I am on a residency in Cill Rialaig in Ballinskelligs, Co. Kerry. It’s over ten months since I was in Wales and last updated this blog though it’s often been on my mind. Blame it on settling in to the new house, on getting my studio built and organised, on trying to plant and structure…
DetailsSaturday 28 May 16 1 pm Holyhead, Wales. I’m sitting on the ferry at Holyhead waiting for it to leave port after my months residency in Stidwio Maelor in Wales. Sad to be leaving but already looking forward to coming back next year. Ideally to respond more to the landscape and atmosphere of the area-…
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Monday 16 May Sunshine is not good when you are in a residency in a beautiful place. You need rain and wind and a bit of sleet even so that you do not feel guilty for sitting at your desk when the sun is blazing down outside. Because we Irish are rain soaked creatures we…
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Arise O sun God and Greet thy People: A week in Annamaghkerrig. Arise O sun God and Greet thy People. (Garrison Keillor) According to a composer I met in Annamaghkerrig these are the only words an artist wants to hear when he/she has unveiled a new work. He was staying in Annamaghkerrig for…
DetailsNovel progress: 19,300. Four weeks. Hmm, a bit behind… I am heading off to the Tyrone Guthrie centre in Annamakerrig this morning for a week. It was the home of the theatre director Sir William Tyrone Guthrie until he died in 1971, very kindly leaving it to the Irish state as an artist’s…
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I wrote the following piece in Achill last week. I was exhausted after working hard all summer and the break was great. There was no wifi in the house so I paid regular trips to Marty Mac’s in the evenings. Needless to say I’ve been so busy since I got back that I’m only getting…
DetailsThe shortlist is published for a competition you entered. You scroll through the names, feeling a rush of pleasure when you find your own name, or more likely a feeling of disappointment that you did not make the list. Or depression or envy. Anger even. They wouldn’t know a good short story if it…
DetailsThe joys of Autumn. It’s Tuesday morning after the bank holiday and the rain is pouring down. I write upstairs and we have dormer windows so it’s hard to miss the sound of dejected raindrops dying on the windows…and making sad patterns..oh dear. Time for another coffee. While the kettle is boiling I…
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