Roisin Meaney's Blog

Hello everyone,

Happy August, hope everyone’s well. The paperback of Moving On hit the shops yesterday (July 31) – it’s significant because it’s a publication date, but also because it’s the first of my books to be published in the UK as well as Ireland. The larger size that came out in Ireland in February wasn’t published in the UK as they generally don’t publish in that size. So it’s good to have a UK release at long last. Hoping it does well, would love a review in one of the UK publications . . . fingers crossed.

I’m still working on edits of the next, due out in Feb. I got an extension of the deadline till August 11, so I’m glued to the laptop till then. Hope to take a few days off after that, feeling badly in need of a break. Sleep not good for quite a while, which doesn’t help. Ah well. On the plus side, I was delighted to get a new translation offer for Moving On a few days ago from a publisher in the Czech Republic. Great to be moving into a new territory. World domination any day now.

On a sad note, I was very sorry to hear of the sudden death of Arena presenter Sean Rocks on Wednesday – he interviewed me some years ago and I found him to be really lovely. Very erudite man, very good interviewer. May he rest in peace.

Sorry I haven’t anything more exciting to report – mostly it’s been about the editing this month!

Mind yourselves, stay safe,

love

The post August 2025 appeared first on Roisin Meaney.

Hello everyone,

It’s the eve of July, and once again I find myself wondering just where is the time is going. Hope everyone’s enjoying the ‘summer’! The garden’s happy at least – the plants are all soaking up the rain and putting out blooms at a rate of knots – pic shows newly-popped snapdragons, my first time to grow them. Yesterday I planted out some poppies I’d sown too late – the seeds were sitting in a brown bag in one of the kitchen presses, and I simply forgot they were there. By the time I got them into the ground they should have been half grown, but they’re all coming along so I decided to keep going and see what happens. They’re beautiful poppies, white with a pink frilly edge. They grew wild in my brother’s garden last year and he harvested the seeds and gave some to me. His are blooming away now, so I’m trying not to be jealous. I’m telling myself even if I get no blooms this year they’ll come next year. Here’s hoping.

On the writing front I’m currently editing draft one, and it’s a giant mess. Even at number twenty-three, I still get the collywobbles somewhere along the way, usually at this stage. I’m reminding myself that draft two is always a giant mess, so there’s no point in panicking. And breathe……I’ve promised to return it by the end of July, so I’ll be busy for the month. Hoping it comes out right. Fingers crossed.

On the hip replacement front, I’m nearly there. Down to one stick when I go out for a walk,  final physio visit in two weeks, and back to the hospital for a final check there in about a month. Still feels a bit stiff when I walk, and I have to loosen up a bit every time I get up after sitting for a while, but it’s early days. I keep hearing about people who’ve got a new lease of life after a hip replacement, so I just have to have patience, and keep doing the exercises.

I’m still house hunting. A house I thought I’d be moving into around now didn’t work out, so it’s back to the drawing board. Ah well, someday my house will come…..

Mind yourselves, stay safe,

love

The post July 2025 appeared first on Roisin Meaney.

Hello everyone,

A bit late with my monthly blog – things have been slightly chaotic since I was wheeled into an operating theatre on April 22 and had my old dodgy hip whipped out and a brand new one put in. To say it was a shock to the system is putting it very mildly indeed – happily, this was my first experience of pretty major surgery, and for the first week or so it felt like I’d been run over by a juggernaut. Nearly two weeks in, I’m delighted to report that there’s a definite light at the end of the recovery tunnel. I graduated to one crutch indoors a few days ago, and I have a wonderful aide who comes in every morning and sets me up for the day. I have to say the cats have been no help at all – in fact, when I arrived home on the crutches, they ran! But things are slowly coming right, and tomorrow I go to the local medical centre to have clips removed which I’m hoping will make a big difference in terms of being able to sit and lie down without wincing!

