On marmalade making and leaving the church.
If I was welcoming you to my home, I would set the kettle on the AGA and give you a tour of our smallholding. I would show you the table around which I gather with aspiring writers every season as part of my Still Point retreats. We could settle in my office replete with outrageous 1970s carpets or take a walk through the fields where the willows weep over the river. In lieu of a coffee, I’ll tell you a bit about me and if you have a proposal or collaboration to discuss, I’d love to hear from you.
I am a published author of literary fiction with a background in newspaper editing and extensive copywriting experience. My skill set is eclectic which brings a unique perspective to my projects and enables me to develop quality, individually tailored content. Over the years, I have worked with a diverse range of clients to craft copy that conveys their authentic voice and the heart behind what they do. When the creative work is done, my eagle editorial eye ensures no misplaced modifiers ruin the story. The workshops I facilitate equip both beginners and seasoned scribblers to find inspiration and develop a sustainable writing practice. You will also get to sample greens from our garden and a tipple of Sloe Gin, if you’re lucky.
When I am not writing, you can find me digging in the dirt with my children, cooking up a storm or curating beautiful spaces in which people can rest, write or gather around a fire. Visit my journal to read some of the prose I have had published or to glean some insight into how to live creatively.
Enough about me, tell me about you.
How to see in the dark
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The Hidden River
Sometimes, the river of our life disappears underground for long periods of time. As I return to novel writing after more than a decade, I am learning so much from the carboniferous limestone on which I live. May these stories remind you of the generosity of water.
A Hymn for Samhain
Growing up in Northern Ireland, Halloween was seen by many as the glorification of evil. Come, let’s probe the darkness for the sacred roots of this season and find meaningful ways to pause on this threshold.
Be careful, there are owls on the loose in this text…
Ever Widening Circles
At the hinge of the Celtic new year, I walk the boreen through hazel woodland and prepare to winter in the west.
Letters of Introduction
Some parting thoughts as we hand our holding over to new tenants and begin our migration west.
The Raspberry Room
If we look beneath the main text of our lives, we can find the subtext of small stories. They are the rituals that are hard to put into words because they become so integral to the fabric of our life that we hardly notice them. Here, I tell some of these small stories and a few that I have borrowed from dear friends in my community.
Conflict Revolution
How the ripples of a revolution that began seven years ago will deliver us to the west of Ireland and how I will hear the silence I find there.
Transgression
Robert walks his dog at night and strays from the path; Stephanie makes a decision from which she cannot return and Sebastián finds something he did not know he lacked. Three strangers, one dog and a campsite where people cross paths but do not know one another at all.
Joy is not a Crumb
Notes from the road as we travel from the Cantabrian coast to the Glacial Cirques of Urbion to a National Park on the Mediterranean.
People With Whom I Have Worked
