Clare O'Beara's Blog, page 3

January – Stormy weather but still fun.

During the run-up to Christmas, I was shopping and sorting food, library books and gifts. I had lunch in the Royal Dublin Society and admired the decorations. The weather was stormy, up to 70mph, so I had to pick my days to venture outdoors. During January, the storms persisted. I remarked to my husband, “This may be our future; a storm every week.”

While in touch with friends and family members, I realised that we’re a lot less connected than we used to be. I find people are used to small get-togethers now and not many people are hosting parties any more. We had been invited to a family gathering but one of the family caught Covid so we didn’t want to risk picking up the germ. And society or work events are greatly reduced. A message to school or college friends takes seconds to send. For all we’re connected, life is about less contact, not more.

In place of all that socialising, I’ve been feeding the birds. No finches at all this year; just a couple of great tits and blue tits for decoration, while the sparrows and starlings squabble and chirp. A collared dove came to the bird feeder, but could not eat from a hanging feeder so had to pick spilt bits from the ground. I scattered some seeds on the ground the next morning, and two collared doves visited. One morning I noticed the birds flying in to the garden and flying straight back out again, which was odd. I went to look, and a good-sized grey squirrel was upside down in the tree trying to gnaw his way into the wire peanut feeder. He didn’t get anything and hasn’t returned.

Otherwise, I’ve been enjoying my usual winter pursuits of reading, reviewing, and decluttering the house, woodshed and computer. We’re also cooking tasty dinners, and baking, from cakes to breads. I bought a pack of oxtail and we had fun making oxtail soup in the slow cooker. This worked out very well and the birds got the bones. This is a Leap year and we’ve had a new Bank Holiday for St. Brigid’s Day, so it feels like spring will be off to a good start.

This month I am making a winter SF novel free, so grab Dining Out with the Ice Giants 25 – 28 February.
If you enjoy a book, please consider leaving a rating or review to help other readers.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00MW8IQXG

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00MW8IQXG

You can follow me on Linked In to see some of my photography. Catch up with my news, events and Young Adult Page on my website. You can also sign up for my seasonal newsletter. I have a page devoted to helping writers publish independently.
www.clareobeara.ie

December - A Busy Year

2023 was the first year in several that I wasn’t in college at the start of the year. I put that right by signing up to take a certificate with the Law Society of Ireland, in Social Media and the Law.
I also took courses with the United Nations, gaining certificates and a much better understanding of their works, and with LinkedIn, gaining online certificates and a lot of useful knowledge. For instance, I am now certified in Fuel Management, Women’s Health, and Headshot Photography.

Putting my skills to good use, I attended many talks and exhibitions in colleges and libraries, taking photos, noting content and holding brief interviews. The results have been published on LinkedIn, Goodreads and my author newsletter. Those featured, who include authors, photographers, artists, an opera manager and journalists, have seemed pleased. This work also thanks those hosting the talks.

My husband and I travelled abroad three times, on short trips. We visited London, Cardiff and the West Country of England. See my earlier blog posts for details. These fun and marvellously scenic and cultural outings did us good. We also drove to locations around Ireland for days out and photography.

I helped to staff Octocon again and appeared on a panel, this one about Maps in SF and F. I sat with fantasy cartographer Jog Brozin on my left, and I said to him, “I have a map!” and produced a map of Doggerland, the land now under the North Sea between the Continent and Britain. This was dry land during the Ice Age. “See, the Thames and the Rhine are the same river. They join and flow south,” I continued. Jog was delighted to find a kindred spirit. He had some of his work exhibited at the Con, but I was the only one to hold up maps during the panel.

The other maps I showed were of London, as my characters cross the Thames, which lies between their zine office on the Isle of Dogs and the Dome, now the Embassy of Jupiter, at Greenwich. I explained I’d had to go there and find out how people cross the Thames. There’s more than one rowing club on that stretch, there’s the Docklands Light Rail, the Tube, a pedestrian foot tunnel, a motor tunnel from Poplar, a cable car, besides the bridges. And sailing boats and barges ply the trade route, plus which the characters can hitch a ride from friendly Neptunians.

