Roisin Meaney's Blog, page 5

April 2022

Hello everyone,

Happy April to you. I love when we get a foothold into the year, especially here in Ireland, when the days are getting some real length into them, and the weather – touch wood, touch wood – is being perfectly spring-like. As I look out, I see blue skies and sunshine, even if the wind would take the nose off you if you gave it half a chance! Pile on a few layers and it’s ideal walking weather. Today is day 90 of the Twitter #100daysofwalking challenge; can’t believe there are only 10 to go. Of course I’ll try to keep it up after day 100, but I’d say there’s a good to very good chance I’ll fall by the wayside eventually! The image below shows Fred, my best boy, snoozing on my jigsaw when I brought the kitchen table outside a few days ago; miraculously, he didn’t dislodge a single piece!

I’ve just this minute sent back the proofread document of Life Before Us. I have a tiny bit more work to do – dedication, acknowledgements, etc – but to all intents and purposes it’s done and dusted. Believe me, it’s a wonderful feeling. I usually celebrate with a little retail therapy – nothing too outrageous; once it was a three-pack of new knickers in TKMaxx! – but it’ll have to wait a bit, as I’m heading to Clare tomorrow for a few days, and I need to pack my bag and organise things. The shops will still be there . . .

Next up is a sequel to one of my earlier books, set at Christmas. It’s not scheduled till Christmas 23, but I’ve decided to write it now so I can free myself up for something new. Not sure what that might be yet, but I just feel I need to clear the decks…so over the next few weeks I’ll be putting a Christmas plot together – I’m actually rereading the book in question, so refresh my memory – and then I’ll be writing over the summer and autumn. All good.

Hope everyone’s feeling well and happy. If the last two years have taught me anything – I think they’ve taught me loads, actually, but one of the biggest things is how important my health is. I take it so much for granted…..and if anyone reading this is under the weather, wishing you a speedy recovery.

Mind yourselves.
lovexx

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March 2022

Hello all – happy meteorological spring: who knew that it starts on March 1? Here in Limerick the weather lately could be mid-winter, with storms and rain a-plenty, but today was lovely enough for a ramble around my local park (pic below), so I live in hope.In writery news, I’m waiting for the copy edited draft of Life Before Us to come bouncing back, any day now says my editor – so that’ll keep me quiet for a week or two while I accept or reject all the copy editor’s changes. Soul-destroying, but has to be done. After that it’ll be on to the final hurdle, aka the proofreader, who’ll give it the last pair of eyes before it comes bouncing back again for yours truly to give it the last, last ever read through. I’m going to be so sick of it by then that I’ll never want to see it again – until my box of author copies lands on the doormat, a week or two before publication (June 9), and I’ll fall in love with it all over again!In the meantime I’ve been playing around with a few picture book ideas, one of which is currently sitting on my agent’s desk for her consideration. I’ve got all my nails bitten to the quick, waiting for her verdict. CROSS FINGERS NOW!Hope everyone’s doing OK. Today marked the first day that mask-wearing was optional in most places here in Ireland. I was in a local supermarket this morning and most people I saw were still wearing them, as I was. It’ll take a while for us to climb out of the covid tunnel, but the light at the end of it is becoming brighter every day…..Mind yourselves.
love

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February 2022

Right, by now we’ve all settled into the new year (haven’t we?) and we’ve breathed the usual collective sigh of relief at the departure of January. Onwards to softer weather and longer days (here in the Northern hemisphere anyway), and hopefully our fair share of sunshine. I’m taking great heart from the buds in the garden, even if the weeds are popping up too, just as hopefully! I’ll do a bit of clearing just as soon as the rain stops….

At the moment I’m in the little holiday cottage in West Clare, enjoying a bit of a breather after handing over the last crop of edits at the end of Jan. I’m currently working on two picture books for small children (it’s my next dream to have books for that age group published) so fingers crossed I get them right, and my agent likes them enough to show them around. On the adult front, I was finally given the go-ahead to reveal my new title and cover, so here we go below: hope it meets with your approval. I really like this cover, love that it’s so different from all the others. I think it’s more modern, and certainly eye-catching with those gorgeous colours. The title’s a bit of a departure too, more open to a reader’s interpretation. Let’s see how it works. Publication date in Ireland and the Antipodes is June 2, after which date it’ll be
widely available in bookshops. It’ll also be appearing in selected UK bookshops, and on all the usual online platforms, and a lot of places are
offering it for pre-order too.

