To celebrate the release of Between Yesterday and Tomorrow, we caught up with Women’s Prize longlisted Luan Goldie to learn more about her writing process and workspace.
Where do you write?
In my living room. I have tried writing in other places, but I’m easily, and happily, distracted by people. During the heatwave when it was far too hot to stay home, I took my laptop to the local library where I spent the whole morning talking about how hot it was with everyone I came across.
Every so often I look into these cool workspaces you can hire. I love the idea of writing somewhere with a pool table, basket of complimentary snacks and bring your own dog policy, however, I would get nothing done.
What do you have on your desk?
Very little.
I’m a tea drinker so there’s often a mug on the go. I was a primary school teacher for a long time and still have a cupboard full of mugs which boast Best Teacher Ever. In fact, every teacher you know has a cupboard full of these! I especially love imagining the child who picked this out for me in the shop saying, ‘Ms Goldie loves teddy bears.’ I’m indifferent about teddy bears but attached to this mug. Of course, I’ve always got a notepad on the go; this is probably the only aesthetically pleasing thing on my desk right now. My pen is from First Story, an amazing creative writing charity which puts professional writers into secondary schools.
Which is the most inspiring object in your workspace?
I read more books than I could ever have space for, so the only physical books I keep are my own. It may sound egotistical, but they are my inspiration in that when the writing gets tough, I look at my bookshelf and think, ‘you’ve done it before, now get over yourself and do it again.’ My bookshelf is also where I keep all the chintz I don’t want on the desk.
What does your writing process, from gathering ideas to finishing a manuscript, look like?
Honestly, there’s no process, it’s just me getting very carried away. I felt so sure of myself with my first three books, but by the time I finished These Streets, a novel about hidden homeless families, I was completely fed up of writing sad and serious books. I wanted to write something similar to what I was reading at the time, basically books with very little plot, lots of banter and kissing. I started writing a romance for fun. However, I fell so in love with the characters and so behind on my contracted deadline for another serious/sad book that I had to confess to my editor, ‘I think I’m writing a love story.’ There’s definitely banter and kissing in Between Yesterday & Tomorrow but there’s also explorations of grief and self-sabotage, which I guess make it sad and serious.
What can you see from your window?
My garden. I didn’t have a garden until my thirties, so I really appreciate it. It’s a typical London garden in size, but there’s so much going on with the cats, foxes and squirrels. A group of parakeets have recently moved into the tree, and I occasionally get a flash of cartoon green flying by. I also love that when the trees are bare, I can see the bobbing head of the neighbour’s kid on a trampoline.
Have you ever had a particularly good piece of writing advice?
Yeah, just get on with it. You can’t be a writer without writing and this takes time.
There’s no way around it. Often, for you to get on with it, something’s got to give. For me when I started, I had to cut out watching TV in the evenings. Now, I write full time, the internet is the thing I don’t give much time to. Sometimes people tell me they want to write but don’t have the time, then later tell me they have a three-hour daily screentime habit. I say, get an internet blocker and just get on with it.
Between Yesterday and Tomorrow by Luan Goldie is published by Juniper on 30 July 2026.
