookish antics as much as we enjoyed making it. Thanks for listening to The Book Whisperers. If you are enjoying it and want to buy any of us a coffee, you can do so by visiting www.buymeacoffee.com/BookWhisperers

Writing for an Audience

Mary Turner Thomson, Sue Cohen and Lea Taylor — Sun, 18 Oct 2020 11:42:08 +0000

This week's podcast is our first done remotely after hours (several) of set up with Hamish, our sound expert, who has the patience of a saint! Our topic today is writing for an audience - both what we see our existing audience as at the moment, and knowing who they are, to writing for different audiences and whether you should change your writing to be commercially successful. We have produced pieces of work for audiences that we don't usually write for (with hysterical consequences). We are also talking about doing our shopping as fairies! If you ever need help with your audio book, or recording sound for anything, Hamish Campbell from Sound Sound is thoroughly recommended by all three of us. www.https://www.soundsound.co.uk/

Performance Tips for Writers

Mary Turner Thomson, Sue Cohen and Lea Taylor — Wed, 07 Oct 2020 23:11:21 +0000

# PERFORMANCE TIPS Sue, Mary and Lea having a chat about all things books - this weeks theme is performance. As authors we are all asked to read out our work, to speak in public, or to perform in interviews and podcasts. Knowing how to perform is important. Mary and Sue will be interviewing our very own Book Whisperer Lea Taylor, author, speaker and storyteller extraordinaire! We will answering your blind questions from our audience and also reading out some of our own work as well as getting feedback from Lea . Do keep providing us with those blind questions (either in comments or via our Facebook page) as it is a wonderful way of sparking our conversations and we want to discuss the subjects what you want to hear!

Writing in Collaboration

Mary Turner Thomson, Sue Cohen and Lea Taylor — Thu, 01 Oct 2020 22:22:52 +0000

# COLLABORATION Lea, Mary and Sue having a chat about all things books - this weeks theme is collaboration. As authors we usually work on our own in remote offices creating worlds and characters from a blank screen - but often it is worth raising our heads and working with others to push your creativity in new directions. We will be interviewing our very own Book Whisperer Andrew, urban bee keeper, and author of 'The Wee Book of Bees' due out later this year - published by The Wee Book Company)! We will answering your blind questions from our audience and also reading out some of our own work as well. Do keep providing us with those blind questions (either in comments or via our Facebook page) as it is a wonderful way of sparking our conversations and we want to discuss the subjects what you want to hear!

Writing Outside your Comfort Zone

Mary Turner Thomson, Sue Cohen and Lea Taylor — Thu, 24 Sep 2020 17:00:00 +0000

# WRITING OUTSIDE YOUR COMFORT ZONE Mary, Sue and Lea having a chat about all things books - this weeks theme is writing outside your comfort zone - including an interview with our very own Book Whisperer Ewan Irvine, author, speaker and sell-out fringe performer (his new show 'Tales from the City Below' is in preparation now). Many stories that will take you out of your comfort zone. Also reading out some of our own work as well as blind questions from our audience. Do keep providing us with those blind questions (either in comments or via our Facebook page) as it is a wonderful way of sparking our conversations and we want to discuss the subjects what you want to hear!

Writing in Your Comfort Zone

Mary Turner Thomson, Sue Cohen and Lea Taylor — Thu, 17 Sep 2020 17:02:00 +0000

# WRITING IN YOUR COMFORT ZONE Mary, Sue and Lea having a chat about all things books - this weeks theme is writing within your comfort zone - including an interview with our very own Book Whisperer Samantha Cochrane, who is not only author of 'Charm Offensive'(under the psuedonym Gwen Gates Parker) a psychological thriller as well as a number of children's books! Also reading out some of our own work as well as blind questions from our audience. Do keep providing us with those blind questions (either in comments or via our Facebook page) as it is a wonderful way of sparking our conversations and we want to discuss the subjects what you want to hear!

A Fascination with History

Mary Turner Thomson, Sue Cohen and Lea Taylor — Fri, 11 Sep 2020 12:24:00 +0000

# A Fascination with History Mary, Sue and Lea having a chat about all things books - this weeks theme is talking about history - including an interview with our very own Book Whisperer Malcolm Scott Milne who is a history buff and doing historic walking tours providing his audience with the fascinating stories of old Edinburgh. Also reading out some of our own work as well as blind questions from our audience. Do keep providing us with those blind questions (either in comments or via our Facebook page) as it is a wonderful way of sparking our conversations and we want to discuss the subjects what you want to hear!

Music and Writing

Mary Turner Thomson, Sue Cohen and Lea Taylor — Thu, 03 Sep 2020 14:41:00 +0000

# The 80s Pop Star Three authors - Susan Cohen, Lea Taylor and Mary Turner Thomson - who started The Book Whisperers (a community group of people in order to write during lockdown) come togerher for episode two of their new podcast. Join them as they talk about all things books and inspire people to write and have the confidence to publish their stories. This week they are talking about music and song lyrics that inspire as well as some more unusual questions for us to answer about writing and publishing. Keep an ear out as well because one of the Whisperers was also an 80s pop star! www.TheBookWhisperers.com

Who Are WE?

Mary Turner Thomson, Sue Cohen and Lea Taylor — Thu, 27 Aug 2020 22:17:00 +0000

# How exciting - our first podcast! We are three authors ... **Mary Turner Thomson** (author of ***The Bigamist*** and soon to be published ***The Psychopath***), **Susan Cohen** (author of numerous books including ***The Wee Book O' Grannies Saying's***) and **Lea Taylor** (author of ***Animals, Beasties, and Monsters of Scotland*** and ***Midlothian Folk Tales***) ... and together we formed 'The Book Whisperers' in March 2020. It all started over a coffee and a rather excellent roll with sausage at Dobbies Garden Centre in Edinburgh, Scotland. We could all see the writing on the wall (excuse the pun) and the looming lockdown caused by the global pandemic and the question arose, 'What could WE do to help'. We are not nurses or doctors, or even shop workers or delivery people, not frontline workers of any kind. Then we had an idea. People were going to be locked in their houses potentially for months on end and the one thing we COULD do is give them something to do. We could do a free six week online writing course! The idea grew and grew, we put feelers out and our Facebook community grew rapidly as people jumped onto the idea. For 18 weeks we went live on Facebook every Monday night talking about fiction, storytelling, creative challenges and memoir writing. Finally we decided that we still had SO much more to say and so this podcast was born. In this first episode we interview one of our Whisperers - **Liza Miles** - who has used the time in lockdown to complete and publish her first book ***'Love Bites'*** - a fabulous series of short stories about love ending. We hope you enjoy listening to our bookish antics as much as we enjoyed making it.

Book Whisperers trailer

Mary Turner Thomson, Sue Cohen and Lea Taylor — Thu, 27 Aug 2020 21:58:00 +0000