Towards the end of the year, I completed and published the third in my Irish Lockdown series. A Cat For Company is making many friends. The book brings in the characters from the earlier books to a new character’s tale, and continues their stories. Once more I illustrated the adventure with my photos of cats and dogs, and journalistic scenes during the Pandemic. Again, I explored modern media and how young people are using these in so many exciting ways.

I’ve also met and been helping other authors who want to bring out books on Kindle. Giving back to literature and the writing community is something I’ve been doing for many years, starting with reviewing books I loved as a child, on Amazon. I’ve continued to review for Fresh Fiction, getting the best of forthcoming reads. And Shepherd.com asked me to pick my three favourite reads for the year – a tough choice! See the outcome at this link.
https://shepherd.com/bboy/2023/f/clar...

You can follow me on Linked In to see some of my photography. Catch up with my news, events and Young Adult Page on my website. You can also sign up for my seasonal newsletter. I have a page devoted to helping writers publish independently.
www.clareobeara.ie

This month I am making Murder At Scottish Mensa free, so grab it 18 – 21 January.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00E78J0W0

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00E78J0W0

November – Dublin Book Festival and visiting The French Lieutenant’s Woman

The week-long Dublin Book Festival is tremendous fun. I took in a few different events over a few days. Dublin Castle Printworks was the main location, but libraries and other venues also held events. Some of the book events were interesting, with discussions around a theme such as climate change, and others consisted of people who had already been paid for their works, reading from the works. This didn’t really provide anything useful to the audience, except to see if you did or didn’t like the work. Only trad published authors were provided.

A couple of magazines were launched at the Festival, and I attended one of those, called Sonder, in which women read from their articles about their lives. This is a good way to size up a mag for possible submissions. Another mag released its latest issue, in a pub, and I attended that too but did not enjoy the readings, as the men who spoke were casually describing their drug abuse. This is still useful as now I know where I don’t wish to submit my work.

I attended the opening of an art exhibition by a collective of female artists, which was enjoyable and friendly. Calling themselves Creative Collective, the women come from various countries and work in mediums from wood to ceramics, fabric to paints. This was held in an accessible exhibition space in Dublin’s Docklands, near the Epic emigration museum.

I gave help again to the independent authors who want to publish on Kindle; they are close to ready now, so I made suggestions as to getting a foreword, and said they should aim to publish for the Christmas market. Taking my advice personally, I brought out my latest book, A Cat For Company, and this is already selling. I always notice an uptick in paperback sales approaching Christmas, especially in YA category; but paperbacks have virtually stopped selling during the rest of the year. So I don’t currently plan to release more paperbacks.

Next, I went to visit the location of The French Lieutenant’s Woman. I travelled to Somerset and Dorset, taking in Taunton, with its castle and half-timbered houses next to major shopping streets, Axminster with its 1300s church and yew trees, and Lyme Regis. The book and film are set in the Dorset harbour town Lyme Regis, which was gorgeous to visit – pretty, brightly painted and with big open sky and no crowds at this time of year. I bought a box of chips to eat a hot lunch sitting on the Cobb, that famous long sea wall, and took photos of everything. Then I went to poke around the Jurassic cliffs and turned up several small bits of fossils. A party of twenty or so schoolkids or Scouts had been ahead of me, so they’d hoovered up the best ones.
While I flew to Bristol, the rest of the journey was accomplished by means of numerous bus rides, keeping my travel as low carbon as possible. Wi-Fi in cafés makes a phone an indispensable tool for organising such travel. And the Kindle is a great companion.

