Welcome to Kelly's Writerly Q&A, a podcast that celebrates authors and their books! I'm your host, Kelly Sgroi, writer, reader, and soccer mum.

Listen to my 24th episode where I chat to Jo Dixon, best-selling Tasmanian-based author of twisty, suspenseful stories, such as your multi-award-winning debut, The House of Now and Then, and her latest, A Disappearing Act, which came out in October 2025.

We discuss:

• How Jo refers to this book as the one that nearly broke her
• Imposter syndrome
• Pitching
• How to write multi POV and dual timeline stories

And more!

Thank you for listening!

*If you enjoy this podcast, please like, share, follow, or consider buying me a Ko-fi. Your support, big or small, will help cover hosting and production costs, and keep me creating and supporting authors and books!

Music credit to Levgen Poltavskyi from Pixabay.

Welcome to Pictures & Pages with Amy Freund, a Kelly's Writerly Q&A Podcast spin-off series that takes you behind the scenes of the Australian publishing industry!

Listen to Amy's 1st episode where she chats to Andy Warren, the award-winning book designer of The Bookbinder of Jericho by Pip Williams and Affirm Press and many more books published by Hardie Grant Books, Bonnier Publishing Australia, Five Mile, and Harper Collins Australia. He's the designer behind so many books for all ages across a wide range of genres.

This episode is all about:

• How a book actually gets made.
• How much say an author really has in their book design.
• If we should we judge a book by it's cover.

Thank you for listening!

FROM THE ARCHIVES 🎙️ Welcome to Kelly's Writerly Q&A, a monthly blog series that is now a podcast!

Listen to my 23rd episode where I chat to Donna M Cameron, an AWGIE-nominated radio dramatist, award-winning playwright and short film writer. Her first novel, Beneath the Mother Tree, was published in 2018. Her second novel, The Rewilding, was published in 2024 and was shortlisted in the 25th Sisters in Crime Davitt Awards. An important read!

Then I take a look back on some key tips on courses and comps, rejection, and writing and feedback from Amy Freund, R.W.R. McDonald, Deb Jordan, Casey Nott, Emma Mugglestone, Camille Booker, Clare Griffin, Kylie Orr, Shaeden Berry, and Valerie G Miller.

Thank you for listening!

*If you enjoy this podcast, please consider buying me a Ko-fi. Your support, big or small, will help cover hosting and production costs, and keep me creating and supporting authors and books!

Music credit to Levgen Poltavskyi from Pixabay

FROM THE ARCHIVES 🎙️ Welcome to Kelly's Writerly Q&A, a monthly blog series that is now a podcast!

Listen to my 22nd episode where I chat to Kim Ulrick, supernatural writer inspired by life growing up in the courntry and working with law enforcement and national agencies. Her debut novel, Bad Country will appeal to fans of Picnic At Hanging Rock.

We discuss:

• POV
• Kim's writing process
• How it feels to get an agent and not be able to land a big five publishing deal
• Kim's next book
• What has influenced Kim's writing the most

Thank you for listening!

*If you enjoy this podcast, please consider buying me a Ko-fi. Your support, big or small, will help cover hosting and production costs, and keep me creating and supporting authors and books!

Music credit to Levgen Poltavskyi from Pixabay

FROM THE ARCHIVES 🎙 Welcome to Kelly's Writerly Q&A, a monthly blog series that is now a podcast!

Listen to my 21st episode where I chat to Liz Foster, women's fiction author of The Good Woman's Guide to Making Better Choices.

We discuss:

• What it's like to have a book come out in December
• How Liz manages to get words down while she's at work
• POV
• The Australian Writers Centre courses

Thank you for listening!

*If you enjoy this podcast, please consider buying me a Ko-fi. Your support, big or small, will help cover hosting and production costs, and keep me creating and supporting authors and books!

Music credit to Levgen Poltavskyi from Pixabay

Welcome to Kelly's Writerly Q&A, a monthly podcast!

Listen to my 20th episode where I chat to Emma Mugglestone, contemporary romance author of In The Long Run. A fake dating rom com that will make you hungry to excercise and then have you eating a crossiant afterwards.

We discuss:

• Signing with Penguin!
• How this book is making readers hungry.
• What's the book about?
• The opening scene that drew me in immediately!
• All the layers and charcter details that make this book shine.
• Emma's amazing publication story!
• Pressure and how Emma managed to write this book after it was sold.
• Emma's first yes
• Books that have inspired us
• Rejection
• The importance of entering writing comps
• Writerly merch
• And what's next for Emma

Thank you for listening!

Want to be a guest on Kelly's Writerly Q&A or Pictures and Pages with Amy Freund in 2026? Fill out an EOI

*If you enjoy this podcast, please consider buying me a Ko-fi. Your support, big or small, will help cover hosting and production costs, and keep me creating and supporting authors and books!

Music credit to Levgen Poltavskyi from Pixabay

Welcome to Kelly's Writerly Q&A, a monthly blog series that is now a podcast!

Listen to my 19th episode where I chat to Clare Griffin, historical fiction author and the fabulous host of her Instagram Live Sunday Sessions. These author interviews are full of bookish insight and warm conversation!

We discuss:

• What Clare is currently writing
• Rejection
• How Clare started interviewing authors
• What technical difficulties we encounter recording interviews
• How we find guests
• What we have learned by interviewing authors
• Our advice for aspiring author interviewers
• Whether we memorise our intros or not
• Whether we send our questions in advance or not
• Whether Clare is considering turning her Sunday Sessions into a podcast
• And we finish with 8 book recs for you to add to your Christmas list!

Thank you for listening!

*If you enjoy this podcast, please consider buying me a Ko-fi. Your support, big or small, will help cover hosting and production costs, and keep me creating and supporting authors and books!

Music credit to Levgen Poltavskyi from Pixabay

FROM THE ARCHIVES 🎙 Welcome to Kelly's Writerly Q&A, a monthly blog series that is now a podcast!

Listen to my 18th episode where I chat to Valerie G Miller, historical fiction author of There's Something About You, Olivia Bennet. This book will appeal to fans of Natasha Lester.

We discuss:

• The high-quality of self-published books
• Hearing positive feedback
• Valerie's 3 tips for receiving feedback
• Editing
• What it's like to write a column for the RWA!

Thank you for listening!

*If you enjoy this podcast, please consider buying me a Ko-fi. Your support, big or small, will help cover hosting and production costs, and keep me creating and supporting authors and books!

Music credit to Levgen Poltavskyi from Pixabay