Welcome to my first “official” blog post. I’m looking forward to sharing my thoughts related to writing, rural living and God knows what else with you. Think diary, rant, news report, memo to the world related to stuff that’s making me tick – and tock – or maybe even stuff that’s getting on my wick.
A blog is a new departure for me having just dragged myself into the social media world, kicking and hyperventilating! Although I don’t feel particularly ancient, a book called Social Media for Seniors was very helpful as well as a literary masterpiece called Facebook for Dummies. Humility is a wonderful thing and comes with age, I find. It means that I don’t mind buying books with titles like that – or telling anyone that I’ve just done so.
I will be keeping both of these close at hand, I suspect, until I get the hang of hashtags and timelines, profiles and posts. Posts are no longer items that simply hold up wire to keep sheep in, apparently.
Inside smile – hurrah!
It’s an exciting time for me. You may or may not know that my first novel, Deny Me Not, has just been published on Amazon.
Years of blood, sweat and exhausted ink cartridges have resulted in a strong story, now captured between covers, so I’m going around these days with an inside smile and an outside grin.
Compare that to a furrowed brow and pensive stare when I was writing it. I’m sure I ignored lots of people on the street because I was thinking of a character who was up to God knows what in my head! Still, huge satisfaction and a finished script come to those who hang in there long enough.
Right now I am in the throes of planning a Wexford launch – well, a party, actually, because after years of work I feel like marking the occasion with a big shindig – more of that anon.
Agri-lit – give it a try
I categorise my new novel, Deny Me Not, as Agri-lit. I don’t know if there is such a category but that’s what sums it up best. Think family drama built around days when beet is pulled, sheep are dosed, silage is spronged and pedigree cattle are fed. And think a farmer with a dirty secret that he’ll stop at nothing to keep a lid on.
If you’re from a farming background you’ll enjoy the immersion in a day-to-day world that you understand. If you’re not, I hope you learn something about Irish farming life at the same time as you get your teeth into one hell of a story. Abe Stephenson has never acknowledged his daughter and now she’s in the locality and gunning to confront him. What will happen when the manure hits the fan? That’s the question I asked myself the day the story started knocking in my head.
I hope you like the answer I came up with after all that aforementioned blood, sweat and used-up ink.
Blogging off for now but will be back soon. M