No room left to cover this year’s Octocon so I’ll fit that in next month with my review of my year. You can follow me on Linked In to see some of my photography. Catch up with my news, events and Young Adult Page on my website. You can also sign up for my seasonal newsletter. I have a page devoted to helping writers publish independently.
www.clareobeara.ie

This month I am making Murder At Irish Mensa free to download, 16 – 19 December. Wishing everyone a happy winter holiday season, whatever day you celebrate.
UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00E5JMQP4
US: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00E5JMQP4

October – New book released, and Octocon notes

The great news is that I’ve finished and published my latest book, A Cat For Company.
Katya O’Callaghan, from a Polish-Irish family, needs to grow up quickly when the Covid-19 Pandemic strikes Dublin. She’s caring for her younger twin brothers, her puppy and kitten, and she’s the sole visitor allowed for her grandparents. That’s a lot of responsibility for a thirteen year old.
When circumstances oblige Katya to move in with her grandparents, she brings her kitten, which gets named Milo. Between attending school online and educating the seniors about e-mails from foreign princes, she’s kept busy. As the lockdown restrictions are extended, the girl learns vital lessons. She’s going to need all her skills when dog thieves strike her family.
This informative, positive thinking story for young people mixes fact with fiction, nature lore, photos and a recipe.
Illustrated with photos by the author.

A Cat For Company is third in the Irish Lockdown series, following A Pony For Quarantine and A Dog For Lockdown, and can be read as a standalone.

Links to A Cat For Company
Amazon UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0CNL6V19D

Amazon US: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CNL6V19D


Octocon was great fun as always, and my panel went well. I’ll tell you about that next time.
Now, back to the notes I made during the previous year’s Octocon. I was a volunteer again so I noted down the content of talks while sitting in a panel room waiting to hold up the 10 minute cards or pass around the roving mic. The 2022 Con was held in Croke Park meeting rooms, and with health restrictions still somewhat in place, windows were open to the cold autumnal air throughout, making it the coldest Con I have attended. I feel the cold and my main issue was that the coffee for sale was only ever lukewarm. The food stopped being served at around 4pm without notice, and was very limited in nature. People selling in the dealer room could not move around to get warm. A dance and fancy dress event was held one evening, but I was so cold I had to go home. While this was a good chance to gain experience working in a signature stadium, I was not surprised that the Con moved to a hotel for 2023.

Here’s the notes for a panel I found most interesting.
Saturday – Holding on to our rights as we expand to the stars. Edmond Barrett, R B Kelly, Declan Meenagh, Harun Sijak.




