Writing by water with Wyl Menmuir

Nominated for the Man Booker Prize, the novelist Wyl Menmuir credits the sea with transforming him from a distractible city-dweller into a working writer. Bec explores the 'blue mind theory' behind why water calms our minds and unlocks creativity - then sends retired teacher Nancy Harris McLelland on a 12-hour round trip across Nevada to test it for herself, with surprising results.Featuring Wyl Menmuir is a multi award-winning author of novels, non fiction and short stories. His 2016 debut novel, The Many, was nominated for the Man Booker Prize. Wyl's non-fiction books have been awarded the Roger Deakin Award from the Society of Authors, the Award for Excellence from the OWPG, and a Holyer an Gof Award. In 2026, he received the Blue Metropolis Planet Literature Prize, awarded for a body of work that demonstrates the beauty and fragility of the living world and promotes greater ecological awareness. A former journalist, Wyl has written for Radio 4, The Guardian and The Observer. He lectures in creative writing at Falmouth University and when he is not writing or teaching writing he enjoys messing around in boats. More about Wyl. Nancy Harris McLelland is an ex cow-girl and Elko County native who grew up on ranches along the Ruby Mountains, Nevada. Before retiring, Nancy taught creative writing for 20 years at Mendocino College in northern California. She has presented her work at the Cowboy Poetry Gathering in Elko, and her writing appears in Cowboy Poetry Matters, Nevada Humanities' Heart-to-Heart, UNR Brushfire, New Mexico Magazine, Edge, Tahoe Writers Works, and the Writers of the Mendocino Coast anthologies. More about Nancy.For bonus material and conversations about the experiments featured in the show, visit Breakthroughs & Blocks on Substack.If you enjoy the show, please leave a five-star review. It’s one of the biggest ways you can help new listeners discover the podcast.This Might Work is written and presented by Bec Evans and Chris Smith, authors of Written: How to Keep Writing and Build a Habit That Lasts. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.