In the meantime, the paperback publication of The Book Club is scheduled for February 17, so if you skipped the trade publication last June and would like to pick it up now in the smaller (and cheaper!) edition, now’s your chance. Wishing you all a good productive month, in whatever direction you take it, and the health to enjoy it.

love

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January 2022

Always feels strange, doesn’t it, writing the new year for the first time? I remember in the days of cheque books putting the previous year on cheques till at least the end of February. Maybe that was just me, but I doubt it!

No New Year resolutions for me, gave those up a while back, apart from the usual resolves to walk more, eat more healthily, etc that generally keep me on track for the first few months. My one real wish for 2022 – and I’m quite sure I’m not alone here – is for the world to pick itself up and return to some kind of normality, but with added compassion and empathy. Wishing hard for that. What strange and interesting times we live in. 

On the writing front, I’ve just begun on the (hopefully) final edits of the June book. Still not allowed to reveal cover or title, but trust me, they’ll be worth waiting for. The cover is a big departure from previous ones so it remains to be seen how readers will feel about it, but it gets a thumbs-up from me. Hopefully I can flash it soon! And on the publication front, the next arrival will be the paperback of The Book Club – must check on the date, but it’ll be sometime in late Feb or early March. 

Hope everyone had a happy Christmas, however it was spent, and whoever was at the table. For me, the best part of the after-Christmas period is seeing the first signs of spring – and just yesterday I spotted buds in the garden. Not sure what the plant is; a clump of it pushed up through gravel some years ago so I suspect it’s more weed than anything else, but the flowers are pretty pink ones that deserve to bloom and be happy. 

Wishing everyone a healthy and peaceful 2022. 

love

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December 2021

Christmas is coming, the geese are getting fat,

Please put a penny in the old man’s hat… 

Remember that? If you don’t, you’re not as old as me. A lot of people aren’t as old as me! On the book front, I’ve finished the first draft of the next, and I’m currently polishing it up before sending it off to editor Ciara on December 3 for her verdict. I’ll warn her not to send it back to me before January, so I can turn my attention to other things between now and Christmas – and there are plenty of other things to keep me busy. I have a children’s book to tidy up, and a couple of other picture book ideas floating around in my head, and my house is still a Christmas-free zone (pic shows my favourite ornament, which a pal gave me years ago) and I’ve barely begun shopping for gifts – as usual I’m clueless about what to get for whom, I’m the world’s worst gift buyer – and I also have the six cakes to ice, which is every bit as much of a chore as it was to bake them. Ah well, it’ll all get done like it always does, and I’ll definitely put my feet up on December 26, as I’ll be cooking most of the dinner on the 25th for my folks and a few family members. My sneaky plan is to escape to the holiday cottage a few days after Christmas and hunker down there for a few weeks as I get to grips with whatever edits will be needed on the new book. Publication next June – did I mention that? Seems far away now but I know from experience that once January and February get going, the months will flip past at an alarming rate. 

As ever, don’t hesitate to get in touch through the Contact page if there’s anything you want to ask, or share. In the meantime, take care until next month, and Happy Christmas to you and yours. In the words of the late great John Lennon, let’s hope it’s a good one: we could all use a good one this year. 

love

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November 2021

Hard to believe it’s November – although the weather is making a valiant effort to convince me! It’s windy and bleak out there today, and I’m glad I’m indoors looking out. On the writing front, I’m approaching the final section of the current book (whose title I’m still not at liberty to reveal, I’m afraid – but soon . . .) As ever, it’ll be a relief to get to the end and hand it over at the beginning of December. Don’t let anyone tell you writing a book isn’t a slog, however enjoyable it can be at times: there are plenty of other times during the process when I’m at the point of pulling my hair out, and wondering for the umpteenth time how I ever thought I could write . . . the insecurities are never far away! But even though I’ll be glad in one way to finish, I know I’m going to miss my characters, because I always do when I wave them off. They’ll be back, of course – my editor will read the draft and send me her notes, and I’ll be diving back in at the start of January, fixing all the weak spots and hopefully ending up with a book I’ll be happy to attach my name to, and that readers will be happy to read. 

In the meantime, I have no fewer than six Christmas cakes baked, and waiting to be iced – that’ll be my first job in December, when the book is handed over. I bake for a few different households every Christmas, and enjoy it – baking is great therapy after a day of writing, but I could do without the icing – it’s definitely not my forte! My finished cakes never look great, but hopefully the taste makes up. (Pic shows two of the cakes in the making.) After that I want to revisit a little children’s picture book I wrote earlier in the year, to tidy it up and fine tune it before handing over to my agent to get her thoughts. Fingers crossed . . . 

