Friday, November 13, 2009

3rd Stop on Virtual Book Tour and A Draw For The Wrong Miracle




My 3rd stop on the Maximus Miracle Virtual Book Tour is with fab Writer
Nuala Ní Chonchúir in Galway, Ireland. We chat by the fireside about writing and 'excitement', fav. Irish Women Poets and about my flash...-writing and who I write for...and to celebrate being back on home soil, there is a special draw/giveaway of The Wrong Miracle....all you have to do is mention the draw/book/tour on your blog and comment back here or on Nuala's Blog and on the 25th of Nov. the names go into my Panama straw hat and hey presto, it could be you! Best of luck ; )

Friday, November 06, 2009

The Maximus Miracle Virtual Tour Stop 2



This week The Maximus Miracle Virtual Tour has landed in Texas in
The Art of Breathing Blog and the hostess this week is Brenda. Brenda and I indulge in some delicious wining and dining while talking about how I became an optimist while growing up in Donegal in the 70's and 80`s ; ), the 'musicality' of my poems and the reader-writer relationship. It is all revealed here.

Thursday, October 29, 2009

The Maximus Miracle Virtual Book Tour has landed...




...at Arlene's Blog and boy has it landed with a whoosh and a bang and a whatever-you-are-having-yourself. It is 'Days of Wine and Roses' (Tom Waits...love that song and this first day of 'Maximus Miracle' has brought it to mind...see table-ful of drink at Arlene's place!)

We talk about g/God and war and protected valleys and unprotected rabbits and writing in the dark and 'settling' oneself and trumpets and bad and good habits while writing and Ireland and isolation and relationships to poetry ….all between sipfuls of drink and....then....to get the catch of the day for my next tour stop at Brenda's...we go.....fishing! Because we know Brenda is a fantastic cook and has a few very special fish (y) recipes up her sleeve for us....hello! Brenda ...looking forward to landing in Texas with you...: )


(Editing in a wee note to the Host Bloggers: Salt are in the process of moving all the Cyclone Virtual Book Tour information and Host Blogger information from their website to their Salt Blog ....they've told me that it should be up and running next week. Thanks. )

Sunday, October 25, 2009

The Maximus Miracle Virtual Book Tour Is on Its Way


The Maximus Miracle Virtual Book Tour has crept up on me...thanks to Arlene for giving me a gentle poke about getting the answers to the interview questions to her....I am so bogged down in the Spanish Education system that neither poetry nor anything writing-like was getting a look-in. Must put a stop to that!

And Arlene has so kindly and creatively made a Sims version of me for the interview which starts on the 28th of October. Take a look at those legs and that pose...a writer raring to go if I ever saw one! Arlene, I can never repay you enough for the legs and the sexiness....a big kiss to you. x

Editing in a P.S. To the lovely folk who are getting the questions together for the Virtual Tour interviews, could you just form 3 Questions as have near 10 interviews to do and could end up repeating myself...and going on too much .....! ; ) x

Monday, October 12, 2009

Horizon Review 3 Online


(Heatwave Ireland Galway September 09)


(Part of Dublin Theatre Festival Poster Dublin 09)

HORIZON REVIEW 3is up. It's a true feast of an issue - interviews, articles, fiction, audio...and much, much more... and I am in there amongst all sorts of great folk...a happy camper, I am, with this fine distraction from the daily grind...

No Small Matter '...When someone said tantalise, she found she could gyrate her whole body like nobody’s business...' (Do you remember the New Year's Eve Abba show I blogged about here...this poem came from that night...absolutely god's honest truth ;))

A Monster Feeling '...while I took steps, my skirt slipped off. I fear a trouser-burst, my bottom bare...' (Whiskey night caps while waiting for the return of something/someone special...aw!)

A Note to Self '...Mum's the word. My lips swell beyond recognition. Christ alive. Swine flu snowballs...' ('I´m gonna do it, do it, do it...'- a sort of talking-to I gave myself... )

Sunday, October 04, 2009

Change of Scene/Bits and Bobs

The Prufrocks Poets (L to R Mary, Nuala, Barbara, Jaki, Liz)


Madra (Irish for dog!)


Things are hotting up here for The Maximus Miracle Tour beginning at the end of October. I have been out of touch with everything book-ish due to my flu and a sort of over-saturation of The Wrong Miracle during my 6 weeks in Ireland - for the last 2 weeks I have not even looked sideways at anything wrong miracle-ish...I needed that break - one can definitely get fed up with one´s own poetry. Also it´s kind of like a 'done and dusted' feel and I am craving to move on....but for sure I will give The Wrong Miracle all the breaks it needs (Canary launch in the pipeline, visiting a book club, local library reading) but am paving the way for other things, poetry and non-poetry, just now.

In order to get better job security and salary (left that behind in Ireland so after 14 years have decided I need it again! ; ))I am going to be studying to get into the Public Education system here. It is a colossal task as you have to study a whole English degree program and do continuous learning courses and stuff like that to get academic merit and then sit exams and do oral presentations of programs etc. Believe me when I say that I will be having my head down between now and June and probably chewing my fingers to the bone in the process. This could also mean that I will hardly have time to write any poems, unless under pressure some things come bobbing or exploding to the surface....! ; )

In other news, the dog drawing above titled 'Madra' is the work of the very talented, in-more-ways-than-one, Mr TFE. Go check out his blog post on Concern to see how you too can get a Mr TFE personalised drawing.

