Liz Nugent's Blog
March 9, 2022
Doing our Best...
Last time I wrote was early 2020 and I was recovering in hospital from an accident. Little did I know what was coming down the tracks.
Covid hit us in March of that year, shelving all my publicity plans and tours for Our Little Cruelties. Nevertheless, heroic bookstores quickly pivoted to online or telephone sales and my little book found its way to number 1!
It was a bittersweet time though. My poor Dad's dementia really took hold that year and the family had to accept that he could no longer live independently. But because he was in a nursing home, all visiting was cancelled. For four months of his final year, I could not see my Dad and when we were allowed, I was forbidden from holding his hand or hugging him. He died in November 2020, (not of Covid) but I felt privileged that I and my eight siblings could be with him as he slipped from this world.
While all this was happening, I was still trying to physically recover from my own accident but couldn't access physiotherapy for four months. I was also quite heavily medicated to deal with pain and muscle spasms, so I regret to inform you that almost no writing was done in 2020.
By about March 2021, I was able to write again, but Covid had such a strange effect on my writing. I realised that in order to write about the world, I have to be able to partake in it. I tried so many different angles to my writing, but having finished the new novel now (won't be released until April 2023), I realised that I unwittingly wrote about a very isolated character. Those of you who have read me will be shocked to learn that for the first time, my central character is likeable! Although she does something absolutely terrible at the beginning of the story, I hope she will win your hearts the way she crawled out of mine.
Maybe Covid made me a slightly softer writer? Although the book is as sinister as the others, you will have a character to root for this time, without having to question your own morals. Ha!
Towards the end of last year, I got to attend a few scaled down festivals, Harrogate, Borris Festival of Writing and Ideas, Hinterland, West Cork Literary Festival and Iceland Noir. I got to interview some of my writing pals: Val McDermid, AJ Finn, Graham Norton and Marian Keyes as well as being interviewed myself. I'm finding myself comfortable on both sides of the microphone these days.
It's hard to celebrate the end of Covid when Russia has just invaded Ukraine and we do not know what the future will look like. So far, in 2022, I have been booked for festivals in Oxford, England; Toronto, Canada; Sopot, Poland; and Reykjavick, Iceland (I will put details on my website liznugent.com as soon as they are confirmed). Of course I am hoping they will all go ahead but the future, in Europe at least, looks uncertain.
I was interviewed recently for a tv programme called The Meaning of Life and that was one of the questions. What is the meaning of life? What are we here for? The best answer I could come up with is that we must do our best.
In this part of the world, Spring is approaching (although you would not know it on this miserably cold and grey Dublin day) and with Spring comes new life, hopes and dreams. Have a good one everybody! x
Covid hit us in March of that year, shelving all my publicity plans and tours for Our Little Cruelties. Nevertheless, heroic bookstores quickly pivoted to online or telephone sales and my little book found its way to number 1!
It was a bittersweet time though. My poor Dad's dementia really took hold that year and the family had to accept that he could no longer live independently. But because he was in a nursing home, all visiting was cancelled. For four months of his final year, I could not see my Dad and when we were allowed, I was forbidden from holding his hand or hugging him. He died in November 2020, (not of Covid) but I felt privileged that I and my eight siblings could be with him as he slipped from this world.
While all this was happening, I was still trying to physically recover from my own accident but couldn't access physiotherapy for four months. I was also quite heavily medicated to deal with pain and muscle spasms, so I regret to inform you that almost no writing was done in 2020.
By about March 2021, I was able to write again, but Covid had such a strange effect on my writing. I realised that in order to write about the world, I have to be able to partake in it. I tried so many different angles to my writing, but having finished the new novel now (won't be released until April 2023), I realised that I unwittingly wrote about a very isolated character. Those of you who have read me will be shocked to learn that for the first time, my central character is likeable! Although she does something absolutely terrible at the beginning of the story, I hope she will win your hearts the way she crawled out of mine.
Maybe Covid made me a slightly softer writer? Although the book is as sinister as the others, you will have a character to root for this time, without having to question your own morals. Ha!
Towards the end of last year, I got to attend a few scaled down festivals, Harrogate, Borris Festival of Writing and Ideas, Hinterland, West Cork Literary Festival and Iceland Noir. I got to interview some of my writing pals: Val McDermid, AJ Finn, Graham Norton and Marian Keyes as well as being interviewed myself. I'm finding myself comfortable on both sides of the microphone these days.
