Blog Archives
Won’t feel it now…
Hello all,
As I write, there are a mere 95 sleeps to the publication of this beauty:
Original publication date has been shifted from June 7 to June 28 – bit disappointing to have to wait a little longer but I’ll have to assume the publishers in their wisdom know what they’re doing. I do love the cover though – hope you do too. I’m putting the final polish on it now before sending it off to be copy-edited, so we’re nearly there. I’m already thinking of the next, and wondering if it’s time for a return to Roone……..
In other news I’m off to the sun shortly with a trio of pals. Lots of walking, eating, wine and sea – really looking forward to the break, seem to have been writing this one forever!
Hope all’s well with everyone – and thanks to those who get in touch to say nice things about the books, always appreciated.
Be good, mind yourselves, here’s to a sunny Irish summer – we can dream!
Roisin xx
New baby on the way….
Hello to all – just checking in, a while since I wrote. The good news is that the next book, The Anniversary, is taking shape; I’m about two thirds of the way through the first draft so there’s still a long way to go but it’s heading in the right direction. Still not sure where everyone is going to end up, but I’m trusting that they’ll let me know at some stage! I’ll soon be seeing a cover, always a scary prospect…..hopefully I’ll breathe a sigh of relief when I see it! And of course I’ll share it here as soon as I’m allowed. The Anniversary is due on the shelves next May or June, all going well. Hard to believe it’s number 15 – where do the years go? I do hope anyone who was kind enough to read The Street Where You Live enjoyed it.
In other news I’ve been laid low since April with some muscle condition – doctors are still scratching their heads to give me a diagnosis but I’m on steroids so hopefully it’ll go as quickly as it came. I’m stiff and sore all over – I suspect I need my dose of miracle drugs upped – but I’m able to write, thankfully. The mixed bag of an Irish summer was a little disappointing but I’m off to say hello to the Spanish sun for a week soon, and I intend to do serious battery recharging as I lie on the beach and lap up the vitamin D, or pretend I know how to swim in the sea!
Hope all had a good summer (or winter, if you’re from Down Under). Till next time, take care and mind yourselves,
Roisin xx
Launched!
All done! Great night was had, usual loyal family, friends and neighbours put in yet another appearance – they must be blue in the face from my launches! Here’s an account from the excellent I Love Limerick people who always turn up too: http://www.ilovelimerick.ie/2017/the-street-where-you-live/
Next Saturday I have a lovely event coming up. An afternoon in Gallagher’s Restaurant at Bunratty, about 8 miles from Limerick city. Complimentary bubbly and nibbles, books for sale if anyone wants them, and a short talk from me about all things booky. Do come if you can, no obligation to buy, just come and chat. For destination info, check out here: https://www.facebook.com/events/1900506540218379/?acontext=%7B%22ref%22%3A%22106%22%2C%22action_history%22%3A%22null%22%7D
And now it’s back to business. Book 15 is taking shape, growing slowly. From now till Christmas I’ll be aiming to put a first draft together – fingers crossed. All I can say at this stage is that it involves a couple who used to be married and their two adult children…..watch this space!
Enjoy the summer. Weather is beautiful in Limerick today, looking out at a clear blue sky and blazing sunshine. Long may it last.
R xx
Remember me?
I wouldn’t blame you if you didn’t – I’ve just seen, to my shame, that my last post here was in AUGUST of last year!! I knew it had been a while but I had no idea it was that long….hopefully some of you will be able, after some thinking, to recall who I am!
So what’s been happening? Well, I wrote another book for starters! Delighted to report that The Street Where You Live will shortly (around June 8) be hitting bookshop shelves all over Ireland and beyond – should be appearing in Australia and New Zealand around that time too, and HOPEFULLY it won’t be long before it’s available online, both as a ‘proper’ book and in e-format. As ever, if you live outside Ireland and want to get your hands on a copy, do check out http://www.kennys.ie – they offer a great service, competitive pricing and free worldwide postage so worth keeping them in mind. They don’t do pre-ordering, so the book won’t appear until it’s been published, but it should be up then or soon afterwards.
I can also report that The Reunion was published in the smaller paperback format about six weeks ago and is selling nicely. So it’s all go. The photo at the top of this post was taken at a recent reading I gave in a great space in Limerick that plays host to arts events, as well as facilitating its own stuff. It’s called Narrative 4, it’s part of a worldwide movement which aims to promote empathy through story-sharing, and it’s well worth checking out too … http://www.narrative4.com/
I’m working on the next book as we speak – well, I was up to five minutes ago! What I can tell you at this stage is it’s called The Anniversary, and it centres around a family that comes together in unusual circumstances over a long weekend…..early days, I have yet to reach the ten thousand word mark, but so far so good. Destined to be published around this time next year, all going well.
