Roisin Meaney's Blog, page 2

September 2024

Hello everyone,

Hope September finds you all well. I have a soft spot for it – it’s my birthday month. I love how the little birthday thrill never fades, no matter how ancient you become! It doesn’t in my case anyway: I’m a kid at heart…… (Although in my school days I used to wish it didn’t occur so close to the end of the summer hols – couldn’t please me!)

Big news is I’ve gone sale agreed on a house. It’s early days so I’ll say no more in case I jinx the process – but for the moment I’m crossing fingers and hoping all goes well. More later.

On the new book front, I’m currently checking the copy edits and tweaking as I go – I can not read a draft without making new changes. Just can’t. But coming to the end of the road now, so within a month it should be out of my hands. Publication date sometime in Feb – I’ll be giving info as I get it. Good to have another one (nearly) under my belt. Number 22. No idea how they all happened – when I was launching into my first book, back in 2001, it seemed such an unimaginably daunting prospect. I suppose at this stage I just put the head down and hope for the best. Still daunting, still a huge undertaking, no room for complacency, but at least I know I can do it, or rather, I have done it more than a few times, so I have to trust that I can still pull it off.

Remember the kittens of last month? Three have gone to their forever homes, and two cutie little brothers are still with me waiting to go at the end of September. It’s been a great experience, if hectic! I’d do it again though – but not with this Mama cat, who was spayed two days ago and is now in recovery and doing fine. An easier life for her from now on, hopefully.

Mind yourselves,

love

xx

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August 2024

Hello everyone,

Half the year gone! I want to catch on to Time’s leash and pull it back – it’s galloping far too fast! Hope everyone’s managing to enjoy the long days, even if they’re not the sunniest, or the warmest. Having said that, today is lovely in West Clare. Not that I can bask in it – my draft is back and I’m knee deep in edits, and with a deadline of mid August to complete this round, I’ll be nose to the grindstone till then. I keep telling myself it’ll all be worth it in the end……let’s hope so!

The big non-writing news here is that the stray (pregnant) cat I’d been feeding on the patio had 5 kittens on July 1. I didn’t know where they were, just that she was missing on that day and back the next, looking a lot slimmer! I had to hope they were in a safe place, but it was a worry until she decided to move them into my greenhouse last week, where she and they have been living  since. They’re  absolutely adorable – if you’re not a cat person you’ll have to take my word for it – and getting bigger every day. I’ve got 4 homes already, just one to go. I’ll hate to part with them, but three of my own is more than enough! I’ll bring Mama into the vet to be spayed as soon as she finishes feeding them, and she’ll be able to have a quiet life after that.

House hunting continues. Slowly, slowly. The right one is waiting for me.

Mind yourselves, enjoy what’s left of the summer,

love

xx

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July 2024

Hello everyone,

July already, 2024 entering its second half. Irish weather being typically unpredictable, lovely blue sky days followed by grey dull ones with more than our fair share of rain, but still with the lovely long hours of daylight, which for me is the best part of summer. Miltown Malbay is gearing up for its 52nd Willie Clancy summer school, ten days of celebration of our Irish music heritage that’s kicking off next Saturday 6th. The place will fill with traditional music aficionados and fans, classes and workshops will be packed, concerts and céilis and impromptu sessions will be the order of the day, and there won’t be a seat to be had in a pub or eatery for the duration, but there’ll be a great buzz around the place and it’s wonderful for the town. I’ll wander down the main street every now and again to soak up the atmosphere and witness the shenanigans.

On the writing front, I’ve been enjoying a break while my editors prepare their feedback on the edited draft that I sent them in early June, and it’s been lovely to take a step away. I’ve caught up on outstanding jobs in the house (most of them) and I’ve met pals I hadn’t seen for a while, and all in all it’s been a lovely month, but I’m looking forward now to reacquainting myself with the story and getting back into it for what I’m hoping will be the final time. Editing is challenging but also very rewarding when you feel the book tightening and sharpening and becoming as good as you can make it. Fingers crossed.

In other news, the house hunting continues. I’ve viewed a few more properties but none spoke to me; I couldn’t see myself settling in any of them. It’s a little wearying to feel the time passing – over a year now – and no resolution in sight. Everyone tells me the right one will come along, and I’m trying to believe them. Patience is a virtue!