It's hard to celebrate the end of Covid when Russia has just invaded Ukraine and we do not know what the future will look like. So far, in 2022, I have been booked for festivals in Oxford, England; Toronto, Canada; Sopot, Poland; and Reykjavick, Iceland (I will put details on my website liznugent.com as soon as they are confirmed). Of course I am hoping they will all go ahead but the future, in Europe at least, looks uncertain.
I was interviewed recently for a tv programme called The Meaning of Life and that was one of the questions. What is the meaning of life? What are we here for? The best answer I could come up with is that we must do our best.
In this part of the world, Spring is approaching (although you would not know it on this miserably cold and grey Dublin day) and with Spring comes new life, hopes and dreams. Have a good one everybody! x
January 13, 2020
Hospital Blues
It's been ages since I updated this blog and let's just say I had an interesting year. I finished Our Little Cruelties -UK and Irl Penguin March 2020. The same book will be published under the title Little Cruelties in USA and Canada by Simon & Schuster in August 2020. So I'm looking at advance reviews here and am pleased to see that most people like it a lot.
I had a great summer, interviewing some of my favourite writers about my favourite books of the year-Jane Casey (Cruel Acts), Jane Harper (The Lost Man) Joseph O'Connor (Shadowplay) and Sinead Gleeson (Constellations).
In July, I went to the Harrogate Old Peculiar International Crime Writing Festival and won a Dead Good Award for The Book You Couldn't Put Down for my third novel Skin Deep.
In August, I went to the Bute Noir Crime Festival on the Scottish Isle of Bute and had a fantastic time with fellow crime writers and readers and bloggers.
For three weeks in September and October, I did a tour of New Zealand with events in Auckland, Wellington (where the Irish Ambassador took me to lunch!), Rotorua, Nelson, finishing with the Celtic Noir Festival in Dunedin where I rubbed shoulders with heroes Dame Fiona Kidman, Val McDermid and Liam McIlvanny. My husband and I drove from the top of the North Island to the bottom of the South Island (Obviously, we took the ferry from one island to the other). What a splendid and beautiful country! (Don't worry, all this boasting is leading somewhere dreadful.)
Back in Dublin, on 1st November, I taught a masterclass on character based on the pilot episode of Breaking Bad. A tv crew were due to make a documentary about me the following Monday and I was due to fly out to San Francisco for an Irish Hinterland Festival on the Thursday.
Alas (finally, here it comes), while going to brunch in a friends house on Sunday 3rd November, I tripped and smashed my knee. When I have accidents, I like to do them in spectacular style, so I smashed it good and because of a neurological disorder I've had since a childhood brain haemorrhage (falling down the stairs with *spectacular* results), the knee damage was very severe. I have been in hospital ever since and hope to be able to walk out in about four weeks time. I won't lie, I have been in severe pain, thoroughly depressed, unable to read or write because of heavy medication, but I'm now in a rehabilitation hospital, receiving excellent physiotherapy, occupational therapy and loving care from the wonderful staff here.
I have learned many lessons here:
1. Pride comes before a fall.
2. Say no to more events.
3. Be grateful that I will get out of this hospital (a lot of patients won't).
4. I am the most impatient patient. I ACTUALLY want to run before I can walk.
5. I am blessed with incredible friends who have visited, sent cards, gifts, good vibes, prayers, healing thoughts, remote reiki etc.
6. I am very, very lucky. I know it doesn't sound like it. But it's true.
My next project was to write a play for the incredibly successful Landmark Theatre Co. That has been delayed obviously while I recover and I need to thank that company for giving me the time and space to do that.
Happy new year to everyone, especially those going through hard times. They won't last. xxxx
I had a great summer, interviewing some of my favourite writers about my favourite books of the year-Jane Casey (Cruel Acts), Jane Harper (The Lost Man) Joseph O'Connor (Shadowplay) and Sinead Gleeson (Constellations).
In July, I went to the Harrogate Old Peculiar International Crime Writing Festival and won a Dead Good Award for The Book You Couldn't Put Down for my third novel Skin Deep.
In August, I went to the Bute Noir Crime Festival on the Scottish Isle of Bute and had a fantastic time with fellow crime writers and readers and bloggers.
For three weeks in September and October, I did a tour of New Zealand with events in Auckland, Wellington (where the Irish Ambassador took me to lunch!), Rotorua, Nelson, finishing with the Celtic Noir Festival in Dunedin where I rubbed shoulders with heroes Dame Fiona Kidman, Val McDermid and Liam McIlvanny. My husband and I drove from the top of the North Island to the bottom of the South Island (Obviously, we took the ferry from one island to the other). What a splendid and beautiful country! (Don't worry, all this boasting is leading somewhere dreadful.)
