7 Tower Reading at The Twisted Pepper

Reading & discussion with Eamonn Lynskey

Thanks to all who attended the reading and open discussion with Eamonn Lynskey of the 7 Towers Literary Group yesterday. It was a lovely relaxed lunchtime event, and I thoroughly enjoyed chatting about writing, the creation of Red Ribbons, and how I ended up as a Crime Writer!

Eamonn touched on a number of areas surrounding the creative process, one of them being my early love of reading. All of you who know a little bit about me, know I'm a great endorser of libraries, having developed a love of reading in early childhood because of being able to borrow books from our local library, and as I've often said before, I wouldn't be the reader and therefore the writer I am today, had it not been for this support.

Another area I spoke about with Eamonn, was my writing in my late teens and early twenties - which was encouraged and rejuvenated by an English teacher who opened up the world of literature to me in such an impressionable way.

Yesterday's chat got me thinking once again about this great teacher of English, how he believed in me all those two hundred million years ago, thinking I had something special when it came to writing. Again, some of you might know that I'd abandoned my writing for nearly 25 years, and the reasons are many and varied, and  in some ways still unclear. Anyhow (my fav crutch word), I made the decision today to follow through on a thought that has been in my mind for a very long time - trying to find my old English teacher. 

I have no idea if the man is still alive, but I can tell you for sure, he was remarkable. I attended night classes with him at Mount Street VEC while working full time for over two years. I still have my old class notes, and all the writing I did during this time. This man had a love of English, history, and the world around us like very few others I've met, so I'll keep you posted as to how I get on in my search!