Living in the Now.

I have a bit of a problem – I keep wanting to jump ahead in time to someplace else, where I’ll be doing something else and will know something that I don’t know now. This causes me to never relax in the now; to forget things, to have a busy head, and to miss out on the beauty and opportunities of today. To live in the now, has become my …

Self Belief.

Nothing is more important in writing than Self Belief. I have found this out to my cost. When I first began showing my work to friends and family, I hung on their every word and changed my writing accordingly. Of course, I ended up with a mish mash of everyone else’s ideas and could barely remember my own. Unfortunately – in relation to this topic – I have been a …

White Bread and Pasta.

This topic has nothing to do with writing, but it is on mind, or more specifically, my stomach. I have developed a belly, similar to Samantha’s pouch in the latter half of the Sex and the City movie. Why, might you ask? White bread and pasta. I used to think it ridiculous when women, on diets, gave up bread and pasta. I thought it was unhealthy and they would end …

Reviews

I wrote a review on the opening chapters of a novel for the Youwriteon site this morning. Reviewing is so different to reading for pleasure. I had to re-read the first few paragraphs several times, to make sense of them, but then, thankfully, the writing began to take off. I feel very ‘teacherish’ when writing reviews and tend to see a lot of room for improvement, even in very good …

Listowel Writers’ Week

The first time I went to Listowel Writers’ Week I felt like a seal who, after a year in the desert, had suddenly found the ocean. I flipped and twirled, giddy with excitement, going into pubs and restaurants alone, as EVERYWHERE I went there was someone to chat to about writing. I had my first dinner with a poet and his father, the second I had with a famous Russian …

Benefits of Writing

The literary agent Nathan Bransford, who is based in the San Francisco office of Curtis Brown, writes an interesting blog. A couple of weeks ago he asked what writers have given up to write. Over 250 of his readers replied. Most said health insurance, sleep, housework and T.V. Others gave up husbands, pensions, promotions and full time jobs. I thought I might ask a different question here: what have I, …

Monday Mornings

I believe I may be one of a rare group of people who enjoy Monday mornings. On a Monday morning I have my adult creative Writing class. Students age from early twenties (depending who is there) to early seventies. My oldest has been attending class since November 2007, and during that time she has had two stories published and learnt how to use a computer. She inspires me (when I’m …

Moi is Top Ten

I am most pleased today as the opening chapters of my novel Soul to Soul entered the Top Ten Charts on the Youwriteon.com site funded by the Arts Council in the UK. On the site writers review each other’s work and rate it according to ten different categories e.g. plot, language and character. I have scored highest for language which thrills me as I have often perceived that as my …

Je suis une Blogger!

Day two of my blog and I’m already loving it. I have a feeling that my poor children’s novel may be taking a back seat to this more immediate gratification – the bliss of a captive audience, well, in my imagination anyway. Bookings are rolling in for my summer camps which is encouraging news. I’m trying out two new venues this year: Rathdown School in Glenageary and The Grain Store …

Website Launch

Today is the day I launch my website. It has been designed by my husband Oisín, who is a webmaster genius and my devoted helper. Much of what I do would be impossible without him. He gave me my first laptop, and also my second (when I needed a fancier one to go on-line) So this first blog is dedicated to him. It is a strange and new experience to …

Welcome

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