Novel Madness - The Journey goes on......

Well the DNA festival reading went down a treat, and I had my very own copy of Red Ribbons to read from!! How exciting is that?

Spoiled for choice as to which part of the 115,000 words I would choose from, I went for the killer's voice!

Feedback afterwards was amazing, and the general consensus was the killer was very scary, and so too was my voice. Obviously I was taking this getting inside the head of the killer very seriously!!!

Other news, Red Ribbons, the 'Book Launch' got a mention in the Irish Times on Friday, Hughes & Hughes, St Stephen's Green Shopping Centre, on the 5th September 6.30.

The novel also got a mention in Liberidi Scrivere, courtesy of the lovely Brian Mc Gilloway - read short but sweet segment here  

And Crime Fiction Lover has also featured the chilling pre-release trailer on Red Ribbons, on their website here (scroll down to find introduction on the story of Red Ribbons etc, etc, etc...

You can also find another link to the trailer on The Red Line Book Festival 2012 here - have a look around when you visit as there are lots of things happening at the festival, brilliant writers, and also yours truly will be reading at The Loose End theatre at the Civic.

Last thing on the trailer, I heard on Friday that book selling giants like Hughes & Hughes, Dubray, Easons etc will be featuring the fab trailer too - so before the rest of the world calls to visit, have a sneaking look and add your comments to the trailer HERE

But the biggest news of all is......the books have arrived into the publishers at long last - which also means they are making their way to a lovely shop near you!!

Publication September 3rd 2012

Now I thought I would be emotional the moment I finally held the novel in my hand, and I was, I was over the moon with excitement. I kept rubbing my hand up and down on the cover, I looked at it from a distance, from close up, I placed it down on table, feeling it had a whole life all of it's own, but the real emotion came later, the same way that sometimes life can take you by surprise.

The real joy was seeing my very own book on my very own bookshelf at home. And, because you all know how I love to share, here's another little pic for YOU!!!

Just in case none of this got you particularly excited - Watch out for redesign of blog, and launch of new WEBSITE in the next few days!!!!

DNA Festival 2012

So don't miss out on a great lineup of writers reading in the 'Writers' Circle' event as part of the DNA (Discover New Arts) Festival 2012 at the Axis Centre in Ballymun on Friday, August 17th @ 6.30 pm, are listed below.....

(There will also be a tiny play performance called 'Shoes' - Entry is free and all are welcome)

Writers' Circle Readers:

Marion O’Neill, originally from Limerick but now living in Kilkenny, has published three novels : Miss Harrie Elliott (1999), Daddy’s Girl (2001) and Seeforge (2005). Her latest novel ‘All God’s Dead’ is due to be published by New Island in August.

Louise Phillips has been published as part of many anthologies and literary journals. She has been a winner of the Jonathan Swift Award, a winner in the Irish Writers’ Centre Lonely Voice Platform and shortlisted for the Molly Keane Memorial Award and Bridport UK. Louise’s psychological crime novel, Red Ribbons, will be published by Hachette Books Ireland in September 2012, and her second novel, The Doll’s House, will be published in 2013.

Stephen Buck has produced 16 radio plays, written and directed a play for Red Kettle Theatre Company, was shortlisted for the Francis MacManus Short Story competition and has regularly featured on ‘The Quiet Corner’ on Lyric FM.

Niamh Boyce was awarded the Hennessy XO New Irish Writer of the Year 2012 for her poem Kitty. She has been shortlisted for the Francis MacManus Short Story competition 2011, the Hennessy Literary Awards 2010, the Molly Keane Award 2010 and the WOW Award 2010. Her fiction and poetry have been published in many literary magazines. Her novel ‘The Herbalist’ will be published by Penguin in 2013.

Darren Donohue, following an invitation onto the New Playwrights Programme at The Abbey Theatre in 2010, has been shortlisted for a Hennessy Literary Award and has founded Pandora Theatre Company, a professional theatre and outreach company based in Kilkenny. He has written a number of successful full length and Tiny Plays, some of which have recently been performed in The Abbey and the Sean O’Casey theatre, with his tiny play 'Tuesday Evening' selected to run as part of Fishamble’s “Tiny Plays for Ireland” project.

Novel Madness!!

It's hard to know where to start when a week feels a lifetime and then something which happened over a week ago feels like it only happened a second before!

On Monday it will be three weeks to publication day and still a part of me hasn't taken it all in, a part not quite believing the publication of my first novel is actually happening.

My head is busy yes, thinking about plans for the launch night which will be happen on the 5th September, the knowledge that actual copies of Red Ribbons will arrive late next week at the publishers, and that for the very first time I'll hold my own novel in my hand - something I never thought possible.

A small number of people have read the manuscript at this point, and so far the feedback has been amazing, but yet I'm filled with anxiety, self-doubt, all those demons that can hold you back from ever writing in the first place. We all experience them I know, it's part of what makes us who we are, and hopefully in the long run better at what we do.

I'm still in the zone whereby if someone tells me they absolutely loved Red Ribbons, I want to absolutely love them back, and I hope that part never changes. Hopefully there will be a lot of love!!

But I'm also trying to prepare for the negatives, and part of that preparation will be taking myself aside and giving myself a good talking to before any of this becomes totally real. I honestly can't predict how I will feel, and again I know this is something others have gone through - but there is no denying it's a tough part.

On the news front, there's a trailer going out mid next week which I will let you all know about, and I really hope you like it, and it gives you a flavour of the novel. Trailers are somewhat new to book promotion, but for me it has been a hugely positive experience.

I've been working on a new website too, which I think is going to be amazing, and I'm hoping you'll agree when you see it. My ambition for the site was that it would be an enjoyable experience to move within it, more pleasure than hard work, and be a fair reflection of what my novel, and future novels will be about. The blog will be incorporated into it too, so it won't feel like you're switching from one site to the next, but rather that the website is very much alive and not some stale thing that doesn't change for months on end.

Next Friday the 17th August, I'll be reading in the 'Writers' Circle' event at the Axis Centre in Ballymun @  6.30 pm - part of the DNA festival. Entry is free and all are welcome! So come along.

The Launch Night is set for the 5th September, at Hughes and Hughes, St Stephen's Green Shopping Centre, again @ 6.30 The utterly brilliant Niamh O'Connor (True Crime Editor of the Sunday World) will be launching the night, Hughes & Hughes have been fantastic, and I can't thank them enough.

Digi-posters of the novel will be on display at all their stores from this weekend onwards, and they've posted an exclusive interview with yours truly in their VIP ezine this week as well.

If you're on facebook, you can join the Launch Party HERE, or you can email me at phillips.louisem0@gmail.com and I'll put your name on the list - I have visions that the night will be a re-run of my 21st, when I had a heart attack that no one would turn up, and again, I know I need to give myself a good talking to, and to say, Louise, calm down, enjoy the experience and know that this is going to be a very special moment, because it will be a turning point in your life.

So join the launch night HERE, contact me by email if you have any queries, or on Twitter @LouiseMPhillips, and again thanks so much for all your support!!!