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Questions And Answers
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Where are you from?
You’ve moved around a lot so where are your books set?
What are your novels about?
What made you decide to start writing?
Have you a writing routine?
What kinds of books do you read?
How do you like to spend your free time?
What else do you like?
Where are you from?
Until the age of twenty I lived in Blarney, Co. Cork. Blarney is a lovely village, surrounded by woods, dominated by the historic Blarney Castle and has a walled village green in the centre. A very nice place indeed to grow up.
After graduating from University College Cork, I moved quite a lot: America (where I met my husband, although he too is from Cork!), London, Dublin, Wicklow, Cork again, Australia (where daughter no.1 was born) and back to Dublin once more (where daughter no. 2 was born) and then to Cork again, except to the countryside this time. Now we live beside a wood outside the village of Riverstick, close to Kinsale, on the doorstep of West Cork - again a nice place to live.
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You’ve moved around a lot so where are your books set?
Many of the places I’ve lived and visited have left their mark on me and on my writing. My first book, Who Will Love Poly Odlum?, was firmly set in Cork. Dancing Days is primarily based in Dublin and Wicklow but the main character, Ana, also spends time in Kenya, the west of Ireland and in London. My third book, Something Sensational follows the journey of four friends as they travel through Thailand, Vietnam and China and their itinerary (but not their story) is based on a trip I once did.
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What are your novels about?
On one level my novels have little in common with one another. Who Will Love Polly Odlum? is about four young people – Polly, Davy, Michaela, and Colm – and their experience of love. Dancing Days is the story of Ana, and her life of ups and downs. Something Sensational tells of four friends and how they and their relationship changes as they spend three months holidaying together.
The characters, settings and stories in my books may be very different but I think my novels share some similarities. When I sit down to write a book, above all I want it to be entertaining, funny at times, a little sad, and I want to create characters that people will really engage with. Whether I achieve any of this is another matter!
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What made you decide to start writing?
Most writers seem to know they wanted to write from a very early age. I can’t say that was the case with me. I’ve always loved reading but it wasn’t until my mid-twenties that I first put pen to paper when I realised that my permanent and pensionable job wasn’t the job I wanted for the rest of my life. The result was Who Will Love Polly Odlum?
I haven't stopped writing since. I've been making up for lost time, i guess.
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Have you a writing routine?
I Wish! With two young children it can be hard. I like to write in the mornings but no matter how early I set my alarm, the girls are guaranteed to come trailing down the stairs within minutes, looking for breakfast. But I love writing and the quiet of it is a nice contrast from the full-on attention of small children.
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What kinds of books do you read?
Anything and everything. I'm a glutton and totally indisciminate. I'll read anything i can get my hands on. My idea of heaven is having a pile of unread books by my bedside. I have been known to keep reading through the night - more than once.
My top favourite authors of all times are: Emily Bronte, John Steinbeck and John Irving. I'm inclined to think that the books you read in your childhood and adolescence are the ones that make the biggest impression. I may have read authors as good as these three since but later in my life so their writing will never have as great an impact.
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How do you like to spend your free time?
I love travelling. I've been fortunate enough to have had the opportunity to explore Australia, America, Europe, China, India, Africa, and Mexico. Our last ‘big trip’ was three months camping in Europe with our two small girls and it was the best thing we’ve ever done as a family (although a lot of our friends think that it sounded like the holiday from hell and that we only pretended to enjoy it).
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What else do you like?
White hot chocolate. Going to the cinema in the afternoon. The French film 'Amelie.' Jack Nicholson (especially in The Shinning). John Spillane. Damien Rice. Wuthering Heights. Getting the germ of a idea for a new novel. Writing THE END on the last page of a just completed novel. Fish and chips in paper. Picnics. Champagne. Waking under canvas to the sounds of bird song. Discovering a brilliant new book or album. People who make me laugh. Friends who know me, really know me. Silence. Laughter. Hugs. Chats. Snippets of overheard conversations. Nicholas Cage in Wild at Heart (but not in anything else). The soundtrack from Wild At Heart. The sight of my daughters in their swimsuits, goggles, and caps lined up at the pool’s edge. Walks in autumnal forests on clear crisp days. Walks along windswept beaches. West Cork. Waves. Scene from movies or from books that make me laugh out loud. People with manners. Nantucket Island. Nights out where one minute it’s 9.00 p.m., the next it’s 12.45 p.m. I could go on and on ...
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