What’s these days called ‘some personal news’ – I was delighted to have been chosen for a Mayo County Council Arts Service Artist Bursary Award for 2023.
This bursary allowed me to avail of some mentoring from the Irish Writers Centre. The mentor I chose – Mary-Jane Holmes – proved to be a real gem as she got to the heart of some of the things that most challenge me as a writer.
Publishing my debut collection of short stories – Second Chance & Other Stories (Mayo Books Press) – last year brought many benefits, not least of which was observations, feedbacks, comparisons, challenges and so forth.
I have been working for some time on what I call ‘expanding the scope’ of my writing – adding a second voice or thread to give a story an additional layer without compromising the brevity and clarity that I believe to be essential elements of the short story / novella medium.
Mary-Jane’s mentoring is helping greatly with this, as does the continued support of my existing, much-put-upon support / therapy / keep-a-man-half-right group of readers. I have also started a Creative Writing Masters (part-time, two years) at Univeristy of Limerick, where Donal Ryan and Fí Scarlett are tutors – more on this anon.