# #208: What Keeps Us Writing? Memoirist Deepa Paul, Essayist Gina Beach, and Novelist Daisy Buchanan on Finishing a Book an Hour at a Time, Writing in Community, and Taking Yourself Less Seriously Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/london-writers-salon-5324518/208-what-keeps-us-writing-memoirist-deepa-paul-essayist-gina-beach-and-novelist-daisy-buchanan-on-finishing-a-book-an-hour-at-a-time-writing-in-community-and-taking-yourself-less-seriously Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/london-writers-salon-5324518/208-what-keeps-us-writing-memoirist-deepa-paul-essayist-gina-beach-and-novelist-daisy-buchanan-on-finishing-a-book-an-hour-at-a-time-writing-in-community-and-taking-yourself-less-seriously.md Podcast: [London Writers' Salon](https://stenobird.com/podcast/london-writers-salon-5324518) Published: 2026-08-23T15:07:35+00:00 Episode link: https://podcast.londonwriterssalon.com/episodes/208-writers-hour-special-memoirist-deepa-paul-essayist-gina-beach-and-novelist-daisy-buchanan-on-finishing-a-book-an-hour-at-a-time-writing-in-community-and-taking-yourself-less-seriously-BPv2wrq1 Audio file: https://cdn.simplecast.com/media/audio/transcoded/edc299ff-a28d-457d-8b86-271fb39b50bc/55fe4efd-2e46-4f0d-9d17-a719bbda38f4/episodes/audio/group/401e11cc-aa06-498f-8838-618e4e54f696/group-item/5208541d-574d-44f1-a89c-e648e35f6037/128_default_tc.mp3?aid=rss_feed&feed=ZnWZcMuv Processing state: not_requested JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/london-writers-salon-5324518/episodes/208-what-keeps-us-writing-memoirist-deepa-paul-essayist-gina-beach-and-novelist-daisy-buchanan-on-finishing-a-book-an-hour-at-a-time-writing-in-community-and-taking-yourself-less-seriously Duration seconds: 2713 ## Resource In this special episode we go behind the scenes with memoirist Deepa Paul, essayist, cookbook author Gina Beach, and novelist Daisy Buchanan and talk about the two things that keep them going: the passion behind the work, and the practice that makes the work possible. From an essay that no editor wanted to a Women's Prize-longlisted memoir, a personal research rabbit hole that became a four-year book project, and the journey from idea to novel, this is a personal conversation with three writers about about why they write the things they write — and what kept them going. ## Actions - request_transcript: `POST https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/london-writers-salon-5324518/episodes/208-what-keeps-us-writing-memoirist-deepa-paul-essayist-gina-beach-and-novelist-daisy-buchanan-on-finishing-a-book-an-hour-at-a-time-writing-in-community-and-taking-yourself-less-seriously/transcription-requests` — Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode. - read_markdown: `GET https://stenobird.com/podcast/london-writers-salon-5324518/208-what-keeps-us-writing-memoirist-deepa-paul-essayist-gina-beach-and-novelist-daisy-buchanan-on-finishing-a-book-an-hour-at-a-time-writing-in-community-and-taking-yourself-less-seriously.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.