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Friday, November 23, 2012

Irish Book Awards - What a Night!!!!



A fantastic night at the Irish Book Awards, and a totally new experience for me, as has been most of 2012!!! 

Huge congrats to Tana French for winning the Ireland AM Crime Fiction Award with Broken Harbour - and respect and good wishes to all my fellow writers in this category, Niamh O'Connor, Benjamin Black, Laurence O Bryan and Declan Burke.

Sorry not to have taken more pics or done more tweeting on the night - note to self, must get better at these things!! But a glorious night, and one I will remember for a very long time.

Hope you enjoy this small selection of pics, and HUGE THANKS for all your support - another amazing part of this whole experience!!!


THE EVENING IN PICTURES

Tickets for the Evening

Purse, bracelet, and earrings!
The Dress
Prince Charming's Collar for the Night
Pre-dinner drinks in the Library
All smiles!!
The amazing Niamh O'Connor
With the girls!

Big Screen
Pretty Table

Place Setting

Yummy Desert!

Books everywhere including the
Concert Hall at the RDS for Gala Dinner

The FREE Goodie Bag!!!
Final Memories

Ending the night  with a cuppa at home!

But what was in the Goodie Bag???..... Will be revealed shortly!

Wednesday, November 21, 2012

LOCKED WITHIN by Paul Anthony Shortt

I met Paul Anthony Shortt, last September, and discovered that he would soon launch his debut novel, LOCKED WITHIN, a Supernatural CSI novel, and I was immediately intrigued.


I know I've said this a million times (well maybe not quite a million), but it's amazing how many people and friends you pick up along this writing journey! So today, I'm privileged to be hosting a blog post for Paul Anthony, but first a little bit about Paul Anthony Shortt, and LOCKED WITHIN. 


Paul Anthony Shortt

A child at heart who turned to writing and role playing games when there simply weren't enough action figures to play out the stories he wanted, Paul Anthony Shortt has been writing all his life.

Growing up surrounded by music, film and theatre gave him a deep love of all forms of storytelling, each teaching him something new he could use. When not playing with the people in his head, he enjoys cooking and regular meet-ups with his gaming group.

He lives in Ireland with his wife Jen and their dogs, Pepper and Jasper. Their first child, Conor William Henry Shortt, was born on July 11th, 2011. He passed away three days later, but brought love and joy into their lives and those of their friends. Jen is pregnant again and is expecting twins.








LOCKED WITHIN


The supernatural realm and the mundane world have existed side by side since the dawn of time. Predators walk the streets, hidden by our own ignorance. Once, the city of New York was protected, but that was another age.



Now a creature emerges from the city's past to kill again, with no one to hear the screams of its victims. The lost and the weak, crushed under the heels of the city's supernatural masters, have given up hope.




But one man finds himself drawn to these deaths. Plagued by dreams of past lives, his obsession may cost him friends, loved ones, even his life. To stop this monster, he must unlock the strength he once had. He must remember the warrior he was, to become the hero he was born to be.




His name is Nathan Shepherd, and he remembers.






WORD ASSOCIATION


Before we hear more about LOCKED IN, and how you can get a copy of it, I've decided to do a word association game with Paul Anthony, one which I had the pleasure to do on my own blog tour with the wonderful Valerie Sirr. 

You can do it too if you fancy it - but remember to write your answers down quickly - your first thoughts are the best!





Time

Rebirth, circles, never ending, eternity.


Pattern

Recognition, remember, detail


Remembering

Reborn, child, happiness, memory, forgetting, beginning.


Death

End, start, begin, peace, shadow, unknown, mystery, fear, confrontation.


Snow

White, blood, cold, trees, winter, alone, surrounded.


Fear

Vulnerable, small, weak, running away, darkness.


City

New York, streets, night time, lights, people, energy, power.


Chill

Frost, nightmare, scared, wind, rain.


Fantasy

Sword, shield, knight, hero, wizard, magic, monsters, danger, adventure.


Protect


Defend, stand, defy, sacrifice, fight.



I'll be chatting to Paul Anthony over at Crime Scene for Writing.ie in the next few days, so keep an eye out for that, but first here's a link to the trailer and how you can get a copy!!

VIEW BOOK TRAILER HERE 



Order Print Edition HERE 

Order Kindle Edition HERE 

Tuesday, November 20, 2012

Pictures tell their own story!!

Voting is now closed for the 
Bord Gais Energy Irish Book Awards

Thank you all so much for the support and good wishes! 

