Perfectionism and procrastination and writing crime - guest Dinuka McKenzie
05/11/25 • 60 min
This week we have a wonderful guest, Dinuka McKenzie, who was willing to talk about perfectionism and procrastination, paired subjects that have been on our list for a while ... not that we were procrastinating about discussing them (or were we??).
Dinuka was honest about her perfectionism and how it affects her writing, for good and bad, and the good includes the Detective Kate Miles crime series, with novels The Torrent, Taken and Tipping Point published in Australia and the UK.
Dinuka was the winner of the 2020 HarperCollins Australia Banjo Prize. Her writing has been shortlisted for the Sisters in Crime Davitt Awards, the Bad Sydney Crime Danger Awards, and longlisted for the Richell Prize. Her short fiction appeared in the 2022 Dark Deeds Down Under Crime and Thriller Anthology.
She is also an ambassador for Chapters for Change, which is a reading challenge (or readathon), so we asked her about the organisation and the upcoming readathon in July this year.
Registrations open on 15 May for the next readathon and you can find more information at https://chaptersforchange.org
ABOUT CHAPTERS FOR CHANGE
Chapters for Change has to date raised $40,000 to combat Cambodia's high illiteracy rate, where 1 in 5 individuals over 15 lack literacy skills. Funds will maintain a library, support English, Khmer, and preschool classes for disadvantaged children.
These programs have successfully made children literate in their native language within a year and in English within four years. Over 730 children have studied in the programs, with around 100 attending the library daily.
For more about Rachael Johns: https://www.rachaeljohns.com
Rachael's latest book is Outback Reunion (2025)
For more about Sophie Green: https://sophiegreenauthor.com
Sophie's latest book is Art Hour at the Duchess Hotel (2024)
For more information about Rachael Johns: https://www.rachaeljohns.com
For more informationabout Sophie Green: https://sophiegreenauthor.com
Subscribe on Spotify
Subscribe on Apple
Subscribe on YouTube
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
This week we have a wonderful guest, Dinuka McKenzie, who was willing to talk about perfectionism and procrastination, paired subjects that have been on our list for a while ... not that we were procrastinating about discussing them (or were we??).
Dinuka was honest about her perfectionism and how it affects her writing, for good and bad, and the good includes the Detective Kate Miles crime series, with novels The Torrent, Taken and Tipping Point published in Australia and the UK.
Dinuka was the winner of the 2020 HarperCollins Australia Banjo Prize. Her writing has been shortlisted for the Sisters in Crime Davitt Awards, the Bad Sydney Crime Danger Awards, and longlisted for the Richell Prize. Her short fiction appeared in the 2022 Dark Deeds Down Under Crime and Thriller Anthology.
She is also an ambassador for Chapters for Change, which is a reading challenge (or readathon), so we asked her about the organisation and the upcoming readathon in July this year.
Registrations open on 15 May for the next readathon and you can find more information at https://chaptersforchange.org
ABOUT CHAPTERS FOR CHANGE
Chapters for Change has to date raised $40,000 to combat Cambodia's high illiteracy rate, where 1 in 5 individuals over 15 lack literacy skills. Funds will maintain a library, support English, Khmer, and preschool classes for disadvantaged children.
These programs have successfully made children literate in their native language within a year and in English within four years. Over 730 children have studied in the programs, with around 100 attending the library daily.
For more about Rachael Johns: https://www.rachaeljohns.com
Rachael's latest book is Outback Reunion (2025)
For more about Sophie Green: https://sophiegreenauthor.com
Sophie's latest book is Art Hour at the Duchess Hotel (2024)
For more information about Rachael Johns: https://www.rachaeljohns.com
For more informationabout Sophie Green: https://sophiegreenauthor.com
Subscribe on Spotify
Subscribe on Apple
Subscribe on YouTube
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Previous Episode
All the May 2025 book releases you need to know about!
New books mentioned in this episode:
General fiction
The Remarkable Truth of Alfie Bains by Sarah Clutton (Allen & Unwin)
Lonely Mouth by Jacqueline Maley (HarperCollins)
Everything Lost, Everything Found by Matthew Hooton (HarperCollins)
The Good Mistress by Anne Tiernan (Hachette) – NZ author
Boom Town Snap by Jay Martin (Fremantle Press)
Romance
Salty, Spiced and a Little Bit Nice by Cynthia Timoti (Pan Macmillan)
Last Breath (Blood Wine Dynasty Book 2) by Emma Pignatiello (Penguin Random House)
Needle in a Haystack by Karly Lane (Allen & Unwin)
One Last Night by Lauren Ford (Canelo/Hardie Grant)
Crime/thriller
VANISH by Shelley Burr (Hachette)
The Unquiet Grave by Dervla McTiernan (HarperCollins)
The River Whispers by Deb Jordan (Bloodhound Books - UK and US)
Historical fiction
The Butterfly Women by Madeleine Cleary (Affirm Press)
The Ladies Guide to Utter Ruin by Alison Goodman (HarperCollins)
Literary fiction
The Opposite of Lonely by Hilde Hinton (Hachette)
Fantasy
The Quest Begins - The Crystal Dynasty Book 2 by Abigail Mader (independent)
Children’s
Made of Steam and Stardust by Bianca Breen (Stag Beetle Books)
Silverborn: The Mystery of Morrigan Crow – Nevermoor 4 by Jessica Townsend (Hachette)
For more about Rachael Johns: https://www.rachaeljohns.com
Rachael's latest book is The Bad Bridesmaid (2025)
For more about Sophie Green: https://sophiegreenauthor.com
Sophie's latest book is Art Hour at the Duchess Hotel (2024)
For more information about Rachael Johns: https://www.rachaeljohns.com
For more informationabout Sophie Green: https://sophiegreenauthor.com
Subscribe on Spotify
Subscribe on Apple
Subscribe on YouTube
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Next Episode
A new literary agent talks book marketing - with guest Chloe Berry
This week’s episode wasn’t planned, in that the list of subjects Rachael Johns and I want to cover on the podcast did not include talking to a new literary agent with a background in book marketing - simply because not many new agents come along.
Until recently Chloe Berry worked at HQ/HarperCollins, where she masterminded their digital marketing and appeared in quite a bit of it - if you follow them on socials you’ll know her. Chloe also has her own bookish social accounts - @chloeraebooks on TikTok and @chloeraeberry on Instagram. She is the co-founder of the hugely successful @booktokbookclub.
Chloe has now started The Berry Agency (@theberryagency on Insta and TT), which she plans to be a different kind of literary agency, not only because of the genres she specialises in but because she can offering marketing expertise to her clients in a way that is tailored to their genres, because she has the knowledge and experience to do so.
Rach and I both ‘met’ Chloe on TikTok - in my case, because Chloe commented on a video I made about literary agents in Australia. Then we met IRL. She had some questions about agenting and I suggested she come on the pod to ask them. So she did, but mainly the three of us ended up having quite a long discussion about book marketing in the age of social media, and I think you’ll find what she has to say fascinating!
For more information about Rachael Johns: https://www.rachaeljohns.com
For more informationabout Sophie Green: https://sophiegreenauthor.com
Subscribe on Spotify
Subscribe on Apple
Subscribe on YouTube
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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