Writer's Routine

Carmel Harrington, author of 'The Nowhere Girls' - Bestselling writer discusses leaving it late, training to improve, and the novel that changed her planning

Writer's Routine

Show Notes

Carmel Harrington is an Irish bestselling author of 13 novels. Her latests, 'The Stolen Child', was shortlisted for an Irish Book Award and won Good Housekeeping's 'Good Books Autumn Collection'. She left it late to start. After wanting to be an author for so long, it was a conversation with her husband, and a dream for her daughter, that pushed her to start.

She's written family dramas, a tie-in with the hit TV show, 'Cold Feet', and has now switched to straight-up thrillers. Her new novel, 'The Nowhere Girls', tells the story of two children abandoned at a train station, and the investigative journalist 30 years later, who wants to find out where they ended up. It was inspired by a news-piece, which led her to wonder... 'what if this happened in Ireland, where everyone knows everyone?'

We talk about her path to publication, also why she started off with no idea at all, and how switching genre has changed her writing. You can hear about her love of notebooks, her ego-wall, and how she's trained to get better.

Get a copy of 'The Nowhere Girls' - uk.bookshop.org/shop/writersroutine

Support the show - patreon.com/writersroutine ko-fi.com/writersroutine

Subscribe to the newsletter - writersroutine.substack.com

@writerspod writersroutine.com

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

More from Writer's Routine

Oct 22, 2026

Daisy Stephens is a journalist who has written stories forever. When she was young she filled notebooks with them, now living in a house-share with 3 friends and a grumpy cat, she fills notebooks with ideas and plots. During lockdown, she tried to turn one into a novell. It didn't go well. After 100,000 words she fell out of love and put it away. Then, for her job, she interviewed an author who did what she hadn't. An author who carried on. That writer turned her lockdown project into a published novel... why couldn't Daisy?

Oct 15, 2026

Laurell K. Hamilton is a pioneer of romantasy and urban fantasy. One of the biggest names in the genre, Sarah J. Mass has cited Laurell as an enormous inspiration. She's published more than 40 novels and has sold over 20 million of them. She's a Number 1 New York Times bestseller known for her 'Anita Blake' series and the 'Merry Gentry' books - the first of which was published in 2000.

Oct 8, 2026

Elif Shafak is an incredibly successful and influential author. Born in France to Turkish parents, Elif was raised by her single mother and traditional grandmother. She spent her childhood moving across the world, living in Madrid, Cologne, Amman and Istanbul.

Oct 1, 2026

Jenna Helwig is a food editor, a cookbook evangelist, and now novel writer. She's a culinary school graduate, and in 2025 launched, the Cookbookery Collective, a very successful Substack for cookbook lovers. Jenna has published 5 cookbooks herself focusing on everything from feeding a baby, to cooking on a budget.

Sep 10, 2026

Benjamin Abravenel practiced medicine for 35 years, whilst in snatches of spare time, started work on a novel with a message he was passionate to get heard in the world. When he retired with something like a first draft, he hired a Professor to help him edit into something publishable - she said there was very little chance it would ever be traditionally published. Benjamin went the hybrid-route, and has spent the last few years putting the finishing touches on 'The Past, Again'.

See all episodes →