But you know what? The whole experience since I got home has served as a wonderful reminder of how much kindness is out there. My collective neighbours are at my beck and call – one went over and above the call of duty one night that involved constipation – enough said! – and I’m having meals delivered and visits for chats, and when I go out on my little walks with the crutches people are so considerate, and so eager to help. It’s really brought it home to me that most people just want to live in peace and to get along with everyone else. Easy to forget that in these heartbreaking times; it’s always the bad news we hear, rather than the thousands and millions of little kindnesses that are quietly happening, not dramatic enough for the headlines, but so worth acknowledging. In Life Before Us I had Alice writing a little column in the local paper that highlighted the small happy events that never normally get flagged up – it’s something I wish would happen in real life. Just one page with nothing but good news – is that really too much to ask???

On the writing front I’m awaiting the return of my first draft of the next, along with editor’s notes on how to improve it. It will be good to jump back in again, another bit of normal life resuming!Not out till next Spring, so plenty of time to get it right…..

Mind yourselves, stay safe, practise kindness if you get the chance,

love

The post May 2025 appeared first on Roisin Meaney.

Hello everyone,

Hope this finds you all in good form. As I write this I’m looking forward to turning all my clocks forward an hour tomorrow night (Saturday 29th March) and ushering in the longer days, with more light and hopefully more heat and blue skies. The last couple of weeks have had plenty of sunshine and kinder temperatures, pic below shows the 2025 lupins coming along nicely, so I’m crossing fingers tightly for the summer. Would be lovely to get a couple of balmy months….

On the writing front, Moving On stayed for five lovely weeks in the top 10 which was thrilling, and thanks to all who helped with that. This week it’s dropped to number 11, so still enjoying nice strong sales. I’ve completed the first draft of the next, and will be handing it over on April 7 for my editors to read and critique. I’ll be using part of the writing break to attend to a few house repairs and tidy up the garden, which needs a whole lot of TLC after the winter, but I’ll only have two weeks at that because on April 22 I’ll be signing in to Croom Orthopedic Hospital for a hip replacement, and after I come home my movements will be a bit limited while my new part beds in. Lots of reading and short strolls will be the order of the day, I’d say. I’m looking forward to getting rid of the old hip, which has become quite painful in the past few months, particularly in bed at night. Roll on bionic woman!

On the house-hunting front I’m pleased to report that I’ve gone sale agreed on a beautiful house – and guess what? It’s pretty much the polar opposite of the kind of house I was looking for…but as soon as I saw it I fell in love, and happily, after a bit of determined bidding, I got it. I’m thrilled, but I’m also terrified to say any more at this early stage in case I jinx it…..so more news will come when I’m sure it’s not going to fall through!

Mind yourselves, stay safe, enjoy the longer days of spring 2025.

love

The post April 2025 appeared first on Roisin Meaney.

Hello everyone,

Happy March to all. Month of breezes and showers and bursts of sunshine and signs of spring in the garden and longer days and the promise of warmer weather. What’s not to love? I’m delighted to report that Moving On is currently sitting at number three in the Irish bestseller list, after having jumped in at number five after just three days of sales, so I’m absolutely thrilled about that, and very grateful to all who put their hands in their pockets to help it get there. It’s also just secured its first translation deal, can’t name the country until I sign along the dotted line and make it official, but it’s a publisher that’s already published an earlier book so that means they’re happy to go again. Delightful.

I’m moving through the first draft of the next on schedule, which is great. I hit 70k words yesterday which was a good milestone – all the roundy numbers are. This one I think will be a little shorter than some of the others, so I predict that I’ll get to the end of it sometime in March, with enough time left to give it a check through before handing it over in April. I’m looking forward to the break then – always nice to be able to kick back and not sit in front of the laptop for the day – and in April there’ll be plenty to do in the garden, weather permitting.

Still hunting for the forever home, hoping a few more will come on over the next few weeks. Fingers crossed I’ll find something this year. Cats and myself would like to be off the side of the road, with a nice decent garden. Here’s hoping.

Mind yourselves, keep the heads up and stay strong,

love

The post March 2025 appeared first on Roisin Meaney.

