Karen and Irma debate whether AI is useful to break writer’s block.

Then they both chat to Fleur McDonald about pioneering the way in rural crime writing, how she built her profile over the years and then rebranded, connecting emotionally with readers, using imposter-syndrome to motivate her next book, how an imaginary character changed her life, fighting for your rights as an author and why she changed publishers, why making a difference with her writing is so important to her, how experts help inform her crime fiction, why she is refusing to use AI, the value of having an agent (especially when you’re having a hissy fit!), why she insists on being involved in planning the publicity campaign, and how meeting her writing hero left her speechless.

About Fleur

Fleur McDonald is a prolific bestselling rural crime author who lives in Western Australia. She’s published 26 novels and sold over a million books, with her 27th book out in April. She is an active public speaker and an advocate for rural women experiencing domestic violence. She has worked as a jillaroo, and then a farmer and parent, and is now a fulltime author.

Show notes

‘Should you use AI to break writer’s block?’ in The Conversation

‘AI can help authors beat writer’s block, says Bloomsbury chief’ in The Guardian

DV Assist

Irma and Karen chat about the year ahead, and dive into their first Book Chat of the year, championing Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrell, and Colony by Annika Norlin.

Then Karen talks to Colombian writer Ingrid Rojas Contreras about how she coped with all the international attention after being a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize, how the violence of the Pablo Escobar era stimulated her curiosity as a writer, caring for yourself when writing from trauma, how she uses inherited stories and hauntings in her work, how she involved her family in fictionalising her childhood, how she hid microphones to collect her mother’s stories, using dreams in fiction, and why losing her memory was the best thing that’s ever happened to her.

(Karen met Ingrid at the Ubud Writers & Readers Festival 2025)

About Ingrid

Ingrid Rojas Contreras was born and raised in Bogotá, Colombia. Her memoir,
The Man Who Could Move Clouds won the California Book Award and was a
finalist in multiple awards, including the Pulitzer Prize. Her debut novel was Fruit of the Drunken Tree, and her essays and short stories have appeared in numerous literary magazines. She lives in California.

In a special series direct from the Ubud Writers & Readers Festival, Karen chats to Craig Leeson (impact filmmaker) about how growing up in Tasmania made him an environmental activist, how to find a hook to capture your audience, how to tell a story in few words, the importance of character development, how to keep an audience engaged, how to avoid overwhelming people when telling tough stories, and how hitting the lowest low of his career paved the way for the highest high.

Supported by the ACT Government

About Craig

Craig Leeson is an acclaimed Australian filmmaker, television presenter, explorer, public speaker, and entrepreneur. He is the director, narrator, and writer of the multi-award-winning documentary feature films A Plastic Ocean, and The Last Glaciers: Journey To The Extreme . He was the 2022 Tasmanian Australian of the Year and is an International Fellow of the Explorers Club.