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Hello everyone,

Hope this finds you all in good form. As I write this I’m looking forward to turning all my clocks forward an hour tomorrow night (Saturday 29th March) and ushering in the longer days, with more light and hopefully more heat and blue skies. The last couple of weeks have had plenty of sunshine and kinder temperatures, pic below shows the 2025 lupins coming along nicely, so I’m crossing fingers tightly for the summer. Would be lovely to get a couple of balmy months�.

On the writing front, Moving On stayed for five lovely weeks in the top 10 which was thrilling, and thanks to all who helped with that. This week it’s dropped to number 11, so still enjoying nice strong sales. I’ve completed the first draft of the next, and will be handing it over on April 7 for my editors to read and critique. I’ll be using part of the writing break to attend to a few house repairs and tidy up the garden, which needs a whole lot of TLC after the winter, but I’ll only have two weeks at that because on April 22 I’ll be signing in to Croom Orthopedic Hospital for a hip replacement, and after I come home my movements will be a bit limited while my new part beds in. Lots of reading and short strolls will be the order of the day, I’d say. I’m looking forward to getting rid of the old hip, which has become quite painful in the past few months, particularly in bed at night. Roll on bionic woman!

On the house-hunting front I’m pleased to report that I’ve gone sale agreed on a beautiful house � and guess what? It’s pretty much the polar opposite of the kind of house I was looking for…but as soon as I saw it I fell in love, and happily, after a bit of determined bidding, I got it. I’m thrilled, but I’m also terrified to say any more at this early stage in case I jinx it�..so more news will come when I’m sure it’s not going to fall through!

Mind yourselves, stay safe, enjoy the longer days of spring 2025.

love

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Hello everyone,

Happy March to all. Month of breezes and showers and bursts of sunshine and signs of spring in the garden and longer days and the promise of warmer weather. What’s not to love? I’m delighted to report that Moving On is currently sitting at number three in the Irish bestseller list, after having jumped in at number five after just three days of sales, so I’m absolutely thrilled about that, and very grateful to all who put their hands in their pockets to help it get there. It’s also just secured its first translation deal, can’t name the country until I sign along the dotted line and make it official, but it’s a publisher that’s already published an earlier book so that means they’re happy to go again. Delightful.

I’m moving through the first draft of the next on schedule, which is great. I hit 70k words yesterday which was a good milestone � all the roundy numbers are. This one I think will be a little shorter than some of the others, so I predict that I’ll get to the end of it sometime in March, with enough time left to give it a check through before handing it over in April. I’m looking forward to the break then � always nice to be able to kick back and not sit in front of the laptop for the day � and in April there’ll be plenty to do in the garden, weather permitting.

Still hunting for the forever home, hoping a few more will come on over the next few weeks. Fingers crossed I’ll find something this year. Cats and myself would like to be off the side of the road, with a nice decent garden. Here’s hoping.

Mind yourselves, keep the heads up and stay strong,

love

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Hello everyone,

Well, that’s January done and dusted for another eleven months. I was going great guns with dry January, not a drop passed my lips till Storm Eowyn descended in the early hours of Friday last, and wreaked havoc in a lot of the country, and didn’t leave West Clare out. The entire town of Miltown Malbay was cut off from civilisation for nearly 3 days � no electricity, Internet or phone, so things were a little harsh, with the temperature dropping and more wind whipping up just when Eowyn was whirring off to put the fear of God into the UK. So on Friday night, with candles burning, I decided to cheer myself up with a nice bottle of red � I hasten to add it took two candelit nights to polish it off, and thankfully power was restored on Sunday afternoon, and I left the drinks cabinet alone after that. So dry January minus two days � I’d call that a win!

And February is launch month for Moving On, so in between the first draft of the next (up to 40k words and all going fairly well, as well as first drafts generally go) I’ve been writing bits for newspapers and magazines to coincide with the publication, and on the 6th I’ll be launching in O’Mahony’s Bookshop in Limerick � all welcome, 6.00pm! � and being interviewed on various radio stations around that date, and I’ll be on the tellybox the following week, so it’s all go. I love when a new one comes out, and the wait begins to see what sales are like. It’s been getting good reviews by book bloggers, so the signs are positive.

February is also the month when the garden stirs � I’ve been spotting buds and shoots, and signs of poppies and primroses returning, and last week I bought some very early tulips in my local supermarket, and a few days later a friend gave me a bunch of tightly closed daffodils she’d found in the Limerick Milk Market, and they’ve just opened and are sitting on my kitchen table as I write (pic), and you’ll have to take my word for it that the scent is glorious. Roll on the longer days, the blossoms and the blooms, and hopefully summer will be kind to us this year, and might even bring me the new house I’ve been hunting for since the middle of 2023. We can only hope.

Mind yourselves, and happy spring,

love

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Hello everyone,

Wow, a whole new year to play with. I’m thankful for my health, and for our temperate (mostly) climate, and for family and good friends and the security of a roof over my head, and relatively few problems, and I’m hoping fervently that 2025 brings happier days to so many parts of our beleaguered planet, where people not half as lucky as me face ongoing terror and heartbreak. 2025, you have your work cut out.

