Episode 7

Sarra Manning on writing romantic fiction

Published on: 26th March, 2025

Sarra Manning is the author of 8 adult novels, over 15 YA novels. She began her career on teen magazines and has been writing about love and sex ever since. Sarra talks about being a 'word count slut', writing books fast, how what she learned on magazines helps her pitch novels and the secret to writing about sex successfully.

Sarra is also the literary editor of Red magazine and is my go to person for book reccos - this episode is chock full of amazing books!!

The Last Days of Summer is out March 27th

This series of the podcast is sponsored by award winning audio book app xigxag

Listeners of Not Too Busy To Write can receive their second book FREE

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Go to My xigxag/Settings, then click on Account. 

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After your first purchase, your second title will be free!

You can listen to The Last Days of Summer on xigxag :)

Links

The Last Days of Summer - Sarra Manning

London, With Love - Sarra Manning

Rachel's Holiday - Marian Keyes

A Sky Painted Gold - Laura Wood

Romantic Comedy - Curtis Sittenfeld

The Wedding People - Alison Espach

Maeve Kerrigan Series - Jane Casey

Deep Cuts - Holly Brickley

The Eights - Joanna Miller


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About the Podcast

Not Too Busy To Write
Writing amongst life's many other demands
Penny Wincer is not too busy to write. Except of course, sometimes she is too busy to write as much as she would like. Join Penny as she has conversations with other writers about writing, publishing and creativity whilst juggling all the demands on them such as motherhood, caring and other paid work.

Penny Wincer is the author of two narrative non-fiction books, Tender and Home Matters and a non-fiction writing coach. She's an Australian and long-term resident of London, a mother of two teenagers, an unpaid carer and always attempting to get just a little more writing done.

About your host

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Penny Wincer

Penny Wincer is the author of Tender: The Imperfect Art of Caring (Hodder, June 2020) and is a single parent to two kids, one of whom is disabled. She is also a non-fiction book coach and an Australian and long-term resident of London. She’s currently writing her second non-fiction book and working her first novel.