Tina Strachan interviews Madeleine Cleary and Natasha Rai about being deep in the editing trenches for their second books while juggling demanding jobs and family commitments, including tight three-week deadlines for structural and copy edits. Madeleine describes balancing edits with commuting and recharging through social outings, while Natasha focuses on long, immersed editing days. They reflect on guilt, asking for extensions, self-doubt, and how editing teaches them to improve the book, emphasising that multiple rounds mean the team cares. Tina shares children’s Book Week event prep and they announce a live podcast at the Emerging Writers’ Festival on 12 September at the Wheeler Centre with Toni Jordan as “agony aunt,” including anonymous question submissions. The episode includes a plug for Lisa Nan Joo’s debut novel Mother Waters.

Link to Emerging Writers Festival event: The Book Deal Podcast EWF Edition

00:00 Podcast Intro

00:56 Editing Trenches Catchup

02:14 Mads Deadline Juggle

04:09 Footy Break Productivity

06:23 Tash Copy Edit Marathon

09:33 Asking For Extensions

10:33 Editing Teaches The Book

12:56 Process Doubts And Reassurance

15:24 Outside View Of The Dip

16:18 Editing Process Reality Check

16:51 Debut Novel Spotlight

19:39 Live Podcast Announcement

20:58 Submitting Questions and Tickets

23:04 Editing Tips and Mindset

25:22 Birthing a Book Metaphor

26:48 Magnetic Island Episode revisit

27:52 Wrap Up and Farewell

Don't miss tickets for The Book Deal live recording at the Emerging Writers Festival 12 September 2026 as part of the National Writers Conference at the Wheeler Centre in Melbourne. Link for tickets here.

Submit your questions for the episode, to be answered by our Agony Aunt, Toni Jordan, at the link here by 5 Septembe

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You can find out more about Tina, Madeleine and Natasha and follow their journeys here:

Tina Strachan (@td_strachan) • Instagram photos and videos
Tina Strachan children's book author
Madeleine Cleary (@madeleineclearywrites) • Instagram photos and videos
Madeleine Cleary | Author
Natasha Rai (@raiwriting) • Instagram photos and videos
Natasha Rai | Author | Mentor

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