Writing & Me
Where I Write by Heron's Flood Author Evelyn Walsh
A friend told me recently she had been thinking of me as she watched a movie about a writer who worked at a desk overlooking East Hampton in Long Island. I laughed. If only I could have a big mahogany desk overlooking the Hamptons. It's such a lovely idea, staring out a window at Natures beauty in one of the most expensive areas of the world.
I write in scraps of space and time. I can edit, hone and rewrite in the evenings sitting with the family but to get that first draft down I need to be on my own - no interruptions. Sometimes during the paying job's working week I get up early (not too often anymore mind!) I often sit up long after the world is asleep and write wrapped up in a duvet in my sitting room in the silence of the night. I unplug all electrical appliances barring the laptop - if it's poetry I'm working on I use pencil and unlined paper and play with the words that way, scratching out, arrowing words up and down, juggling.
Read more: Where I Write by Heron's Flood Author Evelyn Walsh
Finding a Literary Agent by Louise Hall
When I got married and had kids, I would anticipate the approach of night time when I allowed myself be transported into my own land of bliss as I delved into one of the many good books on my shelves. Reading was a natural form of escapism for me; but something changed in my life which found me unable to read for a very long time.
In January 2008, my youngest sister, at the very tender age of twenty six, passed away suddenly. We were all devastated.
Nicky had Down’s syndrome and was a massive part of our lives. Trying to pick up the pieces wasn’t easy.
Suddenly aware of my own precious mortality, I realized that I needed to replace the books I loved so much but couldn’t find the attention for anymore. After spending a year or so deciding whether or not to write a book, I cast away the unwanted negativity and began to embark on a project I wasn’t really sure I would follow through.
Once I started, it felt like it was the most natural thing in the world. Before I knew it, I had twenty thousand words down. The only problem I experienced at this stage was not knowing whether or not I was actually good at writing.
After much Googling about how I would even begin to get this unfinished book published, I came to the conclusion that I desperately needed an agent.
Obstacle number two, stood smirking right before my eyes as I also realized that for all the successful published authors we Irish seem to effortlessly produce, there are very few literary agents.
Titanic. Poetry in Triplicism by James Fitzpatrick
James Fitzpatrick is an Irish writer and documentarian who writes using ‘Triplicism’. He has been writing for many years mainly working in Film Production, Sport and Teaching.Read more: Titanic. Poetry in Triplicism by James Fitzpatrick
Timmy Conway - Mam
It was a labour of love. As I wrote it I often felt she was sitting beside me. Most of the stories were already in my head and the discipline of writing the book helped me expand and capture her extraordinary life. I sent the book around the family members to ensure I was correct in the important aspects of her life. The poems at the close of the book summed her up. I took my time and listened internally to the various exchanges. I found the pictures in all sorts of places including the backyard of our old home.
This is the story of the life and times of my mother, Mary Conway-Behan. Mam was never famous. She will never figure in the history books. But in her own way she is one of the many unsung Irish heroines of the last century. She was one of those little-known Irish women who battled against prejudice, adversity and hard times to make a living and give her children a good start in life. Mam suffered the trauma of losing her beloved husband. She raised a large family when there was little money around, and built up her own business through extreme hard work and the force of her own personality. And all this happened before feminism or women’s liberation was ever heard of.
She wasn’t unique. There were other women of great generosity and enterprise like her in the provincial Ireland of the 20th century – women who developed their own business concerns in a male-dominated world, while raising a family at the same time; women who suffered the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune but never gave in; women who cared deeply for their families and for their communities and who kept going until the end.
Conor O'Reilly - If I Had a Minute to Spare
For the past six or seven years I have considered myself a writer, before that I only imagined I could be one. But, up until about two years ago I really didn’t write that much and I don’t think that I was a good writer. I still don’t think I am, but I'm becoming more confident. Much of this new assuredness is thanks to blogging.
There are many people who write as a hobby, yet also have some aspirations for their writing to become more than this. I am one of these people. About two years ago I started a blog as a way to more. I had read it could help my writing. Before I even filled in the form I was pretty sure that the thing wouldn’t even last a month, or even a week. I am the kind of person who has a tendency to make plenty of great proposals, but with a similar tendency not to follow them through to their finish. Despite my assumptions, my blog has grown and grown, and I am now the proud holder of more than 13,000 hits with 20 subscribers. My blog is approximately 18 months old.
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