Back in Dublin, on 1st November, I taught a masterclass on character based on the pilot episode of Breaking Bad. A tv crew were due to make a documentary about me the following Monday and I was due to fly out to San Francisco for an Irish Hinterland Festival on the Thursday.
Alas (finally, here it comes), while going to brunch in a friends house on Sunday 3rd November, I tripped and smashed my knee. When I have accidents, I like to do them in spectacular style, so I smashed it good and because of a neurological disorder I've had since a childhood brain haemorrhage (falling down the stairs with *spectacular* results), the knee damage was very severe. I have been in hospital ever since and hope to be able to walk out in about four weeks time. I won't lie, I have been in severe pain, thoroughly depressed, unable to read or write because of heavy medication, but I'm now in a rehabilitation hospital, receiving excellent physiotherapy, occupational therapy and loving care from the wonderful staff here.
I have learned many lessons here:
1. Pride comes before a fall.
2. Say no to more events.
3. Be grateful that I will get out of this hospital (a lot of patients won't).
4. I am the most impatient patient. I ACTUALLY want to run before I can walk.
5. I am blessed with incredible friends who have visited, sent cards, gifts, good vibes, prayers, healing thoughts, remote reiki etc.
6. I am very, very lucky. I know it doesn't sound like it. But it's true.
My next project was to write a play for the incredibly successful Landmark Theatre Co. That has been delayed obviously while I recover and I need to thank that company for giving me the time and space to do that.
Happy new year to everyone, especially those going through hard times. They won't last. xxxx
April 7, 2019
Paris, France
Hello everyone, it's been a while!
I finally finished a first draft of Book 4 which I think might now be called The Simple Act of Walking the Earth Like Brothers. Maybe that's too much of a mouthful and I wouldn't be able to hashtag it but it kind of reflects the themes of the book. It's a partial quote from Martin Luther King Jr. What do you think?
I have had initial feedback on the manuscript from my Irl/UK editor which was very positive but I know that editing is where the real work gets done though I much prefer editing fo first drafting. There is nothing as terrifying as the blank page. I'm waiting nervously to hear my US editor's reaction.
This book is a bit of a step away from the psych thriller -a tag I always felt a little uncomfortable with. Don't people expect rooftop chases? :-)
This new book is firmly in the domestic noir camp, taking a very close look at the psychology of a dysfunctional family and how they destroy each other, from childhood to adulthood. In a new departure for me, there are NO PSYCHOPATHS in this book, just a lot of screwed up individuals who are related to each other by blood or marriage. I can say no more!
Meanwhile, I am in Paris for a month! I was awarded a bursary to stay in the Centre Culturel Irlandais to research the parts of the book that are set in Paris, so they have given me a lovely room in the 5th arrondissement and, everything is on my doorstep. Except moules frites (mussels and fries)! It's a very standard French dish and I haven't been able to find it anywhere. I even went to two restaurants that had it on the menu but when I ordered it, they shook their heads apologetically. Maybe it's not the season? Do mussels have a season? Je ne sais pas! First world problems, I know.
I am a little nervous being in a strange city on my own. I don't know anyone who lives here so I'm hoping to get lots of visitors. My husband stayed for the first few days and he's coming back for another two days in the middle of my stay. I am a pretty hopeless traveller. I get lost every time I leave the Centre. Thank God for Google maps.
It is Sunday now, and while waiting for edit notes to come, I decided to start working on a play. I have written one page today. Plays are HARD. I go to the theatre a lot and I used to be a stage manager so I naively thought that writing a play would come naturally. WRONG. Everything is show and nothing is tell. It needs to be full of visual incident and I need to build in a hook for the interval that will have an audience sitting on the edge of their seats. Waaaaah! This is a scary process, but I like a challenge so I'll give it my best shot and if it turns out that it's terrible, I'll put it in my rejection folder and nobody will ever know I tried, because you won't tell anyone, right? Right?
Happy Sunday! Spring is in the air. x
I finally finished a first draft of Book 4 which I think might now be called The Simple Act of Walking the Earth Like Brothers. Maybe that's too much of a mouthful and I wouldn't be able to hashtag it but it kind of reflects the themes of the book. It's a partial quote from Martin Luther King Jr. What do you think?