On the writing front, I’ve launched into draft one of the next, no title yet. This is the tricky, messy part, getting to know the characters, easing into the story. I’m not quite tearing hair out, but I’m wishing to be a bit further in, when things start to level out and the going gets a bit easier. Roll on next few weeks! I have to keep reminding myself that it’s ALWAYS like this at the start of a book � you’d think after 22 of them I’d be a bit more clued in!

I generally don’t make new year resolutions, having decided after so many failures that I’m only setting myself up for a fall, but for the first time I’m planning dry January. In fact, I haven’t touched a drop since Christmas Day, so we’ll see how I go. This festive season has been more abstemious than usual, maybe because I’ve hardly gone to any parties! West Clare is a quiet place�.I did have a few nights in with neighbours, which were lovely.

So I’ll raise my water glass (or teacup) to 2025. Let’s hope it’s a good one. Let’s hope people come to their senses. Let’s hope wars end, and healing begins.

Mind yourselves, and happy new year.

love

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Hello everyone,

December, and the official countdown to the big day�.I was in a checkout queue today and saw advent calendars on sale, marked down to �1. A bit of chocolate for every day. I was sorely tempted, but resisted. I’ve been trying out intermittent fasting since I got home from Tenerife on the 9th, only eating between midday and six every day. I lasted till last Thursday, so I did two and a half weeks. Lost 5 lbs, which I’m glad about � they’d crept on over the past few months and I resented them without having the willpower to do anything about them, so the fasting achieved that � and now that I’ve lost them I’d prefer to keep them off, at least until the serious social occasions come along, and I may overindulge a little�..in fact, there’s one coming up in just a few days � a singer friend’s Christmas night in a venue in Limerick, so drinks will be had as we listen to her belting out the Christmas tunes. Love it, kick starts Christmas every year.

In book news, I’ve almost got the plot of the next sorted, just a couple more days of fine tuning and I’ll be ready to jump in and begin. A very exciting time, starting a new book � will encounter the usual bumps along the way, but hopefully by next April I’ll have a tolerable first draft to show my editors. Fingers crossed. In the meantime, Moving On has been put to bed, out of my hands completely and lined up to hit the shelves in Feb. If anyone’s reading this in the Limerick area, or even in the Munster area, I’ll be launching it in O’Mahony’s bookshop on Feb 6th at 6.00pm, and the more the merrier. I haven’t done a launch since covid, so I’m really looking forward to this one.

No new house yet. The hunt goes on. Spring, hopefully. In the meantime, wishing you all the happiest of Happy Christmasses, and lots of reasons to smile in 2025. Thanks for being supportive, means a lot.

Mind yourselves,

love

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Hello everyone,

Happy November. Can’t believe how quickly 2024 is racing by. Wasn’t summer just a blur? Mostly a wet, chilly blur�..hoping winter will be mild to match � I’m one of those people who needs piles of bedding and fleecy pjs on a cold night, with the electric blanket on full strength, and maybe a hot water bottle for good measure, and a cat or two for extra heat!!

With Moving On pretty much put to bed � just waiting on a final read through of the proofread draft � I’m currently having a think about the next. This is always an anxious time, with the simmering fear that a plot will not materialise, but I have to have faith that it will, like all the ones that have gone before. Still my fingers are tightly crossed, and sleep is even more elusive than it normally is! Wish me luck.

In other news, I’m still looking for a new house, and coming to terms with the fact that it probably won’t show up this late in the year. Roll on 2025, and a new crop of houses to view! People keep telling me my one is out there � wish I could be sure it is, and wish the current owners would move faster to put it on the market!

Clocks gone back, darkness drawing in � wishing you a cosy winter (or a warm summer if you’re down under). Hopefully by the time I’m writing the next blog post I’ll have made a start on the new book. In the meantime, here’s the cover of Moving On, due to hit the shelves on Feb 7th, here in Ireland and in Australia and New Zealand � and of course available online too in due course, it might take a while to show up on the online platforms. Keep an eye out. If you’d like to pre-order a copy and have it delivered, kennys.ie are always reliable, and ship worldwide:

Mind yourselves,

love

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Hello everyone,

Happy October. Proper autumn now. Days drawing in, woolly hats pulled out, gloves on standby…the apples on my tree are getting bigger by the day, but they’re a late variety so I won’t be harvesting any till next month. A few fell off in strong winds and I stewed them. A few crumbles won’t go amiss when I have some more to play around with. I love me a nice crumble.

Kittens all gone to their forever homes, Mama cat (who is now officially Freddie) hanging around in the greenhouse. I feel bad not letting her into the house but three is really enough in the little cottage. Freddie’s pal � boyfriend? � still comes every day to be fed too, so I’m forking out quite a bit on cat food. Poor old George was hit by a car in early September and has been in recovery since�..he’s home today with a cone and I’m on eye drop duty (he got an ulcer, long story) and I’m the worst cat nurse in history so I’m hoping I don’t blind the poor boy before I bring him back on Thursday for a check-up.