Right, time to hunker down and get today’s quota of words down. Hope you’re cosy, wherever you are. Don’t hesitate to get in touch through the Contact page if there’s anything you want to ask, or tell. In the meantime, take care until next month,

love

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October 2021

Hello! Here’s my very first blog post for my pretty new website – don’t you love the colour and brightness of it? I’ll be blogging at the start of each month, bringing you up to date with what’s happening – if anyone would like to be notified of new entries, you can subscribe at the bottom of this page. Right now I’m in the thick of the next novel, due out next June, all going well. I’m approaching 80,000 words, which means I have another 10,000 or so to go – no sweat! My deadline to hand over the first draft is early December, which is perfect timing: it means I can put away the laptop in the run-up to Christmas and bake cakes and wrap presents while my poor editor figures out all the parts that need changing!  After a bit of head-scratching, the new book has officially got a title, but I’m afraid I’m sworn to secrecy for another while. You will, of course, be the first to know! And in the more immediate future, the smaller (and cheaper!) edition of last Christmas’ offering, It’s That Time of Year, will hit the shelves on October 7, so that countdown is well and truly on…..I’ve added links to the Books page in case anyone wants to buy any of the books (print or ebooks) online. I’ve included my great local bookshop here in Limerick, O’Mahony’s, who’ll ship nationwide, as well as Easons and Kennys, two more excellent Irish bookshops. For readers ‘down under’ who’d like to shop local, I’ve put a link to Dymocks in Australia, and Amazon US might be handy for anyone on that side of the world.In other news, autumn has definitely arrived here in Limerick – this afternoon I lit my first fire since the spring, and as I type I can hear the rain lashing against the window (it’s dark so the blinds are drawn). My two feline buddies, Fred and Charlie, are out and about – there is NO keeping them in – and will reappear shortly in need of a good towelling down and a bowl of grub for the night!Signing off to put the feet up while I have peace and quiet …. hope you all have a good month, and don’t hesitate to get in touch via the Contact page if there’s anything you want to ask, or tell.

love

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TEST 2

Lorem Ipsum is simply dummy text of the printing and typesetting industry. Lorem Ipsum has been the industry’s standard dummy text ever since the 1500s, when an unknown printer took a galley of type and scrambled it to make a type specimen book. It has survived not only five centuries, but also the leap into electronic typesetting, remaining essentially unchanged. It was popularised in the 1960s with the release of Letraset sheets containing Lorem Ipsum passages, and more recently with desktop publishing software like Aldus PageMaker including versions of Lorem Ipsum.It is a long established fact that a reader will be distracted by the readable content of a page when looking at its layout. The point of using Lorem Ipsum is that it has a more-or-less normal distribution of letters, as opposed to using ‘Content here, content here’, making it look like readable English. Many desktop publishing packages and web page editors now use Lorem Ipsum as their default model text, and a search for ‘lorem ipsum’ will uncover many web sites still in their infancy. Various versions have evolved over the years, sometimes by accident, sometimes on purpose (injected humour and the like).

TEST

Lorem Ipsum is simply dummy text of the printing and typesetting industry. Lorem Ipsum has been the industry’s standard dummy text ever since the 1500s, when an unknown printer took a galley of type and scrambled it to make a type specimen book. It has survived not only five centuries, but also the leap into electronic typesetting, remaining essentially unchanged. It was popularised in the 1960s with the release of Letraset sheets containing Lorem Ipsum passages, and more recently with desktop publishing software like Aldus PageMaker including versions of Lorem Ipsum.It is a long established fact that a reader will be distracted by the readable content of a page when looking at its layout. The point of using Lorem Ipsum is that it has a more-or-less normal distribution of letters, as opposed to using ‘Content here, content here’, making it look like readable English. Many desktop publishing packages and web page editors now use Lorem Ipsum as their default model text, and a search for ‘lorem ipsum’ will uncover many web sites still in their infancy. Various versions have evolved over the years, sometimes by accident, sometimes on purpose (injected humour and the like).

The Daisy Picker

Nell Mulcahy grew up on the island so when the old stone cottage by the edge of the sea went up for sale, the decision to move back from Dublin was easy.

But when Nell decides to rent out her cottage for the summer to help raise money her forthcoming wedding to Tim, she’s unprepared for what’s about to happen …

As she welcomes holiday-makers to her cottage, Nell must face some truths: about her upcoming wedding to Tim, and her friendship with his brother, James.

And, meanwhile, her father delivers some astounding news which leaves Nell, her mother and the island reeling …

But will Nell make it down the aisle?

One thing’s for sure, it’s a summer on the island that nobody will ever forget.