Also why not pop along to Barbara Smith to see what she did to celebrate All Ireland Poetry Day.

So I´m signing off now, just off to while away the evening in the valley, dog-walking and bullet-dodging as it is hunting rabbit day here in the Canaries, God bless us!
ciao!

Monday, September 21, 2009

Impossibly Beautiful by Julie Feeney




Wow! wow! wow! Be blown away by this video - Impossibly Beautiful by Julie Feeney...guaranteed.
(there are some advantages to being bed-bound... : ))

Back! Not Totally in Tact Though...




Got back on Sat. night after over 6 weeks away...have been in bed with flu over the past 36 hours and whiled away the time, that is when the coughing subsided, thinking about the highlights of the trip away... there were quite a few, plus lows too but will leave those for another day...these are the highlights that sprung to a feverish mind, probably other highlights in the back of the mind too that may come forward as I get my energy back. Looking forward to catching up ...meanwhile have got to investigate TFEs poetry Monday - go see what he's up to as from just a quick look in, it appears as if he has been the instigation for moving poetry-mountains when it comes to inspiring people to write...fair play TFE.

Highlights (possibly Part 1)(from a feverish head, and in no particular order)

- hearing punk poet Jinx Lennon and angel-voiced Paula Flynn at the Flatlake Festival singing lyrics such as 'you can`t keep everyone happy' 'everyone's got a mental home inside their heads', 'there is a gobshite coming up your garden path' (or words to that affect)

- hanging out for 6 days with 9 nieces and nephews ranging in age from 4 to 13

- walking through sodden fields with my own wellies

- spending time with my fab sister and having a laugh about everything from sudo cream to drinking water

- sharing a fish pie and a glass of white wine with Vladi in The Lemon Tree restaurant in Letterkenny after having had a hectic time where it felt like the world might just cave in, given half a chance

- seeing my name head the Sheridan's Over the Edge readings' poster (and discovering the morning after that a friend had stolen the self-same poster and had tucked it discreetly into my bag)

- the Indian Summer that began on the day I left Donegal for my whistle stop reading tour

- being on a high the day after the Galway reading and strolling the sun-drenched Saturday market in Galway eating a freshly made donut with cinnamon

- being struck again by how beautiful Donegal is, plus seeing lots of horses and donkeys in nearby fields where horses and donkeys used not be

- sitting on the pavement at midnight in Temple Bar in Dublin listening to street music

- driving alone on a near-flooded road in the wilds of North West Donegal around mid-night and discovering poetry on BBC4

- seeing headlines about my poetry and me in three local papers

- a full Irish breakfast with my dad in early morn in a Texan bar on the outskirts of Letterkenny

- having people say nice things to me after a reading

- people wanting to actually buy my book

- finding out that neighbours and some distant family made copies of the articles written about me in the local newspapers to send to other relatives in the UK and the States

- meeting so many lovely new people - Nuala, baby Juno, Finbar, Barbara, Jaki, Kevin, Susan, Paul, Tom, Paul, Jenni, Rosie, Carolyn, Kate, Tommy, Mary, Siobhan, Ron, Art, Billy, Anne, Mari....

- being part of the Prufrocks Poets at Flatlake Festival

- looking for crabs with crab-happy nephews on a sun-blasting-the-rocks day on a beach in Spiddel

- making a video of brothers, sister, brother-in-law and nephews and niece playing football in a big grassy field on one of those long summer evenings

- finding a fantastic beach at the end of an Ards Forest Park walk

- making childhood trifle, cold custard included, and serving it up a lá full-of-pride

- putting on the hazard lights on a busy entry spot to a car park to save a one-eyed jet black kitten that had crossed my path. He fitted onto the palm of my hand

- watching previously mentioned one-eyed kitten stare at me from his box on the floor of the passenger seat as I drove him to the cats' rescue home

- making my mum laugh when she was feeling very poorly

- having an energy salad before my Galway reading in Sheridan's wherein the waiter wished me the energy I hoped for and later on at the reading, being given a signed copy of Ron Houchin's book where he wrote 'I admire your energy' (without him having any previous knowledge of my energy salad, naturally! ; ))

- meeting my very brave cousin Elizabeth after 30 years and hearing her talk about her second ongoing fight with cancer and how she keeps positive

- seeing how one woman, a laptop and a microphone can bring the whole 80s music scene to life, unexpectedly, in a hotel in Galway at midnight on a Friday night

- my father making me laugh in his quiet way with his anecdotes and supreme memory for dates and times and what people said

- being invited to the Bluestacks Literary Festival

- having great books to read: Nuala's Nude, Barbara's Kairos, Rachel's More About the Song, Vanessa's Words from a Glass Bubble, Anne Sexton's Love Poems, Roddy Lumsden's Third Wish Wasted , Obama's Dreams from my Father, Frank O' Connor's Collected Stories Volume 1, Edna O' Brien's The Light of Evening, Ron Houchin's Museum Crows, Sian Hughes' The Missing....

- seeing two rainbows criss-cross over my dad's back fields where a favourite tree resides

- watching how my dad tickles the cat's belly with his walking stick and hearing said-cat,Tom, purr in top gear
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