I backed out of the sale agreed house, decided there were too many uncertainties about it. Not to worry, Miltown Malbay cottage will do me until I get the right one. Patience is a virtue.

On the writing front, just waiting for the latest to bounce back after being proofread. In the meantime I’m working on a picture book about the kittens who spent the summer in the greenhouse�..watch this space. Oh, and the paperback version of A Winter to Remember is publishing on October 3, just in case anyone missed last year’s release in the larger size.

Mind yourselves,

love

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Hello everyone,

Hope September finds you all well. I have a soft spot for it � it’s my birthday month. I love how the little birthday thrill never fades, no matter how ancient you become! It doesn’t in my case anyway: I’m a kid at heart…� (Although in my school days I used to wish it didn’t occur so close to the end of the summer hols � couldn’t please me!)

Big news is I’ve gone sale agreed on a house. It’s early days so I’ll say no more in case I jinx the process � but for the moment I’m crossing fingers and hoping all goes well. More later.

On the new book front, I’m currently checking the copy edits and tweaking as I go � I can not read a draft without making new changes. Just can’t. But coming to the end of the road now, so within a month it should be out of my hands. Publication date sometime in Feb � I’ll be giving info as I get it. Good to have another one (nearly) under my belt. Number 22. No idea how they all happened � when I was launching into my first book, back in 2001, it seemed such an unimaginably daunting prospect. I suppose at this stage I just put the head down and hope for the best. Still daunting, still a huge undertaking, no room for complacency, but at least I know I can do it, or rather, I have done it more than a few times, so I have to trust that I can still pull it off.

Remember the kittens of last month? Three have gone to their forever homes, and two cutie little brothers are still with me waiting to go at the end of September. It’s been a great experience, if hectic! I’d do it again though � but not with this Mama cat, who was spayed two days ago and is now in recovery and doing fine. An easier life for her from now on, hopefully.

Mind yourselves,

love

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Hello everyone,

Half the year gone! I want to catch on to Time’s leash and pull it back � it’s galloping far too fast! Hope everyone’s managing to enjoy the long days, even if they’re not the sunniest, or the warmest. Having said that, today is lovely in West Clare. Not that I can bask in it � my draft is back and I’m knee deep in edits, and with a deadline of mid August to complete this round, I’ll be nose to the grindstone till then. I keep telling myself it’ll all be worth it in the end……let’s hope so!

The big non-writing news here is that the stray (pregnant) cat I’d been feeding on the patio had 5 kittens on July 1. I didn’t know where they were, just that she was missing on that day and back the next, looking a lot slimmer! I had to hope they were in a safe place, but it was a worry until she decided to move them into my greenhouse last week, where she and they have been living  since. They’re  absolutely adorable � if you’re not a cat person you’ll have to take my word for it � and getting bigger every day. I’ve got 4 homes already, just one to go. I’ll hate to part with them, but three of my own is more than enough! I’ll bring Mama into the vet to be spayed as soon as she finishes feeding them, and she’ll be able to have a quiet life after that.

House hunting continues. Slowly, slowly. The right one is waiting for me.

Mind yourselves, enjoy what’s left of the summer,

love

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Hello everyone,

July already, 2024 entering its second half. Irish weather being typically unpredictable, lovely blue sky days followed by grey dull ones with more than our fair share of rain, but still with the lovely long hours of daylight, which for me is the best part of summer. Miltown Malbay is gearing up for its 52nd Willie Clancy summer school, ten days of celebration of our Irish music heritage that’s kicking off next Saturday 6th. The place will fill with traditional music aficionados and fans, classes and workshops will be packed, concerts and céilis and impromptu sessions will be the order of the day, and there won’t be a seat to be had in a pub or eatery for the duration, but there’ll be a great buzz around the place and it’s wonderful for the town. I’ll wander down the main street every now and again to soak up the atmosphere and witness the shenanigans.

On the writing front, I’ve been enjoying a break while my editors prepare their feedback on the edited draft that I sent them in early June, and it’s been lovely to take a step away. I’ve caught up on outstanding jobs in the house (most of them) and I’ve met pals I hadn’t seen for a while, and all in all it’s been a lovely month, but I’m looking forward now to reacquainting myself with the story and getting back into it for what I’m hoping will be the final time. Editing is challenging but also very rewarding when you feel the book tightening and sharpening and becoming as good as you can make it. Fingers crossed.

In other news, the house hunting continues. I’ve viewed a few more properties but none spoke to me; I couldn’t see myself settling in any of them. It’s a little wearying to feel the time passing � over a year now � and no resolution in sight. Everyone tells me the right one will come along, and I’m trying to believe them. Patience is a virtue!

This month’s pic shows the main planted section of the garden � bit wild, bit haphazard, but I get such enjoyment out of seeing everything coming into bloom. There was just grass here when I bought the house; a lot of manual labour went into that patch of colour! I especially love the lupins for their brazen showiness, and the Peruvian lily in front with its beautiful flowers. I’m trying to train jasmine up the side of the shed, but it’s slow going. I really don’t know what I’m doing in the garden, and I’m too lazy to look up the info, so it’s always experimentation time!

Mind yourselves, enjoy the summer,

love

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