I have had initial feedback on the manuscript from my Irl/UK editor which was very positive but I know that editing is where the real work gets done though I much prefer editing fo first drafting. There is nothing as terrifying as the blank page. I'm waiting nervously to hear my US editor's reaction.
This book is a bit of a step away from the psych thriller -a tag I always felt a little uncomfortable with. Don't people expect rooftop chases? :-)
This new book is firmly in the domestic noir camp, taking a very close look at the psychology of a dysfunctional family and how they destroy each other, from childhood to adulthood. In a new departure for me, there are NO PSYCHOPATHS in this book, just a lot of screwed up individuals who are related to each other by blood or marriage. I can say no more!
Meanwhile, I am in Paris for a month! I was awarded a bursary to stay in the Centre Culturel Irlandais to research the parts of the book that are set in Paris, so they have given me a lovely room in the 5th arrondissement and, everything is on my doorstep. Except moules frites (mussels and fries)! It's a very standard French dish and I haven't been able to find it anywhere. I even went to two restaurants that had it on the menu but when I ordered it, they shook their heads apologetically. Maybe it's not the season? Do mussels have a season? Je ne sais pas! First world problems, I know.
I am a little nervous being in a strange city on my own. I don't know anyone who lives here so I'm hoping to get lots of visitors. My husband stayed for the first few days and he's coming back for another two days in the middle of my stay. I am a pretty hopeless traveller. I get lost every time I leave the Centre. Thank God for Google maps.
It is Sunday now, and while waiting for edit notes to come, I decided to start working on a play. I have written one page today. Plays are HARD. I go to the theatre a lot and I used to be a stage manager so I naively thought that writing a play would come naturally. WRONG. Everything is show and nothing is tell. It needs to be full of visual incident and I need to build in a hook for the interval that will have an audience sitting on the edge of their seats. Waaaaah! This is a scary process, but I like a challenge so I'll give it my best shot and if it turns out that it's terrible, I'll put it in my rejection folder and nobody will ever know I tried, because you won't tell anyone, right? Right?
Happy Sunday! Spring is in the air. x
February 9, 2019
Just a regular Saturday night.
Hello everyone
Saturday nights should be for drinking wine with friends or watching foreign crime dramas on BBC4 but I am currently about 75% of the way through my fourth novel which might be called Brothers. ( I don't always get to choose the titles of my books, but that's what I'm calling it at the moment. )
I am away at an artist's retreat called the Tyrone Guthrie Centre in Co Monaghan. It is a beautiful old house beside a lake in acres of rolling countryside. While I'm here, I don't have to worry about shopping lists or laundry or what to cook for dinner.
All of the artists (tonight, there are poets, painters, actors, sculptors, writers and composers) each have their own beautiful room in which to work and the only rule is that we must all meet for dinner at 7pm at the enormous dining table. I think there were seventeen for dinner tonight. Some were strangers and some are dear friends but the conversation is always lively and the meals provided by Lavina and her team are top-drawer restaurant quality.
I know I am lucky to be here, but I also work my ass off when I'm here because it's such a privilege that it would be rude not to. I have just surpassed my 2k word quota for the day, so now I'm off to bed to read, which has always been my most favourite hobby and I'm sure is the reason why I am a writer.
This has been my first ever blog post. How did I do?
Night night everyone! xx
Saturday nights should be for drinking wine with friends or watching foreign crime dramas on BBC4 but I am currently about 75% of the way through my fourth novel which might be called Brothers. ( I don't always get to choose the titles of my books, but that's what I'm calling it at the moment. )
I am away at an artist's retreat called the Tyrone Guthrie Centre in Co Monaghan. It is a beautiful old house beside a lake in acres of rolling countryside. While I'm here, I don't have to worry about shopping lists or laundry or what to cook for dinner.
All of the artists (tonight, there are poets, painters, actors, sculptors, writers and composers) each have their own beautiful room in which to work and the only rule is that we must all meet for dinner at 7pm at the enormous dining table. I think there were seventeen for dinner tonight. Some were strangers and some are dear friends but the conversation is always lively and the meals provided by Lavina and her team are top-drawer restaurant quality.
I know I am lucky to be here, but I also work my ass off when I'm here because it's such a privilege that it would be rude not to. I have just surpassed my 2k word quota for the day, so now I'm off to bed to read, which has always been my most favourite hobby and I'm sure is the reason why I am a writer.
This has been my first ever blog post. How did I do?
Night night everyone! xx
