Secrets from the Green Room

Irma and Karen answer a listener question about the transition from emerging writer to established, then chat about their latest reading recommendations.
Then Karen talks to poet Robbie Coburn about how discovering Edgar Allan Poe when he was 14 was like being let out of jail, how mimicking great writers can help develop your writing early on, how he connects poems to memories like songs, the best way for poets to get their work out into the world, the value of mentorship for poets, why allowing horses to gallop into his work helped him find himself as a writer, how to persist despite devastating rejection, and how his granny would have been proud of him receiving an award sticker for his verse novel.
About Robbie 
Robbie Coburn is the author of several poetry collections and a young adult verse novel The Foal in the Wire. He has published several chapbooks and zines, and his poems have been published in numerous Australian and international journals. He has run poetry workshops for Headspace – a youth mental health organisation. He grew up on a farm in regional Victoria and now lives in Melbourne.
Find out more about Irma and Karen
Visit Irma Gold’s website, or follow her on Instagram and Facebook
Visit Karen Viggers’ website, or follow her on Instagram and Facebook
Follow Secrets From the Green Room on Instagram and Facebook

Karen and Irma chat about the environmental cost of publishing books, and uncover some positive take-aways. 
Then Irma talks to children’s author Ingrid Laguna about how running away from home impacted her as a creative, how the traumatic experience of losing her own twin boys led to her memoir and then a novel for kids, why her agent didn’t want to pitch her book but then her publisher ended up loving it, why kids books need to tackle tough subjects, how to keep going when you’re writing about traumatic personal events, writing book recommendations, and top tips for engaging school visits. 
About Ingrid
Ingrid Laguna is a multi-award-winning novelist and educator. She has published a memoir and numerous books for children. Her work has been published internationally, featured by Reading Australia and given Notable recognition by the CBCA. Ingrid’s writing has featured in various publications, including The Monthly, The Age, Teacher Magazine and the AEU Magazine. She runs a range of writing courses and regularly presents to teachers and students at schools, libraries, festivals and conferences.
 Show notes
Why plantation stock is better for making paper
Arts Law for any legal issues 
The Writer’s Room by Charlotte Wood
The 90-Day Novel by Alan Watts

Find out more about Irma and Karen
Visit Irma Gold’s website, or follow her on Instagram and Facebook
Visit Karen Viggers’ website, or follow her on Instagram and Facebook
Follow Secrets From the Green Room on Instagram and Facebook

Irma and Karen talk about how different platforms – Instagram, Facebook, X, Substack and author websites – help sell books (or don’t!)
Then Karen chats to Toni Jordan about how to successfully inject serious subjects with humour, the book to film process of Addition, why she structures her life to the nth degree but with writing is completely unstructured, how to approach writing as a business and why networking should be reframed, why being a skilled public speaker is important as a writer, how she has managed to make a living as a writer, the painful experience of having a book that didn’t sell well, and how that then led to her greatest career high.
About Toni
Toni Jordan is an award-winning, internationally best-selling author of 8 novels. Her debut novel Addition was longlisted for the Miles Franklin Award and has recently been made into a film. Her novel Nine Days was awarded Best Fiction at the 2012 Indie Awards, and Our Tiny, Useless Hearts was longlisted for the Dublin Literary Award. Toni is a physiologist who has also completed a PhD in creative writing and she lives in Melbourne.
Show Notes
'Social Media is Dead – Old School Marketing Tactics for Creatives' by Creative Plus Business
‘Millions of Followers? For Book Sales, it’s Unreliable’ on the New York Times
‘If you get a million views on a social media post, how many books will you sell?’ on Nicola Washington’s substack post about a viral Tweet about a book event that no one showed up to.
Find out more about Irma and Karen
Visit Irma Gold’s website, or follow her on Instagram and Facebook
Visit Karen Viggers’ website, or follow her on Instagram and Facebook
Follow Secrets From the Green Room on Instagram and Facebook

Karen and Irma talk about the importance of writers centres, and urge listeners to sign the Writers Victoria petition.
Then Irma chats to Tasma Walton about novelising the story of her ancestor Nannertgarrook, how she protected herself in the process of writing about trauma, the reclamation of her Boonwurrung language and the importance of language in her novel, how writing and acting feed into each other, the challenges of writing versus acting, how writers rooms for TV and film work, and an embarrassing green room encounter with an Australian music legend.
About Tasma
Tasma Walton is a proud Boonwurrung woman from the saltwater country of Melbourne and surrounding coastlines. She has had a hugely successful career as an actor in film and television, with acclaimed roles in everything from Blue Heelers and The Secret Life of Us to Mystery Road and How to Please a Woman. In 2009, her first novel, Heartless, was nominated for an ABIA Award, and the first book in her children’s series Nerra: Deep Time Traveller was longlisted for the DANZ Children’s Book Award. Her most recent novel, I am Nannertgarrook, won the 2025 ARA Historical Novel Prize.
Show notes
Writers Victoria petition
I am Nannertgarrook

Find out more about Irma and Karen
Visit Irma Gold’s website, or follow her on Instagram and Facebook
Visit Karen Viggers’ website, or follow her on Instagram and Facebook
Follow Secrets From the Green Room on Instagram and Facebook

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