This month’s pic shows the main planted section of the garden – bit wild, bit haphazard, but I get such enjoyment out of seeing everything coming into bloom. There was just grass here when I bought the house; a lot of manual labour went into that patch of colour! I especially love the lupins for their brazen showiness, and the Peruvian lily in front with its beautiful flowers. I’m trying to train jasmine up the side of the shed, but it’s slow going. I really don’t know what I’m doing in the garden, and I’m too lazy to look up the info, so it’s always experimentation time!

Mind yourselves, enjoy the summer,

love

xx

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June 2024

Hello everyone,

Well, there’s no more pretending it’s not summer yet. Long days, with mostly tolerable weather, everything coming alive in the garden – wonderful. Pic shows current occupants of my kitchen table vase – not grown by me, but I can’t resist peonies when I see them for sale; waiting patiently now for them to open. To my devastation I didn’t see the Northern Lights last month – I just missed the memo, didn’t know they were on the way. Was kicking myself the following morning when I saw all the fabulous photos up on Twitter. Ah well, hopefully they’ll come again in my lifetime!

On the writing front, I’m editing my first draft and it’s going well, thank goodness. I have a good feeling about this book. It’s the first one with just one voice in it, and I like that. I feel like I’ve got into my main character’s head in a new way – in fact, she feels a bit like me, which probably isn’t surprising as I’ve made her a contemporary, coming into the story aged 20 and going through her life pretty much the same time as me. Like me, she spent time in London as a young woman, and like me she finds herself back in Ireland as the years pass…..it seems like a long time till next Feb, when her story is scheduled for publication, but I’ve reached the age where time really does seem to pass faster, so I won’t feel it. I’m currently waiting to see what cover my editors have dreamed up – always an anxious time, but hopefully I’ll love it!

Not much else to report really, other than that I’ve booked a week-long yoga holiday in November in Tenerife, and I might slip away to Spain in September for another week of the camino – must talk to pals and see who’s up for it. Feels like a long time since my last trip to Ischia last October, so it’ll be nice to be packing the bags again.

Have a great summer, don’t forget to slap on the sunscreen. After my little melanoma episode 2 years ago, I have a great respect for those rays.

Mind yourselves,

love

xx

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May 2024

Hello everyone,

It’s May!  Incredible that we’re this far through the year. I was marvelling last evening that it was still full daylight at 8.30pm – one thing I miss if I find myself in a country that doesn’t get the lovely long days we enjoy in the summery half of the year. We might not see much of the sun, and the rain might never be far away, but we’re not short of daylight from May to September. I’m enjoying the last day or so of freedom before my editor’s notes on the first submission of the new book land with a thump, propelling me back to work. I spent most of April catching up on non-writing things: despite the middling weather I managed a bit of garden tidy-up and planting of new stuff – my priority right now is trying to make sure the cats don’t plough up the newly-planted bits before relieving themselves! If they could read I’d put up a big sign saying LOO and an arrow to a safe spot, but reading is a skill they have yet to master! Attaching a pic of the main bit of the garden. It’s amateurish and a bit haphazard, and the bad snap doesn’t help, but it’s all my own work – there was just grass when I moved in, and I’m a novice gardener at best – so I’m fond of it. The little tree is a Flamingo – in summer the tips of its leaves turn pink and it looks really pretty. The dark-leaved shrub at the front is a Peruvian Lily with the most beautiful yellow and orange flowers – it’s just budding now so I can’t wait. And the lupins dotted about will be glorious when their turrety flowers come up. If I remember I’ll post another pic when everything is blooming.

Hopefully May will bring its share of sunshine – the last week or so of April was putting up a valiant effort to improve itself weatherwise, so I’m living in the usual hope. Still battling with some aches and pains but I’ve had an initial visit with the consultant who promises he’ll prescribe the steroid I need as soon as he carries out some tests to rule out any underlying conditions, so at least things are happening. It’s hard sometimes, isn’t it, to remember that things always work themselves out? Maybe sometimes not in the way you hoped, or imagined, but there’s always some sort of resolution.

