The Joy of Writing
Your host is Mark Carew, author of three novels: Magnus, The Book of Alexander, and Beyond The North Wind.
Season 1 of the podcase ran from April 2020 to July 2021 and featured:
1) In-depth conversations with fellow writers about their novels
2) Discussions of the nitty-gritty of writing
3) Advice for new and aspiring writers - as in how to write a novel (my most popular episodes)
Season 2 began in December 2025 and will feature a chapter-by-chapter narration by me of my first novel Beyond The North Wind (self-published)
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Podcasts: at your podcast provider or on Podchaser
Novels: on Goodreads or Amazon
Video book trailers for my three novels are at: https://www.youtube.com/@MarkCarewAuthor
Episodes
46 episodes
S2E13 Beyond The North Wind Chapter 13
Anna talks to Tomas, a journalist she meets in the hiker's hut. Tomas tells her about the people who meet at a villa at Uektefjord.
S2E12 Beyond The North Wind Chapter 12
Emil is planning the anniversary dinner surprise in the ice cathedral.
S2E11 Beyond The North Wind Chapter 11
Anna leaves on her trek which takes her across country, reminisces about Emil in a place special to them, and reaches a hiking hut.
S2E10 Beyond The North Wind Chapter 10
The first chapter from Emil's point of view prior to his disappearance.
S2E9 Beyond The North Wind Chapter 9
Anna leaves on her search to find Emil or what happened to him. She milks her goats at the summer farm and asks Siegfried to take care of them.
S2E8 Beyond The North Wind Chapter 8
Anna buries her dead dog Gunnar. She travels to one last address in Oslo to look for Emil but returns empty handed. Birgit, her sister, tells her about how the melting glacier is releasing objects and bodies from the ice. Anna...
S2E7 Beyond The North Wind Chapter 7
Alexander leaves Sigrid and Siv and takes up the offer to record life in Berkeley's villa.
S2E6 Beyond The North Wind Chapter 6
Anna goes for a last walk with her dog, Gunnar.
S2E5 Beyond The North Wind Chapter 5
Alexander presents himself to Sigrid as Svein, her dead son.
S2E4 Beyond The North Wind Chapter 4
Anna is visited at her summer farm by her friend Fridtjof. He tells her that it has been three years since Emil went missing and that it is time for her to let go and move on.
S2E3 Beyond The North Wind Chapter 3
Alexander embarks on an audacious plan to win Sigrid's trust.
S2E2 Beyond The North Wind Chapter 2
Anna, Emil's wife, finally opens Emil's will, three years after his disappearance.
S2E1 Beyond The North Wind Chapter 1
Beyond The North Wind was the first novel I wrote and was published on Amazon. I thought it would be fun to narrate and serialise the novel, chapter by chapter.Here is the first chapter. Alexander, a young Englishman...
Episode 33: Sally O'Reilly, creative writing lecturer, on how to write a book
Excellent advice, from a senior lecturer in creative writing at the Open University, on all stages of writing a novel. How to start, keep going, and produce a draft ready for submission to an agent.
Episode 32: Sally O'Reilly on the natural history of a writing career
What can a writer expect from a "writing career"? Ups and downs, highs and lows, of course! With experience comes wisdom. Learning about writing, books, readers, and the publishing industry never stops.
Episode 31: Dark Aemilia by Sally O'Reilly
My guest is Sally O'Reilly, author of Dark Aemilia, published by Myriad in 2014. Aemilia Lanyer meets William Shakespeare in the time of the plague, witchcraft, and a dying Queen Elizabeth, in this vividly imagined novel, rich in histori...
Episode 30: Fiona Melrose on how to write a book
We discuss several topics in this episode. How the act and art of writing books is central to Fiona's life. How her intuitive approach to writing translates into advice for her creative writing students. And how receiving fanc...
Episode 29: Fiona Melrose on Midwinter
My guest is Fiona Melrose, author of Midwinter, published by Corsair in 2016. We discuss the book, its themes of coming to terms with grief and a fractured family, and how living in Suffolk informed the story.Publisher:
Episode 28: All about NaNoWriMo and why you should give it a go, with Elizabeth Haynes
Elizabeth Haynes is a best selling crime author - seven of her published novels started life in National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo), a community-supported writing event where writers try and write a novel of 50,000 words in the month of No...
Episode 27: Online book launches and the impact of Covid-19 on the creative spark, with Tyler Keevil
Covid-19 has forced book launches, readings and festivals online to give a different experience for authors interacting with an audience. The current situation, however, has not always been so kind on the creative process, and has dampene...
Episode 26: Tyler Keevil on how to write a book
We discuss the creative writing courses Tyler teaches on, and how visiting authors are generous with their time and advice to students. Tyler's inspirational book is The Collector of Hearts: New Tales of the Grotesque, by Joyce Carol Oates....
Episode 25: Your Still Beating Heart, by Tyler Keevil
My guest is Tyler Keevil, author of Your Still Beating Heart, to be published on 10 September, 2020. We discuss the book, its themes, and its compelling narrative voice.Publisher:
Episode 24: Lizzie Enfield on success, and an influential book and author (Charles Dickens' Great Expectations)
What is success to writers? Getting published? Making money? Fame? Lizzie and I discuss what counts as success and what writers might like to realistically aim for.
Episode 23: Publicising and marketing Finish Your Book, and writing the next one, with Lizzie Enfield
All writers need at least some skills as publicist and marketeer of their own work. We learn from Lizzie what it means to take on these roles in support of her book. We also hear how she is getting on with book number 7.
Episode 22: Lizzie Enfield on how to write a book
My guest is Lizzie Enfield, author of Finish Your Book: Complete Your Half-Written Novel. Published (Amazon) in July 2019. We discuss the book, and talk about advice to writers who would like to beat the block and finish their work....