Hello everyone,

Well, that’s January done and dusted for another eleven months. I was going great guns with dry January, not a drop passed my lips till Storm Eowyn descended in the early hours of Friday last, and wreaked havoc in a lot of the country, and didn’t leave West Clare out. The entire town of Miltown Malbay was cut off from civilisation for nearly 3 days – no electricity, Internet or phone, so things were a little harsh, with the temperature dropping and more wind whipping up just when Eowyn was whirring off to put the fear of God into the UK. So on Friday night, with candles burning, I decided to cheer myself up with a nice bottle of red – I hasten to add it took two candelit nights to polish it off, and thankfully power was restored on Sunday afternoon, and I left the drinks cabinet alone after that. So dry January minus two days – I’d call that a win!

And February is launch month for Moving On, so in between the first draft of the next (up to 40k words and all going fairly well, as well as first drafts generally go) I’ve been writing bits for newspapers and magazines to coincide with the publication, and on the 6th I’ll be launching in O’Mahony’s Bookshop in Limerick – all welcome, 6.00pm! – and being interviewed on various radio stations around that date, and I’ll be on the tellybox the following week, so it’s all go. I love when a new one comes out, and the wait begins to see what sales are like. It’s been getting good reviews by book bloggers, so the signs are positive.

February is also the month when the garden stirs … I’ve been spotting buds and shoots, and signs of poppies and primroses returning, and last week I bought some very early tulips in my local supermarket, and a few days later a friend gave me a bunch of tightly closed daffodils she’d found in the Limerick Milk Market, and they’ve just opened and are sitting on my kitchen table as I write (pic), and you’ll have to take my word for it that the scent is glorious. Roll on the longer days, the blossoms and the blooms, and hopefully summer will be kind to us this year, and might even bring me the new house I’ve been hunting for since the middle of 2023. We can only hope.

Mind yourselves, and happy spring,

love

The post February 2025 appeared first on Roisin Meaney.

Hello everyone,

Wow, a whole new year to play with. I’m thankful for my health, and for our temperate (mostly) climate, and for family and good friends and the security of a roof over my head, and relatively few problems, and I’m hoping fervently that 2025 brings happier days to so many parts of our beleaguered planet, where people not half as lucky as me face ongoing terror and heartbreak. 2025, you have your work cut out.

On the writing front, I’ve launched into draft one of the next, no title yet. This is the tricky, messy part, getting to know the characters, easing into the story. I’m not quite tearing hair out, but I’m wishing to be a bit further in, when things start to level out and the going gets a bit easier. Roll on next few weeks! I have to keep reminding myself that it’s ALWAYS like this at the start of a book – you’d think after 22 of them I’d be a bit more clued in!

I generally don’t make new year resolutions, having decided after so many failures that I’m only setting myself up for a fall, but for the first time I’m planning dry January. In fact, I haven’t touched a drop since Christmas Day, so we’ll see how I go. This festive season has been more abstemious than usual, maybe because I’ve hardly gone to any parties! West Clare is a quiet place….I did have a few nights in with neighbours, which were lovely.

So I’ll raise my water glass (or teacup) to 2025. Let’s hope it’s a good one. Let’s hope people come to their senses. Let’s hope wars end, and healing begins.

Mind yourselves, and happy new year.

love

The post January 2025 appeared first on Roisin Meaney.

Hello everyone,

December, and the official countdown to the big day….I was in a checkout queue today and saw advent calendars on sale, marked down to €1. A bit of chocolate for every day. I was sorely tempted, but resisted. I’ve been trying out intermittent fasting since I got home from Tenerife on the 9th, only eating between midday and six every day. I lasted till last Thursday, so I did two and a half weeks. Lost 5 lbs, which I’m glad about – they’d crept on over the past few months and I resented them without having the willpower to do anything about them, so the fasting achieved that – and now that I’ve lost them I’d prefer to keep them off, at least until the serious social occasions come along, and I may overindulge a little…..in fact, there’s one coming up in just a few days – a singer friend’s Christmas night in a venue in Limerick, so drinks will be had as we listen to her belting out the Christmas tunes. Love it, kick starts Christmas every year.