Have a great May. Mind yourselves,

love

xx

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April 2024

Hello everyone,

Belated Happy Easter – hope everyone who celebrated it had a good time. It’s Easter Saturday as I type this, and the plan is to head to Limerick tomorrow to have dinner with a few family members, and to exchange chocolate eggs. I started Lent with a treats and wine fast, meaning to keep it going till the end. The good news is that I didn’t break the wine fast, but the treats one went belly-up halfway through. I hit a health speed bump and was (and still am) in quite a bit of pain, so I decided I needed treats as a distraction! I’m pretty sure I know what it is, but I still need to see a consultant, so I’m currently waiting on blood test results before getting the appointment. The good news is I can still write, and the checking through of the first draft, which I finished about two weeks ago (hurrah!) is moving along nicely, and it’s looking like I’ll meet my April 22 deadline with a little leeway, which is great.  I’m so looking forward to a week or two of no writing at all – lots of gardening awaits, weeding and planting, so I’m hoping the weather will oblige after what was generally a dire March. The last three days have been good here – I’m afraid I’ve just jinxed it now – so hopefully the timing will work. Great to see all the existing plants leafing up in the garden – can’t believe they survived the deluges of the past few weeks!

In other news I’m still house hunting (I think I mentioned that I was) and there’s an open viewing of a very promising house next Saturday, so kindly cross all fingers and toes. Hope the sun is shining where you are, and wishing you all a happy and healthy April.

Mind yourselves,

love

xx

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March 2024

Hello everyone,

And welcome March, and hopefully a bit of better weather! I don’t know what it’s like where you are, but here in West Clare it’s been pretty dire all month, the odd bright blue sky day surrounded by grey cold, wet ones….my poor garden is a quagmire, I can’t venture out without changing into wellies, no chance to do any tidy-up gardening yet, so I’m pinning all my hopes on March. I can dream, can’t I?

On the writing front, I’m steaming ahead. Today I started writing the final section, which will take up about 10,000 words or so, and then, apart from a prologue and epilogue, both just a few pages, it’s done. Having said that, it’s going to run a bit longer than it should, so my job right after finishing the narrative will be to go through it again and cut where I can. I find that very satisfying, like pruning a plant, taking off the spent stuff and leaving what’s good. Let’s hope it works out.

I said last month I might do another bit of Camino, and it looks like it might happen in June. Early days, liaising with pals to find dates that suit, but all going well we should be heading to Spain in mid June. The thought of walking in sunshine is sooooo tempting right now! And before that there’s Listowel Writers’ Week to look forward to at the end of May/start of June. Lots of good times ahead.

The cats say hello. Such pampered pusses.

Mind yourselves,

lovexx

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February 2024

Hello everyone,

And goodbye January! I do feel sorry for the year’s first month, with everyone just wanting rid of it . . .  I quite enjoyed this one, weather wasn’t great but I got a lot of writing done – about two thirds through the new book – and I kept up my ‘fresh juice every morning’ pledge. The pledge was just for January – I know my limitations, and never make serious resolutions! But I’m going to leave the juicer out on the worktop and hope to use it a few mornings a week throughout the year. I do love fresh juice, and I have the juicer cleaning down to a fine art by now, so it just might happen. I’ll do my best.

Not a lot of other news really, a quiet month when I wasn’t tapping at the keyboard. Walks alone and with pals, twice weekly visits to see mother in Limerick, a lovely evening in a neighbour’s house with drinks, snacks and gossip …oh, and twice weekly yoga classes in Miltown Malbay’s community centre, which has lots going on. One yoga class is evening and the other is early morning, which means I’m leaving the house in the dark on both occasions, but the community hall is just at the far end of the main street, about a 7 minute walk from my house, so I have no excuse except laziness!

Plans for this year – a vague notion to do another Camino week, maybe in May or June.  A definite Writers’ Week festival in early June, and maybe a Creative Writing workshop on a Greek island in September. We’ll see how all those plans go!

