Gytha Lodge on her 22 year journey to becoming a best selling author - a podcast by Steve Whiteley

In this conversation I chat to author/playwright/screenwriter Gytha Lodge (https://twitter.com/thegyth).

Gytha set up her own theatre company after graduating from Cambridge with a degree in English and began to tour productions. Her one-act play Otherwise won a Fringe award in 2010 for best new play. After beginning the UEA Creative Writing MA in 2011, Gytha began writing for screen and in prose. She was shortlisted for the Yeovil Literary Prize and the Arts' Council England fiction awards, and developed a large online following for her young adult and children's writing, culminating in close to two million reads on platform Wattpad. Her first novel She Lies in Wait was published in March 2019, it is a Sunday Times Top 10 bestseller, and was a Richard and Judy Book Club pick. She is signed with Penguin Random House worldwide for the first three books in her crime series featuring DCI Jonah Sheens. Her third book in the trilogy 'Lie Beside Me', is released in February 2021.

Gytha kicks things off talking about what impact the clothes we wear, whilst working from home have on our productivity and focus. She breaks down how she balances single parenting while writing during lockdown. We discuss the importance of routine and having a space dedicated to your writing and Gytha advises to let yourself love the process of writing.

She shares her experience of studying English at Cambridge University and explains why after graduating she set up a theatre company, which then went on to win an Edinburgh Fringe Award. And we discuss the importance of knowing how to pitch. Gytha breaks down how she juggled doing an MA in creative writing, being a single parent and running a business at the same time. She describes how she built an online following for her writing on Wattpad and gained over 1.8 million reads, whilst waiting to hear back from publishers on her first novel.

And how it took Gytha till her seventh novel to get a three book publishing deal with Penguin, which then enabled her to quit her job and write full time. She emphasises the importance of empathy and not basing your self esteem on your career and gives her one tip to aspiring authors and writers. Gytha also shares her love for gaming, rock climbing, rowing and loads more!

If you like this episode please do rate and review the podcast on Apple.

Happy listening :)

Steve - @offkeysteve

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