If you live in Limerick or anywhere near, you are cordially invited to the official launch of The Street Where You Live, which will take place on Wednesday June 14 at 6.30 in the wonderful O’Mahony’s Bookshop. The launches are always good fun, I get great support from my brilliant friends and family – and I’m planning an after-launch bash in Chez le Fab, a great buzzy cafe/wine bar down the road from the bookshop.
That’s about it for now – time to put the feet up and sign off for the day! Be good, mind yourselves,
Roisin xx
And breathe……
Sorry for the long silence, everyone – a lot of my time lately has been taken up with the hoo-haa (or however you spell it) surrounding the publication of The Reunion – doing radio interviews, writing newspaper and magazine articles, getting a new batch of publicity snaps done, etc etc. I was really thrilled with how well the book did – six weeks in the Irish top ten, and still selling steadily now, and on course to be in some autumn promotions too which is wonderful, so it’ll get great shelf life. Thanks to everyone who played a part – even if you borrowed a copy I’m happy! It’s great to think of it being read by lots of readers, particularly those who might not have read any of the others.
But exciting and hectic as it’s been, I’ve also had to find time to work away on the next book, number fourteen, which will be out in June 2017, all going well, and it’s quite a relief now to be able to put The Reunion to one side and get back to the usual routine of getting up and sitting in front of the laptop, and tapping away until I’m sick of it (nothing glamorous about writing a book!) I’m approaching the halfway mark – another couple of weeks should get me there – and I’m cautiously optimistic. It’s always a nerve-wracking process until the first draft is lashed down – particularly when you’re working with plots as sketchy as mine – and even then it might need serious reworking before it’s fit for public viewing……we’ll hope for the best! No title yet – I had a working one but I just heard that it’s got the thumbs-down at the publishers, so it’s back to the drawing board. I find myself thinking about it when I’m lying in bed waiting to go to sleep (and as a chronic insomniac this can take quite some time!) but I’m still not there with it. No worries, it’ll come (and if not, The Book with No Name has a certain ring…..!)
What else? I signed my Russian contract a few weeks ago – very exciting! Three books being translated, can’t wait to see them in the Cyrillic script….my sister speaks fluent Russian (she’s a total polyglot), so she’ll be able to translate the title and the blurb, and after that I’ll have to assume they got all the rest right – can hardly expect the poor woman to translate back the entire book for me! I’ll have a bit of a wait, first one isn’t due out till sometime next year, but I’m sure they’ll be worth the wait.
So that’s about it for the moment. Hope you’re all having a lovely summer despite the weather (if you’re Irish) and hope the sun is shining on you if you’re from further afield.
Roisin xxx
PS Here’s my favourite new publicity snap, courtesy of Diane at Angles Photography, Limerick – isn’t it gas! 
Ta-dah!
So I can finally reveal the cover of my next arrival; I do hope you like it. Should be appearing on Irish and Australian shelves around the beginning of July, so not long to wait – and of course it’ll also be available on Amazon and other online sites, both in book and ebook formats. Can I recommend an Irish website, http://www.kennys.ie, which offers free worldwide postage, so it’s always worth checking out if you’re looking for a book? The Reunion isn’t featuring there yet – they may not do pre-orders – but they have most of my other books so I’m assuming The Reunion will be up in due course. This book is my thirteenth adult novel, and the third to travel to Australia and New Zealand, so I’m dying to see how it performs once it’s out in the big bad world….fingers crossed, as ever!
In other news, I’m working on a picture book for children. It’s long been a dream of mine to have a picture book published, since I do a regular storytelling slot for small children in my local library, during which I read from other people’s picture books – I would just LOVE to have one of my own to read from…I’ve submitted a few in the past with no success, but I have a good feeling about this one….my agent Sallyanne Sweeney is having a look at it and will come back to me shortly with her thoughts – more fingers crossed!
Exciting news recently was that I was offered a three book translation deal by a RUSSIAN publisher! They want to publish The Things We Do for Love, Something in Common and Two Fridays in April – so obviously I said yes please! Delighted to have the books travelling all the way to Russia – dying to see what covers they put on them, and to see the Russian writing! I might even have to pop over there when the first one hits the shelves….My sister is actually a fluent Russian speaker – she speaks lots of languages – so she’ll be able to tell me if they spelt my name right!
And more good news – I’ve been offered a new book deal by Hachette Books Ireland – this will be my sixth deal with them, so I must be doing something right! Will be signing along the dotted line soon – already I’m starting to gather characters and mull over ideas for the first book in the new deal, as the deadline for first draft is January 2017 – no rest for the wicked!