Mod, Mary Brigid Turner. Generation ships - in one story, after a few generations, people no longer know how to read and write.
EB – Pirate ships were relatively democratic as everyone had to agree on a leader.
DM – is it ethical to have a generation ship? Signing up future generations who have no choice and a restricted life.
Mod - losing the rights to learn.
RB – from Northern Ireland – self determination is not recognised in a society which needs engineers and not SF writers.
EB – reproductive rights. Can need genetic diversity but have restricted resources.
RBK – just doing what we like has led to a lack of resources.
EB – In Wool Omnibus. an enclosed society, an expectation of rebellion every few generations and how to put it down.
HS – Things could be traded e.g. what you are able to make trades into how many children.
DM – take car ownership – is that a right, how to wean people off cars and car parking spaces. People want to build a house in the countryside where they have to have a car.
EB – homosexual marriage was considered wacky and illegal in the 1970s. A generation shift has seen it legalised. Other social changes could happen on a generation ship.
Mod – how to avoid revolution on a gen ship, and should we try?
RBK – optimistic and pessimistic. Last 100 years have been getting better for human rights. Would like to think this would continue improving. Dystopian SF says no.
HS – population would have to be very educated.
EB – voting would require tech education.
DM – nearly every piece of worker rights came via strikes and unions. Oxygen supply – work to rule. As a species we are messy, conflicts arise. Must be resolved for a ship.
HS – revolution or just mutiny to take over the ship? Revolution is more broad.
EB – would have to have children or a bunch of pensioners would come off the ship and need someone to look after them. Cultural shift between home planet and ship or planetary colonists.
RB Kelly – make a decision to stay on the moon, as after a certain period you physically can’t leave. Kids find moon home in New Moon but compare the cold to Antarctica etc. however they have never been to Earth and can’t go.
HS – in a Mars colony it would be counterproductive to keep old ways just for the sake of it. Are laws insufficient?
RBK – in Luna every law is contract law so nothing is illegal, it’s negotiable. 5 corporations pushed development of the moon and made the laws. You can’t steal but should negotiate for what you need.
EB – Artemis – limited options in a lunar habitat. If you kill someone you are sent to the country they came from – if 2 people killed, we can send you to jail in Norway or Russia, depending on how much you tell us.
DM – social security net of a universal income, in low gravity for so long you would become disabled.
EB – in mediaeval times a family could not keep a child that was disabled as everyone needed to work to bring in enough food. Harsh reflection on society.
HS –Red Mars, start from a clean slate, no inertia of systems or just a continuation of Earth ways.
Q: jobs are becoming hereditary on Battlestar Galactica. Workers were doing a basic job and wanted better conditions.
DM – unions now don’t want to go on strike as they don’t get paid.
HS – lack of labour brings increased replaceability, robots and AI. Not that hopeful of power of life support staff.
EB – career progression to move to other jobs every ten years.
DM – swap shifts, work less, hold protests.
Q: Economic system – closed system, not growth, plenty of spare time,
EB – could work 5 hours and do something cultural the rest. But resources are limited.
RBK – post scarcity society in Star Trek, Culture clash among other cultures. We will need to adopt and release pressures slowly.
DM – UN rights e.g. right to housing. Space could be run by billionaire bros. Would prefer luxury space communism.

You can follow me on Linked In to see some of my photography. Catch up with my news, events and Young Adult Page on my website. You can also sign up for my seasonal newsletter. I have a page devoted to helping writers publish independently. www.clareobeara.ie

September – BBC World Book Club, and Women and War.

The BBC World Book Club radio interview with Audrey Niffenegger played, available on their podcast page. I found it really interesting to hear how the book The Time Traveller's Wife was written and what is coming next. I asked Audrey about Henry’s absences and how they affected his relationship with Claire.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/w3ct...


I completed some more UN courses, on Fuel Management. For an environmental journalist this gives a crucial understanding of the situation in developing nations or after a crisis, when the UN staff may be providing aid. For instance, the petrol and diesel used by the UN in vehicles, boats and generators, is free from duty. This means they have to guard against theft and black market selling, because both their station and the host nation would be robbed.


The Trinity College Long Room Hub talk on ‘Women and War’ featured Rosetta Cucchi, the Art Director of the Wexford Festival Opera, who told us the history of opera about women during wartime, and about the operas she is producing this year. Second speaker was Lara Marlowe, an America-born Foreign Correspondent with The Irish Times for many years. She told us about the effects of war on women she had seen, with photos. She is currently covering the Ukraine war. One of her books describes the years while she was married to journalist Robert Fisk and they covered conflict zones. We were treated to wine and nibbles afterwards so I got to tell the ladies I am a journalist and ask to take photos.


On Culture Night, I went to the Royal Dublin Society for a musical recital by a young opera singer and a pianist.
The soprano artiste Megan O’Neill told us she is in the fourth year of her doctorate degree in Musical Performance. The RDS has given her a bursary for education. I didn’t want to disturb the performance by taking her photo.

I also read some fantastic books, and took in an online talk about birdwatching and biodiversity.

