September – College, but not as we know it, and my fourth book this year

That was a summer break like no other as the coronavirus affected everyone’s lives. I wrote. I photographed, edited and published. I turned out four books. Some authors like blog tours, publicity launches and more, or the standard book launches we all love to attend. I just wrote another book. We wanted to travel either to Britain or a nice location in Ireland. Instead, we stayed at home, I wrote until 10.30pm most nights, and my talented husband made my book covers.
Here is my fourth book this year, already selling in multiple countries. A Dog For Lockdown, second in the Irish Lockdown YA series which began with A Pony For Quarantine. Coronavirus, cyber-bullying and canine care feature in this tale about a 13 year old boy in Ireland.

Find it here:
https://amazon.com/Dog-Lockdown-Irish...

College is starting next week. My classmates of last year have graduated, and I’m proud of them, all great young people with a bright future… provided the post-Covid environment leaves them work. Because I had a course change from part-time to full-time two years ago (a long time, looked at today) I was asked last year if I would take eleven modules – nine journalism, two state-required employability – to complete my
course, in one year. I said no. Therefore I am taking the last few modules this year. This was the only solution, because I could not possibly have fitted in all that work and got good results. I am trepidatious, because now my friends are absent, I’m the only journalism student, the buildings and library won’t be available most of the time, and I’ll take online classes. I’ll complete my journalism thesis modules without being able to travel, take in conferences like COP26, or interview people easily.

Well, it will still be fun. The classes will still be good classes and I’ll be learning. My new classmates will be great young people with bright futures. The library will lend e-books and periodicals. I’ll presumably be in college some of the time, the schedule still being finalised, and on those occasions I’ll resume my wary acquaintance with the Apple Macintosh computers in the media lab to run Final Cut Pro, Photoshop, Audacity (or Pro Tools if I have no option), Indesign and the rest.

My spare time includes being a Peer Mentor which means I can be a steadying influence for younger students, and pass on some of the knowledge of how to navigate college that I’ve gained, mainly over Zoom.


The outgoing President of the Journalism Society asked me to fill that position, and while trips to the RTE studios may not be possible, we will see how many activities we can pack into the year. How many stories and interviews we can find. How much fun we can have.
Because it will still be fun.

Follow my published articles on my JournoPortfolio page – a site I highly recommend. Most recently I had a journalism article, on a surprising result from a public train ticket machine, published on The Register.
https://clareobeara.journoportfolio.com/

My paperback of A Pony For Quarantine gained a delighted reaction from a young person and her family recently. All my books are in the Kindle Unlimited programme too. If you enjoy a book please leave a review, which helps other readers.

Watch my book trailers for my science fiction series:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GadPp...

Visit my website:
www.clareobeara.ie

for news, puzzles, books, reviews and events. I blog here about disability access including my Top Ten places to visit. You can find my podcasts about Octocon on the News and Events page. I provide a Writers’ Page giving tips about how to be an independent publisher. I am also adding book covers to Pinterest boards after I review the books, so feel free to find me on Pinterest.