Writer | Podcasts | Environment
Nearly two years ago I wrote a blog post ‘Should I be Writing at a Time like This?’ that started with a quote from Bo Burhan’s Netflix special Inside (2021): ‘The more I look, the more I see nothing to joke about. Is comedy over? Should I leave you alone because really, who’s going to …
As a kid you fed the crows in the garden behind your parents’ house. You liked that they learned not to be afraid of you over time.
Originally publishing in Catflap magazine (November 2021) There were two reasons I became a champion tree climber as a child. Firstly, because I loved it, the shapes of the branches and glow of the leaves when the light came through, the whisper of the breeze like the promise of something magical about to happen. Secondly, …
For every person I’ve met proclaiming the necessity for real art, I’ve met at least two more people too terrified to share their passion. Asking a young writer, still trying to find their voice in a world of such infinite mass media and “content”, to compare themselves to James Baldwin… That seems unfair. Either shape a generation or shut up? Should we be joking at a time like this?
Tá gaol gairid idir an t-aisteoir Meiriceánach a chuireann blas Sasanach air féin i scannán fantaisíochta agus an scríbhneoir a deir leis féin “is Gaeilge de shaghas éigin í an Ealbhais seo, ach níl inti ach an méid is cuimhin liom gcailín Wicca sin ar shiúil mé amach léi san ollscoil”. Cén fáth a bhfuil …
Continue reading "An gCeapann Údair Fantaisíocht Nach Bhfuil sa Ghaeilge ach “Elvish” Lascainithe"
It's long been debated in writing circles, the idea of being too precious with your writing. Some of the controversial advice given in this regard comes from poet, Allen Ginsburg, to "kill your darlings" and strip away those parts of your writing that feel cosy and comfortable. Now there are many alternative views to this, …
Continue reading "Don’t Kill Your Darlings, Share Them – Storytelling and RP Games"
There are lots of things that make the transition between writing sometimes and being a quote-unquote "writer" but at least some of them are psychological. For years you consume "Top 10 Tips on Plotting Your Novel" and listen to TEDTalks but can't see any marked improvement in the standard of your writing. Then one day …
Continue reading "Internalising Writing Advice – Portraits & Dreams"
When the darkest days come we come together, We may never know why happiness sets us apart but, tragedy stretches out a hand and lips to kiss it better. And we were born on either end of the darkest week. But our tragedy was that those seven days and seven years separated us in ways …
This is a beginning that will be repeated again and again and again. This is a story that is being retold, the same but new Beginning is the oldest thing you know how to do Again, again, again. . As messy and painful as all births are From bright light at the end of a …
Orla ní Dhúill 