My Blog

I’m usually part of the body of the room at the monthly Open Mic in the Linenhall Arts Centre in Castlebar, wondering, in a last-minute surge of self-doubt, if I should change what I’m planning to read. Last night, however, I was temporarily promoted from the ranks and installed at the front as the featured reader. It felt like being called up from the subs’ bench, but thankfully there was no major deficit to be rescued.

Today is World Book Day - the parents of my young neighbour Róisín sent me these pictures before she left for St Joseph's Primary School, Ballinrobe, this morning.

For a long time, the word ‘conflict’ bothered me. In writing advice, it always looms large. Stories tend to need conflict. Otherwise, they can wither and die.

For writers and readers in this part of the world (Co. Mayo, west of Ireland), the next few days offer two good reasons to leave the house and sit in a room with people of similar disposition.

A novel – in my admittedly limited experience* – feels like it gets built as much as it gets written. When I start, there isn’t a grand design**. No finished sketch pinned up on the wall. There’s simply a sense that something could stand here -  maybe a town, a character, a tension humming beneath the surface.

On Tuesday I returned to the University of Limerick to speak with the current MA in Creative Writing students. It was a strange and wonderful experience, having graduated only last month. I was part of a panel of five former students who have become published authors since completing the course. The other four were Neil Tully, June O'Sullivan, Gráinne O'Brien and Sharon Guard – see below for links to their work.

Whether you like it or not, promoting your own book is part of the job. Every writer does it at some level. Most writers work very hard at it. There may be different tones, different tactics and different levels of comfort, but nobody gets a free pass. If a book is to find readers, the writer has to help it along.

For a long time, I thought writing a novel meant knowing where you were going before you began. Plot it out. Understand the structure. Know what happens in the end, and preferably in the middle too. That belief probably delayed me writing a novel by years.

A little trick I have found to be very useful when I am struggling to create a character who will serve my needs is to change something dramatic about them, such as their sex. Often, when starting out on the process of writing a character I have a real person in mind. It’s inevitable. The characters I write emerge from my experiences.

When people learn that I studied for a master’s in creative writing at the University of Limerick, where internationally renowned figures such as Joseph O’Connor and Donal Ryan are among the teachers, they invariably want to know more. What did I learn from them?

Last night (Thursday, 11 December, 2025) I had the pleasure of being the very first guest author at the newly opened The Novel Bean, Cathal Kelly’s eclectic new book-cum-coffee-cum-gift-cum-so-much-else store in Swinford. I was there to read from – and be interviewed about – my debut novel, On The Way Out. Huge credit to Cathal, Róisín, Seán and everyone involved for hosting such a generous and welcoming night. The place was buzzing. There was that hum you get when people have gathered because they are happy to be out to enjoy a new event in a new setting.

Blessed are the early readers – and the late ones too – for they shall spot the untightened gears and pulleys that might otherwise derail the hurtling train. I retained quite the retinue of early and late readers for my debut novel On The Way Out: Barry Maguire, Brian Joyce, Carolina Batista, Colm Burtchaell, Conor Hughes, Declan Varley, Dymphna Culhane, Eamon Loughlin, Eilín O’Carroll, Emma Horan, Helen Bree, John Culhane, Kellie Thornton, Marie Shannon, Mary Halligan, Maurice Horan, Michael Horan, Michelle Horan, Mike Quinn, Noreen Gilligan, Pat Conway, Peter Browne, Sinead Horan, Siobhan Corcoran, Stephen Carolan, Suzanne Walsh, Shirley Byrne and Veronica Keys.

Since publishing On The Way Out in November 2025, I’ve been very happy with the reactions it has drawn from acclaimed writers, judges of the Gerald Griffin Competition and readers who encountered the book in entirely their own way. As a debut novelist, I’m grateful for every response, and I’d like to share some of them here. I do so mindful of the fact that there are undoubtedly some for whom the book doesn’t work – no book pleases everyone.

I’m delighted to be the guest for the first-ever Writer Event at The Novel Bean in Swinford on Thursday, December 11, where I’ll be their inaugural Featured Author of the Month. The event starts at 7.30pm, and everyone is welcome.

It’s a real honour to bring my debut novel, On The Way Out, to a new local venue that’s quickly becoming a hub for readers and writers.

How does a writer interact with their editor? That’s a question I often get asked. My editor for On The Way Out was my work colleague at the Western Development Commission, Aisling Moroney. And just as I was a debut novelist, she was a debut novel editor. Why not!

Fellow Ballinrobe writer and my (almost) lifelong friend Declan Varley delivered a wide-ranging, thought-provoking and highly entertaining speech to launch On The Way Out, my debut novel.

I included three guest readers at the launch of my debut novel On The Way Out in Ballinrobe Library on Saturday night last.

MC and good friend Colm Burtchaell interviewed me at the launch of my debut novel, On The Way Out, at the book's launch in Ballinrobe Library, on  November 22, 2025. Colm claimed to be a novice behind the mic but I think you'll agree he gave a very polished performance.

Below is the speech delivered by Dominic Taylor of Limerick Writers' Centre (LWC) at the launch of my debut novel On The Way Out in Ballinrobe Library on Saturday night last. I will be eternally grateful to Dominic and his colleagues