I volunteered to help staff Octocon again, our National Science Fiction Convention, held in the Gibson Hotel, Dublin’s Docklands. An online version is also available and many attendees will do doing both. This year Octocon asked me to appear on a panel again: Cartography and Storytelling: A Creator's Guide To Worldbuilding, so in other words, Maps in SF and F, which I am looking forward to greatly. I don’t know yet if my panel will be streamed, but I’ve signed a waiver permitting use of my contribution. Next month’s blog will, as usual, contain the notes I took during last year’s Octocon. I’m looking forward to seeing my friends again, and feeling the bustle and connection of an in-person Con.
I also enjoy the Discord server Con and if I wasn’t going to be sitting at reception desks and moving chairs, I’d be volunteering to wear a virtual red jersey again as we did during lockdown.

Free book for Octocon, 7 – 9 October.
Dining Out With The Ice Giants
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00MW8IQXG
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00MW8IQXG

If you don’t use the UK or US stores, and Amazon won’t give you the correct link – their procedure changed lately – you can either alter the link (put .ca instead of .com for instance) or drop a comment here and I’ll post the correct link for you.

You can follow me on Linked In to see some of my photography. Catch up with my news, events and Young Adult Page on my website. You can also sign up for my seasonal newsletter. I have a page devoted to helping writers publish independently. www.clareobeara.ie

August – Cardiff, Dublin Horse Show, and the BBC

My husband and I took a short break in Cardiff, Wales. I saw Cardiff Arms Park sports stadium, the Museum of Wales, Museum of Cardiff, a 13th Century church, BBC Wales, which is celebrating its 100th year of broadcasting, the Library, and lots of shopping streets, many under cover as a big centre. Rained a lot except the last day, which was sunny and ideal for exploring the castle. I walk more than Allan does, especially in the rain.
I came back and told Allan the BBC wants me to start on Tuesday.
We enjoyed local foods and a Cuban meal with music and dancers. Our flight back was delayed and we arrived home near 3am.


One of my ongoing projects is that I correct text errors in the digitised newspapers stored by the National Library of Australia. The scan may have been done on a damaged paper, or the OCR software may have read the text incorrectly. I hit 100,000 lines corrected, working through a paper from 1906.

I went in to the Dublin Horse Show in the RDS. One of the horses on the Aga Khan Cup team was the grand-offspring of a horse I competed against when he was up and coming. This is always a lovely occasion, cheerful, bustling, bright and colourful. I set a murder mystery here during 2016, but I’m pleased to say no murders occurred on this visit.

A local group asked me to talk to them, about publishing. Of course, I was delighted. Over coffee it turned out that two retired gentlemen are keen, one has a Createspace paperback which he wants to re-edit and pub on Kindle, the other has a book he wants to pub. I advised on everything from legal issues to covers, titles and content.

The BBC World Book Club phoned me about a radio interview. They asked me to speak with Audrey Niffenegger, author of The Time Traveller's Wife. I’ll tell you about that next month.



Here are some of the great books I’ve been reading.





To celebrate the Horse Show, I’m making Murder Against The Clock free. Download on 14 – 17 September.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01LTDYFXO

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01LTDYFXO

If you don’t use the UK or US stores, and Amazon won’t give you the correct link – their procedure changed lately – you can either alter the link (put .ca instead of .com for instance) or drop a comment here and I’ll post the correct link for you.

You can follow me on Linked In to see some of my photography. Catch up with my news, events and Young Adult Page on my website. You can also sign up for my seasonal newsletter. I have a page devoted to helping writers publish independently.
www.clareobeara.ie

July – Media Law, fraud prevention, and history of the Ordnance Survey

I worked through the Law Society course on online media law. I enjoyed the classes and even the three exams. I’ve gained my certificate.
I attended and covered the opening of an art group exhibition in a nearby library, with the result that I was asked to come and talk with members about publishing on Kindle.

I also took a UN Environment Programme course on sustainable lifestyles. As part of this I tried the carbon footprint / Earth overshoot day calculator. "Your personal Earth Overshoot Day is: 30 Dec. Hurray! If everyone lived like you, there would be no Overshoot Day! We would only need 1 Earths."
https://www.footprintnetwork.org/reso...