In book news, I’ve almost got the plot of the next sorted, just a couple more days of fine tuning and I’ll be ready to jump in and begin. A very exciting time, starting a new book – will encounter the usual bumps along the way, but hopefully by next April I’ll have a tolerable first draft to show my editors. Fingers crossed. In the meantime, Moving On has been put to bed, out of my hands completely and lined up to hit the shelves in Feb. If anyone’s reading this in the Limerick area, or even in the Munster area, I’ll be launching it in O’Mahony’s bookshop on Feb 6th at 6.00pm, and the more the merrier. I haven’t done a launch since covid, so I’m really looking forward to this one.

No new house yet. The hunt goes on. Spring, hopefully. In the meantime, wishing you all the happiest of Happy Christmasses, and lots of reasons to smile in 2025. Thanks for being supportive, means a lot.

Mind yourselves,

love

The post December 2024 appeared first on Roisin Meaney.

Hello everyone,

Happy November. Can’t believe how quickly 2024 is racing by. Wasn’t summer just a blur? Mostly a wet, chilly blur…..hoping winter will be mild to match – I’m one of those people who needs piles of bedding and fleecy pjs on a cold night, with the electric blanket on full strength, and maybe a hot water bottle for good measure, and a cat or two for extra heat!!

With Moving On pretty much put to bed – just waiting on a final read through of the proofread draft – I’m currently having a think about the next. This is always an anxious time, with the simmering fear that a plot will not materialise, but I have to have faith that it will, like all the ones that have gone before. Still my fingers are tightly crossed, and sleep is even more elusive than it normally is! Wish me luck.

In other news, I’m still looking for a new house, and coming to terms with the fact that it probably won’t show up this late in the year. Roll on 2025, and a new crop of houses to view! People keep telling me my one is out there – wish I could be sure it is, and wish the current owners would move faster to put it on the market!

Clocks gone back, darkness drawing in – wishing you a cosy winter (or a warm summer if you’re down under). Hopefully by the time I’m writing the next blog post I’ll have made a start on the new book. In the meantime, here’s the cover of Moving On, due to hit the shelves on Feb 7th, here in Ireland and in Australia and New Zealand – and of course available online too in due course, it might take a while to show up on the online platforms. Keep an eye out. If you’d like to pre-order a copy and have it delivered, kennys.ie are always reliable, and ship worldwide: https://www.kennys.ie/shop/popular-pr...

Mind yourselves,

love

The post November 2024 appeared first on Roisin Meaney.

Hello everyone,

Happy October. Proper autumn now. Days drawing in, woolly hats pulled out, gloves on standby…the apples on my tree are getting bigger by the day, but they’re a late variety so I won’t be harvesting any till next month. A few fell off in strong winds and I stewed them. A few crumbles won’t go amiss when I have some more to play around with. I love me a nice crumble.

Kittens all gone to their forever homes, Mama cat (who is now officially Freddie) hanging around in the greenhouse. I feel bad not letting her into the house but three is really enough in the little cottage. Freddie’s pal – boyfriend? – still comes every day to be fed too, so I’m forking out quite a bit on cat food. Poor old George was hit by a car in early September and has been in recovery since…..he’s home today with a cone and I’m on eye drop duty (he got an ulcer, long story) and I’m the worst cat nurse in history so I’m hoping I don’t blind the poor boy before I bring him back on Thursday for a check-up.

I backed out of the sale agreed house, decided there were too many uncertainties about it. Not to worry, Miltown Malbay cottage will do me until I get the right one. Patience is a virtue.

On the writing front, just waiting for the latest to bounce back after being proofread. In the meantime I’m working on a picture book about the kittens who spent the summer in the greenhouse…..watch this space. Oh, and the paperback version of A Winter to Remember is publishing on October 3, just in case anyone missed last year’s release in the larger size.

Mind yourselves,

love

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