THOMPSON
We tootled to the West coast for August, and spent most of the month listening to rain on the roof. I had hoped to get loads of walking, cycling and swimming done, but the only exercise I got was the latter. It stands to reason that if you’re going to get wet, you might as well go the whole hog and plunge into the ocean – and actually, the Atlantic was pretty balmy this summer. And although the holiday was a washout, there were moments. Get a load of this splendidly sissy baby pink and blue sunset over Clew Bay…
STRESS
It was good to get away
from city-related stress, but lo! We had stress of another nature to contend
with in our rural retreat. Western Union was kept busy sending emergency
funds to the island of Koh Tao where our girl is doing her scuba divemaster
course, and then we learned that she has to be in Keio University on the
13th September, not the 22nd as we had originally been told, and flights to
Tokyo had to be re-organised and our internet connection was dodgy and then
we thought we might have to flee back to Dublin on account of a family
emergency, and the next thing a wound on Clara’s foot is giving her serious
grief and she’s a ferry-journey away from a hospital on another island in
the Gulf of Thailand and I’m fretting and fretting because there’s nothing I
can do to help, and suddenly the dawn chorus over Clew Bay was no longer
bucolic balm to
the soul, it was a bloody nuisance more akin to a car alarm going off and I
was back on the Becalms and our mobile phone bill is going to be
horrendous. I’ll need something that kicks a more powerful punch than
Becalms when Clara returns from being a mermaid. She has only three days at
home in Ireland before she’s on a plane heading eastward again, and she has
to pack for a whole year away, and Empty Nest syndrome is going to hit me
like a ton of bricks. The minute I get a text message from her saying ‘MSN?’
I lunge for my laptop and cry all over the keyboard, tears blinding me as I
gaze lovingly at her webcam image. Do any of you out there who are going
through something similar feel the same? I swear, if I didn’t have the
staunch support of good girlfriends, I’d be lost.
YOUR FEEDBACK
Your feedback – as requested in last month’s newsletter was just fantastic. Thanks so much to everyone who wrote with suggestions (click here to read sample letters). The consensus seems to be that everyone wants more of Deirdre and Rory (at this rate it looks like I’ll be telling their story when they’re shuffling about on Zimmer frames!), but the names of many of my own personal favourites came up, too – Aphrodite, Ella and Pixie all figured. It’s lovely that you want to know what’s happened to them – it means that you are relating to them as real people, as I do! I really rather like the idea of following up Ella’s story, since that would involve a trip to Jamaica for research purposes☺ Lots of you would welcome another novel by Ms. Pixie Pirelli, and I’d love to oblige because I had such fun and laughed so much when I was working on that book (how embarrassing to confess that I laugh at my own jokes when I’m writing…)
Lots of you continue to express complete dismay and incredulity as to why my publishing house opted not to renew my contract. All I can say is times are bad out there. I was talking recently to someone who has been involved in publishing for yonks. He drooped with despondency when he spoke of the money men and their paucity of vision, and their lack of commitment to authors who do not earn them mega-bucks more instantly than Pot Noodles. I am a very lucky woman to have a fan base who keeps my Amazon sales buoyant – thank-you to all you lovely readers.
GAY O'NEILL ART
My sister-in-law, the artist Gay O’Neill, has completed a new series of etchings. You can check them out by clicking here. My favourite is this one - Girl and Sea Birds – but I also love Blue, and C’est la Vie, which shows my niece Aimée sitting in one the most idyllic places on earth – the swing in the garden on Clew Bay.
THANK YOU
Thank-you so much as ever for taking the time to read this, and a million thanks for your continued support. I swear, if it hadn’t been for you, I’d have given up yonks ago.
♥♥♥
from
Kate
PS: ORDERING BOOKS
to buy
By the way, while Sex, Lies and Fairytales is available to buy or to order in all good bookshops in Ireland, the UK and the Commonwealth, its companion piece Hard to Choos is available to buy direct from booksellers only in Ireland at present. Should you wish to buy the book from Amazon, clicking here will take you straight to the sales point. You can also order Hard to Choos from Pixie's site. Lots of you are wondering where my backlist can be purchased. Amazon is good, of course, but my Transworld titles are also available - with free P&P in the UK - at Bookpost. (Just key in the title name in inverted commas - ie: "More Mischief")
to buy
© Kate Thompson, 2007
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