Thus encouraged, I proceeded to take courses with the UN, on IT security, and fraud and corruption awareness and prevention. While these are particularly valuable to journalists and crime writers, I recommend these and similar courses generally. Knowing how to spot crime, fraud and security risks, is a public good.

The UN also encourages and protects internal whistleblowers. A dedicated hotline is provided for anyone who feels they can’t speak directly to a superior. If people need to report something, they are urged not to try to gather more information. First, this might put them at risk. And second, it might tip off a wrongdoer, who then destroys evidence or removes themselves from the vicinity. As I heard on the London Underground platforms – If you see something of concern, just say something to an official. “See it - say it – sorted.”

As the weather was rainy and stormy, I spent time in the house, decluttering. Another old office item went for recycling, once I had a small, sleek replacement. What I have not been good at reducing this year has been stacks of paper books, I blame the libraries. Also, the Kindle. I have taken one or no paperbacks with me while travelling, and I used to go through a few on each trip. I tend to come home with paperbacks all right. They find me.

Some of the great books I’ve read lately include:






Tom Broderick of the Ordnance Survey / Tailte Éireann, delivered a talk in Raheny Library on the history of the Ordnance Survey in Ireland. He explained that originally all staff had to be members of the Army for three years before becoming civilian cartographers. One woman was on staff, a Miss Clark who ran a small supply outlet. Ireland was the first country to be fully mapped, with 6 inch mapping completed under Maj. Gen. Thomas Colby in 1846.

Colby bars were invented, a bar of iron and brass bound together, as the metals expanded at different rates so a more accurate measurement could be obtained. Another useful invention was limelight, or Drummond light, which could be seen from 100 miles away by the mappers and anyone else.

Donkeys were used to carry equipment and materials for trigonometric pillars up mountains.

The first maps were made on etched copper plate and printing press by hand. In 1930 the first 1:2,500 map was made, soon after, a 1:2000. The first survey was carried out before the Great Famine, and the second, after the Famine, so this is useful for genealogy work to see how land boundaries, industry such as tanneries, and ownership changed.

Prior to that a man named O'Donavan went around the country in the 1820s -30s, compiling the names of the townlands.
Nowadays, aerial surveys and theodolites combine with lidar, and the maps are viewable online via GeoHive.

At the end of July my husband and I packed light once more and headed off to Wales. I’ll tell you about our adventure next month.

To celebrate summer, I’m making Dining Out Around The Solar System Part One free. Download on 17 – 20 August.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00SONOGF0
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00SONOGF0

If you don’t use the UK or US stores, and Amazon won’t give you the correct link – their procedure changed lately – you can either alter the link (put .ca instead of .com for instance) or drop a comment here and I’ll post the correct link for you.

June – Environmental and Media studies, Summer in London

I was selected as one of 100 people representing Ireland in a pan-European forum on climate change, biodiversity and the environment. This was held online over two weeks, with video talk sessions and forum threads, content supplied by local political representatives, and comparisons with the comments and ideas from the other groups around Europe. This was hosted by the University of Turin. I met some highly interesting people, learned a great deal, contributed all I could, and enjoyed the whole session. After the end of the two weeks, I received a digital certificate of participation.

I attended and covered the Royal Dublin Society Farm, Forestry and Innovation Awards lunch. This went well and I sat with lovely, interesting people involved in environmental business, one tech firm, one grass roots. The lady next to me turned out to have attended my school – though years later - so we had a great chat. The President of the RDS introduced Pippa Hackett, a Minister for the Department of the Environment, who presented the awards. She is an organic farmer.

I placed an article on Medium about helping seniors to live independently. Unlike writers in America, I don’t earn anything from people reading my content on Medium.
Home Alone – Hidden hazards for seniors.
https://medium.com/@clareobeara/home-...-------------------------------------

June was Crime Fiction Month in the UK, so I attended a free Zoom talk featuring five UK crime writers.