Pictures from the last crazy days!
Cinderella & Prince Charming will go to the Ball
 Tickets for Awards Gala Dinner
Photo for Evening Herald Feature
'I'm a Granny, not a Nanny'
Myself, Susan Condon, Tanya Farrelly, Trish Nugent,
Ruby Barnes & Co after Crime Night at the REDLINE Festival
Crime Writers, Mick Halpin, Liam Flood, Susan Condon, and 
myself are joined by Nell during Dublin Book Festival
Chairing 'Inspiring Crime Writers' - Dublin Book Festival,
Louise Phillips,with Conor Brady and Niamh O'Connor
Relaxing after 3 Voices/3 Forms at the  Loose End Theatre
RED LINE Book Festival - Susan Condon/Louise Phillips
Reading from The Doll's House with
Eileen Casey & Colm Keegan
RED LINE Festival - 3 Voices/3Forms Louise Phillips in
company with Eileen Casey & Colm Keegan
Working with Media Student ITT
Ireland AM Interview with Aidan Cooney
Nomination RED RIBBONS for
Irish Crime Novel of the Year 2012
Orla Coffey & Tanya Farrelly - Twitter Nuts at Twitter xmas single
Rehearsals finally over for Twitter xmas single!
All smiles
Louise Phillips, Jillian Godsill, John Ivory, Maura Donaghue,
and Susan Condon at Twitter xmas recording.




Saturday, November 17, 2012

Last Chance to Vote!!!

Voting for the Bord Gais Irish Book Awards 
is closing tomorrow!!!!

If you haven't voted and would like to vote - click HERE

Friday, November 16, 2012

My first experience on Television with Ireland AM




This writing business is a constant learning curve, and I’m not talking about character development, plot, setting, editing, or even writing motivation, I’m talking about all the skills you need to acquire along the way. And one of them for me last week, was being interviewed on television.
As Red Ribbons has been nominated for the Ireland AM Best Crime Novel of the Year 2012, last Wednesday, I was asked onto the set of Ireland AM to be interviewed by Aidan Cooney. Being new to all this, I thought I’d share something of the whole experience with you. So check out how I got on HERE

Monday, November 12, 2012

All Votes Count!!!



Robert "Bobby" McDonald would be preparing to take his hard-earned seat on Walton City Council had last Tuesday's ballot not ended in a tie after his wife forgot to cast her vote!!!



I'M JUST LETTING YOU KNOW in case some of you might like to Vote in the IRISH BOOK AWARDS HERE


Voting closes this weekend!!!! There are plenty of lovely titles, including RED RIBBONS in the Ireland AM Crime Fiction Award, and it is sooooooooo easy to do, and FREE!


Thursday, November 8, 2012

A Night Not to be Missed!!!


Book now guys for this fabulous night as part of the 

RED LINE festival!!!



IRELAND AM Television Interview!


TV3 Ireland AM Interview RED RIBBONS & Nomination for 

Best Crime Novel of the Year 2012 

CLICK ON IMAGE TO VIEW AIDAN COONEY INTERVIEW




You can Vote for Red Ribbons in the Irish Book Awards HERE

Monday, November 5, 2012

Does Anyone Remember Who I am??



Yes, this is little old me, the person responsible for not blogging as much as she should, for not visiting your blog and websites as much as she should, and in her effort to create a website linked to this blog, lost her entire blog list down some mysterious IT monster's throat!!

Well I am still here, and I am still writing away. 2012 has been a massive year for me so far, not only because it is the year that my debut novel RED RIBBONS, was published by Hachette Ireland, and perhaps even more surprising, has been shortlisted as the Best Irish Crime Novel of the Year 2012 in the Bord Gais Energy Irish Book Awards, but it is also the year, I became a grandmother for the first time.

I find myself in the position of having two of my dreams coming true at the same time, but with what seems like very little time to actually sit back and enjoy them fully. 

I don't think I'm the first person, and I certainly won't be the last, to be somewhat overwhelmed by huge changes in my life. It seems that there are constantly things I should be doing, that I am not, like blogging for example, or walking the dog, or doing a Christmas list, or doing NOTHING, every now and then.

I hope this doesn't sound like I'm complaining, because I'm not. I feel like the luckier person in the world right now, and every time I see my granddaughter, I'm amazed all over again, because darn blast it, she is AMAZING!

For all 2 or 3 of you who might be interested in what's happening book wise, I am halfway through writing my new novel, The Doll's House. Writing, in some ways feels very different this time around, to when I wrote Red Ribbons. When I was writing Red Ribbons, I was all full of hopes and anxieties - Would it be any good? Would it get published? Would it get finished? This time at least, I have the knowledge, that yes, it will be published, but the same hopes and fears exist.

I've been asked a number of times over the last few weeks, is it more difficult to write your second novel, especially when the first novel has been received so well. My answer it seems is a rather simple one. All I can do is write the best novel I can possibly write, and in the same way as thinking too much can get you into a whole load of trouble, (at least it does me!), I'm going to adopt the same attitude as I had while writing Red Ribbons. It will have a beginning, a middle, and an end, and it will be a story I want to write, and one which I hope others will want to read. At the end of the day, in the words of Stephen King, it is all about STORY.

So apologies again for being a little quiet. Today is my first tentative step back to the blogger I used to be!!!
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