Emer McLysaght and Sarah Breen join Kate and Michelle to talk about their latest novel, Our Deadly Summer, a darkly funny thriller following two best friends who spend a summer at a Long Island country club in the early 2000's, witness something they should never have seen, and spend the next twenty years trying to forget it.

The duo share how their own J1 experiences and the reckless freedom of life before smartphones shaped the book, why they deliberately set it in a pre-tracking, pre-social media world and what it felt like to take their writing in a new direction while holding onto the warmth and female friendship that has always defined their work.

They also open up about how their co-writing process actually works, from flipping a coin to decide who writes the dreaded first chapter, to editing each other's work so thoroughly that they often forget who wrote what, to the discipline required to keep moving when a deadline is closing in.

A warm, funny and refreshingly candid conversation about creative partnership, nostalgia, female friendship and what it really takes to keep writing.

Key takeaways for writers:

• Starting is always the hardest part.
• Co-writing demands that you let go of being precious about your own words, the book matters more than who wrote which line.
• Writing simultaneously rather than waiting for the other person to finish keeps momentum going and beats procrastination.
• Dual timelines and shifting perspectives are exciting but difficult. Expect to rewrite yourself into corners and out of them again.

Natter is proudly brought to you in association with Bookstation Ireland & IrishCentral.

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Caroline Foran joins Kate and Michelle to discuss her new book, Everything I Wish I'd Known About Anxiety, a practical roadmap for anyone who has ever felt frightened by their own mind and desperate for a way through.

Caroline shares the story behind the book, why she designed it as a sequential road map rather than a menu of options and why she is more confident about this book than anything she has written before. She explains why anxiety is not something to be cured but overcome and what that distinction actually means in practice.

She also unpacks two of the book's most illuminating ideas: why morning anxiety is so much more intense than most people expect, and the very real neurological reason for it, and why scrolling through social media is one of the worst things an anxious nervous system can do, even when it feels like a way to relax.

Caroline opens up about her own journey from being physically crippled by anxiety in her twenties, to the extraordinary role her mother played in pulling her through, challenges of parenting and what that has required her to unlearn about parenting.

A warm and deeply honest conversation about anxiety, self-compassion, the nervous system and what it really means to get your life back.

Key takeaways for anyone living with anxiety:

• Anxiety is not a flaw or a failing. It is a nervous system response that can be meaningfully overcome.
• The foundational work matters. Skipping to the fix without laying the groundwork is why so many people go backwards.
• Morning cortisol is biological, not personal. Moving your body is an effective response.
• Social media is a slot machine for your nervous system. Even knowing that, stepping back is hard but the difference is immediate.
• Self-compassion is not a platitude. Meeting yourself where you are is the only real starting point.

Natter is proudly brought to you in association with Bookstation Ireland & IrishCentral.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Louise O'Neill joins Kate and Michelle to discuss her new novel, Whatever Happened to Madeline Stone?, a story of twin sisters, a Hollywood casting that changes everything and the discovery of a storage unit twenty years later that forces Chelsea to ask whether she ever really knew her sister at all.

Louise unpacks how the Paris Hilton storage unit scandal influenced parts of the book, why she set it against the Y2K celebrity era, and what it meant to write about two women on opposite sides of a system that rewards compliance and punishes those who refuse to play along. She also reflects on the very real parallels between that era and what young women are navigating today.

She opens up honestly about handling the publicity of promoting new books, the tension between wanting your book to reach readers and balancing your energy levels during promotions and why being good at something doesn't always mean you enjoy it. Louise also talks about writing her memoir, due out in September.

A rich, wide-ranging conversation about sisterhood, navigating writing multiple books and holding onto hope when the world keeps giving you reasons not to.

Key takeaways for writers:

• Being good at publicity and enjoying it are two very different things, knowing the difference matters.
• Writing nonfiction requires finding a voice that is distinct from your fiction voice, even when it is your own.
• The most powerful character dynamics often come from showing two sides of the same experience.
• Holding onto hope is not naive, for writers exploring dark themes, it is essential.

Natter is proudly brought to you in association with Bookstation Ireland & IrishCentral.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.