Allan and I went to London for a few days. Partly to sightsee and partly to visit a friend for an afternoon at her home. We took a canal narrowboat trip one day, and on the last day visited the Rosetta Stone in the British Museum – my second time to see it and Allan’s first. This stone found in Egypt by Napoleon’s army was already ancient. It contains the same text in hieroglyphic, demotic Egyptian and Greek scripts and provided the key to deciphering the hieroglyphs. I recommend reading The Keys Of Egypt on the subject.

Weather was hot and sunny, but there are almost no drinking water fountains in London as everywhere wants to sell bottled water. Everything in London is expensive. I bought some books (of course). I visited many a bookshop, one at Camden Lock in converted stables where canal barge horses were kept above warehouses. A long ramp gave them access to the upper level. Statues in the vicinity were of Amy Winehouse, singer, and Lara Croft, Tomb Raider.

I started a diploma course with the Law Society of Ireland on Social Media and the Law. This runs during June and July and contains three exams and a great deal of interesting course content, including videos and a participatory forum.
As a journalist I studied media law, but new, updated Acts have come into force recently, and with the advances in AI as well, I decided I would benefit from continuous career development.



To celebrate summer in London, I’m making Dining Out With The Gas Giants free. Grab it July 20 – 23.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0150KLQIE
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0150KLQIE

If you don’t use the UK or US stores, and Amazon won’t give you the correct link – their procedure changed lately – you can either alter the link (put .ca instead of .com for instance) or drop a comment here and I’ll post the correct link for you.

You can follow me on Linked In to see some of my photography. Catch up with my news, events and Young Adult Page on my website. You can also sign up for my seasonal newsletter. I have a page devoted to helping writers publish independently.
www.clareobeara.ie

May – Australia, Northern Ireland, Dublin and Japan!

May was another busy month. I attended a talk in Trinity College by Prof. Genevieve Bell (Australian National University), Andrew Meares (Australian National University), and Prof Chris Morash (TCD), about the telegraph stations built to provide the Trans-Australian Telegraph.
These laid the path for today’s fibreoptics, railways and highways, which still follow the route. Afterwards I told Professor Bell that I attend all her talks, and mentioned I had read Len Beadell’s books, which include Beating About the Bush and Bush Bashers. She confirmed that the highway passing the station she visited had been constructed by Len and his crew. This team was responsible for building the Nullabor Highway, Gunbarrel Highway and more. “A real character,” was her verdict. I don’t believe she knew anyone in Ireland had read these memoirs. I enjoy them because of my background in demolition and tree surgery, as well as my love of reading about Australia.

I attended the launch of the fifth edition of Tolka literary non-fiction magazine. This was held in the room over Books Upstairs near O’Connell Bridge. The location felt like being in someone’s home rather than the previous edition’s launch, at which the team of editors and writers were up on a stage under lighting, and a long way away from the audience. This time the atmosphere was completely informal and much more friendly.

My husband and I also fitted in a day trip to bookshops in Northern Ireland, returning laden. We enjoyed sitting out for a pub lunch on a warm afternoon. I was driving, so that curtailed my appreciation of the local cider to half a pint. The province was looking adorably pretty with may flowers blooming on the hawthorn bushes and purple haze over the mountains.

I took in a talk online organised by the PR Academy about the stresses people accumulate when they use digital media constantly. Actually this was mainly about social media, which I don’t use due to privacy concerns. People are unable to concentrate for long periods and have trouble remembering anything that they know can be found from a search engine. Some tips included turning off notifications and apps. I would also suggest putting a phone on airplane mode if you need to concentrate. Walking in nature to clear the head was recommended.

My final online talk was organised by Kew Gardens and featured Prof. Suzanne Simard among others. She wrote Finding the Mother Tree: Discovering the Wisdom of the Forest about both her discoveries of the wood wide web and the reaction of the establishment in forestry and science to a young woman’s researches overturning practices. I was delighted to see the professor, who has fought cancer and come back strong.