Mind yourselves,

lovexx

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January 2024

Hello everyone,

It’s still 2023 as I write this, so I don’t know what weather will usher in 2024 here on the west coast of Ireland, but something tells me I won’t see blazing sunshine when I pull apart the curtains in the morning! It’s been pretty bleak to put it mildly for the last week or so – pretty much wall to wall grey skies and showers, not to mention frequent gusts – my kitchen floor is destroyed with three sets of mucky pawprints; no sooner have I one set mopped away than the next appears! But in truth, the weather is the least of my concerns as we head into a new number on the calendar. 2023 had its high points – not least for me the success of A Winter to Remember, and the conclusion finally of the sale of my house in Limerick, after months of uncertainty. On a global level we had Joe Biden’s visit to Ireland, our first participation in the Women’s World Cup football, and some pretty spectacular drug seizures – hats off to our gárdaí – but overall 2023 didn’t cover itself in glory from what I can see. Ukraine is still bleeding, Palestine and Israel is a nightmare, and many conflicts still rage in other parts of the world. Street violence sadly has become a feature of our cities, and immigration is igniting new levels of hatred, stirred up by those whose mission, it seems, is to spread discord and fear among our communities, and to make the already disenfranchised even more vulnerable. I’m so ashamed when I hear or read about crimes against people who come here looking for refuge. The perpetrators may be Irish, but they certainly don’t act in my name.

My big wish for 2024 is for peace everywhere, in all its forms. It’s a big ask, I know that. It involves compromise and empathy and sensible, clear-headed thinking, and that will involve a quantum leap for some, but I’m still wishing and hoping that the new year will bring at least some level of respite from the bad stuff, some chink of light, and the first steps towards resolutions on every front. I’d happily take 365 days of rain if that was the trade-off: over to you, 2024.

No writing news – still growing the next, one day after another. It was slow in starting, they all are, but I think I’m into the swing now so hopefully it’ll be full steam ahead till April and the deadline. Fingers crossed.

Wishing you all a bright and healthy new year with plenty of highlights along the way.

Mind yourselves,

lovexx

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December 2023

Hello everyone,

Wow – can’t believe this is my last post of 2023. Seems like a few weeks ago I was wishing everyone a happy new year and hoping for the best in the year ahead. I hope 2023 was kind to you, with more ups than downs in it. I sold a house this year, and I’m hoping to buy another before too long more, as my holiday home in West Clare is just that – a lovely place to spend a few weeks in the summery parts of the year, but not really geared for winter living. I’m having fun house-hunting, always love to have a nosey around someone else’s home (come on – who doesn’t?) and I’ve seen some delightful places and some not so delightful. Very interesting. I’ve had to call a halt for the time being while Christmas stuff gets attended to, and of course there’s the small matter of needing to deliver a first draft of my next book to my publishers by April 22nd, so that’s definitely taking precedence between now and then. In the meantime I’ve bid on a house, and while my bid wasn’t accepted – too low – there are currently no other bids, so I’m biding my time and crossing my fingers. Watch this space.

In book news, I was thrilled that A Winter to Remember sold really well since publication – a big big thank you to all who invested in it. Five weeks in the top ten, just fell out last week and is sitting at number eleven. Publishers are delighted with sales, so that’s all that matters. Next one is slow to get off the ground but I’m almost at 20k words which is generally the time it begins to bed into my head and the going becomes easier, so here’s hoping. It’s the first of the books to feature just one narrator; that’s taking a bit of getting used to, and also it’s set over several decades, which is making it more of a challenge, but I have great faith that I can do it, so I’ll plod on!

Two Christmas cakes made and on their way today to the respective recipients, two more to do between this and Christmas. A chocolate biscuit wedding cake also being delivered today – is it any wonder the writing is slow!! If you want something done, ask a busy person. I’m going to the aforementioned wedding tomorrow, launching someone else’s book on Sunday, travelling to Kerry later in December to tell stories to tots, visiting a school in Limerick to do the same, and hopefully finding time in between to get my presents sorted and to keep building the word count in the new book. Christmas Day will be in my mother’s house, and around the table will be three brothers, a nephew, myself and Mam, so a respectable crowd. Mam’s job is the ham, and we divvy out the rest between us. It all gets done and onto the table, minor miracle, but then Christmas is a time for miracles. Wishing you all the very best over the festive season, hope it brings peace and joy to all. God knows the world could do with a bit of peace and joy.

Mind yourselves,

lovexx

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