Best
Roisin xx
Paperback! (Small is Beautiful)
Hello everyone – I promise I’m not going to mention the DIRE phenomenon that is the Irish summer of 2015. Nope, not a word about the grey skies, daily torrential outpourings and typhoon-like gales, and virtually complete absence of sun. (Deep sigh.) Instead, I shall direct your attention to a much happier topic – the arrival yesterday of my box of advance copies of the wonderful thing that is the paperback version of Two Fridays in April! And here they are in all their beauteous glory:
The eagle-eyed readers among you may notice that while the cover hasn’t changed in essence from the trade paperback incarnation which appeared in March, it’s been given a pinkish hue, just to ring the changes a little I suppose. Will be heading into the local bookshops tomorrow to sign whatever copies I might find there…..and in September I shall be taking a trip across the border into Northern Ireland to spread the news about the books in libraries in Belfast and Carrickfergus – more details closer to the time. I was delighted to be invited there, as it’ll be my first time ever in both places, and the fact that I’m going in my capacity as a writer makes it doubly special. Looking forward to meeting a whole new gang of readers! I’ll be coming home via Donegal – specifically Letterkenny – where I’ll do another library visit and I’ll also meet up with a class of Transition Year girls to chat with them about all things bookish – will be a lovely trip all told (although I’ll probably be heartily sick of driving at the end of it………….)
What other news? I’ve handed in my second draft of the upcoming book, the third in the Roone series, whose title I am at last allowed to reveal……drum roll…….I’ll be Home for Christmas. Hope you like it. I do – although every time I opened the manuscript to work on it, and I caught sight of the title, I started to hum the song, and now I’m rather allergic to it. The song, not the book. I’m quietly pleased with the book. Hope you will be too, in the fullness of time. Should be published around mid October, but I’ll give a more definite date as soon as I know. Should be seeing a cover for it soon, dying to see what they come up with – and I will of course flash it here as soon as I get the green light.
Right, I think that’s quite enough news for one blog post. Now to get back to enjoying the Irish summer…….
What? I said I wouldn’t TALK about it.
Roisin xx
The Eagle has Landed!!
So at long last I took delivery of my author advance copies of Two Fridays in April; two sneak-peek copies earlier in the week, direct from the publishers, and my official box of books from the printers this morning: GREAT feeling seeing it ‘in the flesh’; even though this is number eleven, it’s still as thrilling to hold it in your hands for the first time as it was holding my first baby, The Daisy Picker, back in 2004. The past week has been a flurry of pre-publication marketing thingys and setting up interviews and getting my new haircut to go with my new book (OK, that last one was sheer coincidence!) Here’s the box that arrived this morning:
– and here is the book, in its rightful place on my ‘wall of fame’:
– and in other very exciting news, I’ve been invited onto TV3’s Ireland AM programme on March 24 to talk about the book! My first telly interview as a writer! And a local shoe shop, Greene’s Shoes in the Crescent Shopping Centre in Dooradoyle, have kindly sponsored me a pair of shoes to wear for my telly gig!
So it’s all go – and in the meantime I’m ploughing away with the third Roone book, about a third of the way through and going well. The title has been sorted but I’m under STRICT INSTRUCTIONS not to say a word for a long time! Wonder will I manage to keep my gob shut!
And now I must dash, off to Lanzarote on Sunday for a three week writing break – just me and the laptop, and my running shoes – so I’ll miss seeing my new baby when it hits the bookshop shelves here, but I have a small army of faithful friends who have promised to let me know the minute they spot it! Do spread the word – I’d be delighted, and most grateful.
Hope everyone is well and happy. Remind me to tell you about the stuff I’ve been doing in connection with the random acts of kindness movement – no time now. I’ll leave you with the dedication page of Two Fridays in April, and I will tell all when I get a chance:
Roisin xxx
Beavering away . . .
Yoo hoo everyone – apologies for the looooooong silence since my last post; I’ve been working frantically to get Two Fridays in April all done and dusted, bit complicated timeline-wise so lots to keep an eye on – and finally it’s passed out of my hands for the last time as a manuscript. Next time I lay eyes on it it’ll be a real live BOOK!! And I can reveal that the official publication date is March 5, so it should be appearing in an Irish bookshop near you around that date – or if you’re from further afield it’ll be popping up on Amazon and other online selling places. Dying to see it in its finished state – sadly I’m still waiting for the go-ahead from the publishers to reveal the cover, so for the moment you’ll have to take my word for it that it’s lovely, and the minute I’m allowed I’ll flash it up here, promise.
