# #202: Tara Menon — Writing a Debut Novel Over Eight Years, Moving From Critic to Novelist, and Surviving Self-Doubt as a Writer Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/london-writers-salon-5324518/202-tara-menon-writing-a-debut-novel-over-eight-years-moving-from-critic-to-novelist-and-surviving-self-doubt-as-a-writer Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/london-writers-salon-5324518/202-tara-menon-writing-a-debut-novel-over-eight-years-moving-from-critic-to-novelist-and-surviving-self-doubt-as-a-writer.md Podcast: [London Writers' Salon](https://stenobird.com/podcast/london-writers-salon-5324518) Published: 2026-07-12T15:20:58+00:00 Episode link: https://podcast.londonwriterssalon.com/episodes/202-tara-menon-writing-a-debut-novel-over-eight-years-moving-from-critic-to-novelist-and-surviving-self-doubt-as-a-writer-EbuslcBT Audio file: https://cdn.simplecast.com/media/audio/transcoded/edc299ff-a28d-457d-8b86-271fb39b50bc/55fe4efd-2e46-4f0d-9d17-a719bbda38f4/episodes/audio/group/7cf4e61e-5ee2-476e-8e55-f454a9fdffb1/group-item/6dd1b7bf-cc96-4139-84a4-858213e5164b/128_default_tc.mp3?aid=rss_feed&feed=ZnWZcMuv Processing state: not_requested JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/london-writers-salon-5324518/episodes/202-tara-menon-writing-a-debut-novel-over-eight-years-moving-from-critic-to-novelist-and-surviving-self-doubt-as-a-writer Duration seconds: 3778 ## Resource Debut novelist Tara Menon on writing friendship as a life-shaping bond, the emotional architecture of grief, and researching the natural world for her novel Under Water. ## Actions - request_transcript: `POST https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/london-writers-salon-5324518/episodes/202-tara-menon-writing-a-debut-novel-over-eight-years-moving-from-critic-to-novelist-and-surviving-self-doubt-as-a-writer/transcription-requests` — Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode. - read_markdown: `GET https://stenobird.com/podcast/london-writers-salon-5324518/202-tara-menon-writing-a-debut-novel-over-eight-years-moving-from-critic-to-novelist-and-surviving-self-doubt-as-a-writer.md` — Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource. A page view does not enqueue transcription. Agents should invoke `request_transcript` explicitly when they need this episode processed. ## Transcript Full transcripts are not published on public pages unless there is a clear rights basis.