Hello from Ireland!
I was full of vim and vigor last time I wrote, but have since been hit by a life wobble, which is why your newsletter is arriving so much later than usual.
My 88-year-old mother was taken ill a couple of weeks ago. We managed to keep her out of hospital and she rallied well … but she's moved to a new phase of life.
As I live in England and she's in Ireland, there has been lots of toing and froing, ensuring she stays well and organising new care arrangements for this new phase in her life.
So I'm behind on everything, work-wise.
And of course it happened at a time when I was already busy, organizing the annual online conference SelfPubCon, with the Alliance of Independent Authors team.
Not to mention finishing of the novella that will kickstart my Gonne-Yeats series, A Life Before.
Going Creative in Times of Setback
Things seem to be settling, though I'm back in Ireland next weekend.
I'll be returning to the Go Creative! podcast this week, with some thoughts on meeting setbacks and life problems the creative way, so keep an eye out for that.
October in Wexford
It's all meant that I've recently spent longer in Wexford, the south-east corner of Ireland where I grew up, than I have since I left it, back in the early 1980s, to live in Dublin, and then England. Which has been bringing on all sorts of nostalgia appropriate to the season of misty mornings, russet and yellow leaves swirling and falling, and afternoons stretching into startling, golden light.
For much of the month, the year seems to be holding its breath, balanced between the last of summer warmth and the chillier times ahead
As usual, what's happening in my life seeps into my work and I guess it's no coincidence that the poetry book I'm currently working on is Night Light: Poems for Bereavement and Other Hard Times.
I find I'm using poetry, in the reading and the writing, to hold what is happening in full awareness. A space for regret, for remembering, and for re-envisioning
Alongside this book, I want to produce a special poetry kit designed for bereavement counsellors and humanist celebrants.
Indie Poetry Please
Speaking of poetry, this month's #IndiePoetryPlease winner on Instagram is Mary Walsh @marelwa60, for her poem “Station Lane“.
You can read the winning poem here.
Congratulations Mary! You win a copy of Creative Self-Publishing and of my most recent poetry book, Circle of Life and your poem becomes a finalist for the Indie Poetry Please contest, 2025, with a cash prize of £500.
Fiction: A Life Before
And so, to fiction. I'm now working against the wire to get A Life Before completed and printed in time for the launch of the Maud Gonne Society in December.
The launch will be held on December 6th at the historic United Arts Club, on Upper Fitzwilliam Street, Dublin 2—a venue steeped in the same activist and literary spirit that has inspired this novella.
If you’re able to join us, please mark the date in your calendar. An invitation will be sent out soon, and I’ll be delighted to share this moment with you and to celebrate not just the completion of this book, but the formation of the Maud Gonne Society, and the launch of the #StatueforMaud project.
As we honor one of Ireland’s most iconic women, expect an evening of connection, inspiration, and a tribute to those whose legacy continues to resonate, against the odds.
Wishing you a colourful (rest of) October, dear reader, wherever you are in the world.
Whether the days are shortening or lengthening where you are, may the movement of this moving month stir your imagination… and remind you to go creative!
x
Orna