No rest for the wicked, though: I’ve already plotted and started the next – and I hope you’ll be pleased to hear that I’m following on from One Summer and After the Wedding and taking my third trip to the island of Roone (just can’t stay away). The difference with this one is that it’s set in the middle of winter – around Christmas actually, and it’s due to hit the shelves in the autumn, my first time to have two books out in one year. I’ll be ready for a nice long holiday after all this writing!
In other news I’m back at the running lark – and this time I might even stick it out. I started in November and have been following weekly schedules that Patrick, a running-mad friend, has been setting for me, and so far so good. I’ve worked my way up to 6 mile runs, and in a few days I’ll be taking part in my second official race. The first was on St Stephen’s Day and was a 5 miler (I think I came 4th last), and this next one is 6 miles. I’m working up to a half-marathon in May, already registered for it so I can’t back out – having slight palpitations at the thought of running over 13 miles without stopping, but I’ll give it my best shot!
Now it’s late and the bed is calling – I have a 3 mile run to do in the morning – so I’ll say goodnight, and hope 2015 is treating you kindly thus far. My two resolutions for this year are to commit more random acts of kindness and to succeed at the running. Fingers crossed on both fronts, particularly the first. We need more kindness in the world…….
Roisin xx
Here I am!
Oh dear, oh dear, I’ve neglected you all unforgiveably…..do try and forgive me though, because in my defense I was busy with the next book, which hopefully you’ll enjoy when it finally sees the light of day next March! The good news is that I sent off what I’m HOPING will be the final draft last weekend – phew. Of course it’s not the last I’ll see of it – it’ll go to the copy editor who’ll cast her beady eye over it, and in a couple of weeks it’ll come back to me with her input, at which time I’ll have to go through it again and see what she has to say, and what changes if any she’s recommending. When that’s done it’ll be sent to the proofreader (who just happens to be my brother, a freelance copywriter whom Hachette use!) and back to me again for the last time. I swear I nearly know the books off by heart by the time I’m done with them! I usually think ‘thank God that’s the last I’ll see of it’ when I’m handing it back for the final time – and then when my box of advance copies arrives a few months later I can’t wait to open it!
Really hope you like the new one – I’m quietly pleased with how it’s turned out. The challenge I set myself at the outset (I always try to make a new book a little more challenging than the one that went before) was to confine myself to just two days, two Fridays to be exact, both of them in April. I have four main characters, all connected in some way with one another, who tell the story in turn. And now that it’s all done (bar the checking as above) I’m really dying to see it on the shelves, and to see what reaction it gets. March seems like a lifetime away, but it’ll come eventually. And I know I promised ages ago to show you the cover – I had seen it and liked it, and was waiting until it was officially signed off on before going public with it – but I just heard a few days ago that it’s being totally changed – and the good thing is I really love the new one, I think it’s much stronger than the old one, so I’m a happy bunny. It’s still being tweaked, but I’ve been promised a final version VERY soon – and you’ll be the first to see it, I swear! (Well, maybe after my parents!)
By the way, in case you’re wondering what the snaps have to do with anything (and apologies for the quality – I’m a writer, not a photographer!) they’re different views of what I was looking out at from my bedroom window each day last week. I was spending the week in the wonderful writers’ and artists’ retreat that is the Tyrone Guthrie Centre in County Monaghan (www.tyroneguthrie.ie) where I go from time to time to get a bit of intensive writing done (and get a bit pampered too!) As ever I had a great time and was very productive – got the book finished there, which was the objective. All the rooms are gorgeous but I was lucky enough to be put into Lady Guthrie’s room, which is one of the best in my opinion, being located at the front of the house with a view of the lake. The weather was mostly good, but we got two foggy days when the lake literally disappeared! I’m a big fan of fog, though – I love the magic of it, the other-worldly feel it gives to a place. And I met a really interesting group of people, from storytellers to musicians to artists and other writers. Every week I spend in the Tyrone Guthrie Centre is different, but none is ever dull…. And then of course there are the magnificent evening meals which are provided by a posse of extremely gifted local women…..it’s a real treat to go there, and I consider myself blessed to be able to.
Oh, one other thing – I’ve taken up running again. If you’ve been keeping tabs on this diary you’ll know I’m a very sporadic runner, keep stopping and starting (literally) but this time I might just last because I’ve enlisted the help of Patrick, a friend and enthusiastic runner himself who has sort of taken me under his wing. He’s making out weekly schedules for me, and I’m now on week 3, and so far so good. I’m running between 3 and 4 miles when I go out – and would you believe I’m quite liking it! I wouldn’t go so far as to say I’m loving it – not yet – but I don’t dread it, which is a major step forward for me. I’m quite slow but that’s OK – it’s enough for me to get to the finish without having to stop and walk. Watch this space – apparently I’m aiming for the half marathon in the Great Limerick Run next May – help!!!!
Be good,
Roisin xx
