Wednesday 30 September 2015

Best Part of being a Writer


When I sat down to write my first short story many years ago, I never entertained the idea of writing a novel. I was happy scribbling down the antics of my children while they were toddlers and as they grew, I started writing stories and secretly had hopes of publication.
I joined creative writing courses and enrolled in Kilroy's College and did their course and received my Diploma with Distinction in Creative Writing. I was thrilled with the results.
I was always lucky that I had excellent tutors who were lovely people also.

After moving from Dublin back to my hometown in County Cork, I continued with my writing. I made new friends in writing circles and by now my short stories were in national and interntional magazines, newspapers and anthologies.
I must be honest and say I had promised myself that in my forties I would write my first novel. As usual, life has a way of getting in the way of plans and I ended up with major health problems in my forties resulting in open-heart surgery.
So now my goal was put back to my fifties. I am thrilled to say I achieved my goal of writing my first book.
My Husband's Sin, published by Tirgearr Publishing was launched as an eBook in August 2014. It has been successful since being published and my publishers were happy to bring it out in paperback in June 2015.
To hold my novel in my hand was the best feeling ever. It is so worth all the hard work, the long hours, the writing, rewriting, the nerves will it, wont it be published, the rejections, the encouragement from fellow writers, the exhaustion and oh the celebrations.

So if you harbour the thought of seeing your book on the shelves, go for it! It is the most wonderful feeling ever.
I have since had published, The Runaway and One Night in Barcelona and I am aiming to have a new western romance out for Christmas.
A writers day never ends.

Saturday 26 September 2015

Cathy's Book Launch

Where The Shamrocks Grow

I had the pleasure of meeting a lady this weekend who is charming, gentle and so so talented. I had the good fortune of being invited to her book launch and being a fellow Tirgearr author, I was thrilled to accept. After all, if she could travel over from Leicester in England to host her launch in Dublin, Ireland, I could travel from Cork to support her.

Who is this lady?  

She is Cathy Mansell. Writer of romantic fiction set in her home country of Ireland and Leicester where she has lived for fifty years. This talented lady has her childrens stories frequently broadcast on local radio, along with writing newspaper and magazine articles, she is kept very busy. .




BLURB for Where the Shamrocks Grow.

Set in 1917 against the backdrop of the Irish civil war, young Jo Kingsley is transported from her turbulent childhood of domestic servitude, to the sophisticated life of the upper classes at the beautiful Chateau Colbert. Here she meets Jean-Pierre, the grandson of her employer, Madame Colbert, and visits Paris where she discovers the desires of men. But Jo’s destiny takes her to America where she experiences more than her dreams of becoming a music teacher.
During prohibition, in the mysterious haunts of Greenwich Village, she falls deeply in love with Mike PasiƄski, a free-spirit; and a son of Polish emigrants. However, loneliness, loss and hardship follow during the Wall Street crash.
Will the beautiful Jo let go of her demons and learn to love again?

Cathy is also the author of Shadow Across The Liffey, Her Father's Daughter and Galway Girl. All these novels are filled with romantic suspense and a cracking good tale.

You will find Cathy at the following

 http://tirgearrpublishing.com/authors/Mansell_Cathy/index.htm


Also on the day, the lovely Sharon Black another fellow Tirgearr author was present supporting Cathy. It was the first time for the three of us to meet.