Other speakers included BBC Panorama journalist Joe Crowley, who told about the world’s biggest wood burning power station, Drax. The concept was that sawmill residue and forest thinnings would be burned. His investigation found that not only was Drax importing wood to UK from the US and Canada, which doesn’t sound sustainable, but primary forests were being clear-cut felled to feed the maw. The wood has to be dried, so 26 million tonnes of pellets, a year’s worth, came from double that biomass of trees. Drax stopped cutting on a second site after the programme aired.

Last month I mentioned taking a photo of the Kendo display in Dublin.
Author Kazuko Nishimura has honoured me by using this photo to head his newsletter, which describes various aspects of Japanese history and culture. I always enjoy his newsletters so here is a link to this one featuring Kendo. https://mailchi.mp/4d3259175bfe/the-w... Kazuko’s fascinating books include the Goddesses of the World series.

As part of the increased costs of paper, which comes from wood pulp, Amazon will be raising the production cost of paperbacks, so as my versions of these were already just breaking even, the cost will have to rise. Might be time to invest in a Kindle, but a paperback will still be a great value present. This month I am making Dogs Of Every Day free to download. Grab it 14 – 17 June. Readers not in the UK or US store should use the .com link, which will offer to bring them to their local Amazon store.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B08CJG12SP
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08CJG12SP

You can follow me on Linked In to see some of my photography. Catch up with my news, events and Young Adult Page on my website. You can also sign up for my seasonal newsletter. I have a page devoted to helping writers publish independently. www.clareobeara.ie

April – Poetry, photography, Japan, and crime

April was a packed month when I attended writers’ talks for One City, One Book, among others. All the libraries stock a particular book by an Irish author each April, and talks are organised on that theme. This year the chosen book was a historical crime story The Coroner's Daughter so I enjoyed a couple of crime author talks in the National Library’s Reading Room and Malahide Library. Participating authors were Andrew Hughes, Nicola Cassidy, Sinéad Crowley, Marianne Lee





I also took in an exhibition of photography by students in Colaiste Dhulaigh, a technical college near me. The work was of an impressive calibre and good variety. I got to chat to the students and take their photos with some of the pieces. The works are also in a virtual display space called ArtSteps.

Near the end of the month I visited a Poetry Day event held in the Casino, Marino. This is a small house built to resemble a temple in parkland. Actually, there are three floors and 16 rooms, so this fancy residence which is now owned by the State was not just ornamental. Poets reading included Shree Shen, and James William Dillon, who had won the Fingal Poetry Slam and kept us all laughing with his cheerfully wistful ode, Let’s Make Dublin Grand Again.

Finally on the last day of April, I visited Japan Day, held at Farmleigh House in the Phoenix Park. This is a State-owned residence which once was a country home of the Guinness family, and was bought in need of renovation, both purchase and work costing many millions. Here I saw art, calligraphy, music, drumming, dancing, costumes and cookery in the Japanese stye.
Also a display of martial arts, including the dramatic kendo with bamboo swords and padded and masked competitors. On the walk back to my parking spot, I snapped photos of the park herd of deer, enjoying the evening sunlight.


All these events were free, and my principle is that if you want events to be held, you have to support them. Whether it’s a poetry reading or a science fiction convention, find something in your area and go along, have fun, and thank the organisers. I’m posting some of the photos I took on Linked In, to spread them to a wider audience. We spent long enough confined to or near our homes over the past few years – getting out and about feels wonderful.


This month I am making Murder At Dublin Mensa free to download.
Grab it 11 – 14 May. Readers not in the UK or US store should use the .com link, which will offer to bring them to their local Amazon store.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00E78QKP0
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00E78QKP0

Catch up with my news, events and Young Adult Page on my website. I have a page devoted to helping writers publish independently. www.clareobeara.ie