monday morning meeting

Tags

design, layout, work, writing

After a weekend of reading and more reading, interrupted by blowing my nose and a few spluttery coughs, I started my week well prepared for my masters. However there is still more to read and even more to write.

But before I can indulge in my literary aspirations I need to look after a few work related appointments. So,after some early morning emails I wandered down to a friend and colleagues to help her with her political campaign.

Now, my afternoon will be filled with designing flyers and preparing my evening lecture, my masters pushed back for a later time. I just need to make sure I can fit it all in and get to bed in time for a very early start tomorrow morning.

So as time keeps ticking on I need to make myself a cup of tea, go through my notes and let my fingers and mind get to work. And who knows, maybe I’ll find an hour somewhere to let those creative juices flow into words and get my rewrites done too.

picking colours and fonts done, now the jigsaw puzzle of design needs to be put together

Weekly Photo Challenge: Change

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baking, cake, change, photography, photos, Weekly Photo Challenge, Weekly Photo Challenge: Change

Today I decided to bake a cake – I had a few plums, some eggs, flour, butter and sugar so off I went. The change from ingredients to cake took less than an hour! Sadly the plums must have not been ripe as they turned bitter while backing them. A lesson lernt – sometimes you just have to eat around the bitter parts of life and enjoy the sweets ones.

free fall Friday

Tags

busy, free fall, hardship, hope, masters, MfA, parachute, plans, thoughts, writing

If you FALL, I’ll be there

Floor

After an extremely busy and challenging week today I feel as though I am in free fall. My plans deconstructed and the future uncertain I am struggling to see where things are going.

As I slowly reorganise my life, apply for jobs and attempt to right the wrong I find it hard to feel overly enthusiastic or excited about the great adventure that is my MfA, and so want to, as my lecturers are quite wonderful and may fellow bards are lovely.

But as my back-account quickly drains, my shoulders slowly rise up towards my ears, stress building tension permeating every fiber of my being. However, if the myths are to believed, hardship makes for great writers, so at the very least my grades should be good.

So maybe, for today, I will try and enjoy the thrill of free falling, lie on the wind and allow it to carry me somewhere unknown. And hope that there is a parachute packed safely on my back and that when I pull the cord, as I plummet downwards, it will releases and allow me to securely reach the ground.

selling yourself

Tags

applying for jobs, CVs, jobs, looking for work, work, working

Since the college, much to my surprise and horror, has reduced my lecturing hours I have been looking for extra work to make up for the income loss.

And while looking for work is hard and tricky, selling yourself is even more of a minefield. How do you stand out and be honest at the same time? How do you talk about your strengths and weaknesses without sounding too negative or too delusional. And there seems to be whole hidden language buried between the lines.

Before you send out your CV think about what it should say about you. A clean professional looking CV says so much more than a cluttered page. Structure your CV, make it easy to understand and follow. And don’t just list your abilities  but talk about your achievements as well.

Short is sweet, so when you write a cover letter stick to the rule of three, highlight three things about you that an employer will pick up on and remember. In an interview do the same. The reason for this is that we tend to remember roughly three things about any new book we read , film we see and person we meet. So think about what three things differentiate you from other candidates and own them.

One other thing most experts suggest is to make yourself familiar to the people hiring you, research them, understand what they are about and ask them questions. The simple reason behind this the fact that we react and remember things that are familiar to us. Think about songs you hear on the radio. When a song comes on that you recognise you may start to tap your foot or sing along to it – not because it is the best song, but because it is one you are familiar with.

And lastly, don’t underestimate networking, who knows who the people you know, or meet, know.

However, no matter how perfect you believe your CV to be or how much you hone your pitch, looking for work always means rejection. So don’t rely on that one job application, that one interview, keep looking and eventually – hopefully – something will open up. After all, looking for work is like a job, you have to spend time and effort on it to ultimately be successful.

 

long days

Tags

ACD, busy, masters, reading, work, writing

It’s the second week of my Masters, first week back lecturing,  and the last few days have been very long – sleep seems to have become a luxury not  a necessity. But it’s been good, difficult and challenging.

Yesterday I was the first one up to have my novel criticised and as I sat on that hard, uncomfortable chair (both literally and figuratively) my novel was torn apart and shredded, my work demolished.

Of course the whole situation upset me somewhat, while it wasn’t personal it wasn’t an easy place to be in. However, I do have to admit, that what was said, what was criticised was right. Every poke, prod and pull at my words and sentences had a point, sometimes even several. Not that it made me feel any better, but hopefully it will make me a better writer.

So now, that my first draft is trashed, I will start afresh, rewrite, rework and re-imagine.

left reading – right the destruction of my novel

re-organising my bookshelf

Tags

books, bookshelves, masters, reading, thoughts, writing

Books are a very important part of my life and I like to surround myself with them. Since my home is tiny there are limits to how many books I can own, so I tend give quite a few to charity and only keep the ones I truly love.

So, I do understand that books take up space but I really find something somewhat unsettling about homes that don’t have bookshelves and people who don’t read mystify me.

But when the postman knocked on my door yesterday morning with a brown parcel filled with books in his hands, I realised, that I needed to reorganise my bookshelf to accommodate the books for my Masters. And while time was tight yesterday I spend 30minutes freeing up some space for them and now they proudly sit on the top shelf in my little home office, my eyes unable to escape them.

The next step is to read them all, understand them and make sure as the knowledge captured between the covers makes it into my head somehow.  But since – if researchers are to be believed – reading reduces stress and Alzheimer risk, expands your vocabulary and analytical thinking, improves both memory and focus and makes you a better writer I really can’t see a downside to owning more books!

the beginning of my ‘Master’ collection

Film review Miss you Already – a little bit Beach-y

Tags

cancer, Director Catherine Hardwicke, Dominic Cooper, Drew Barrymore, events, Film Review, Films, Ireland, Irish Cancer Society, Jacqueline Bisset, Light House Cinema, Miss you Already, movies, Paddy Considine, reviews, Special Fundraising Preview Screening, Toni Collette

Drew Barrymore & Toni Collette in Miss You Already

Tissues are a must for any that go and see Miss you Already. The film is based around the ongoing friendship between whirlwind Milly (Tony Collette) and hippie Jess (Drew Barrymore). Since childhood, the two have been as thick as thieves, Jess always following in Milly’s wake, best friends, no matter what!

When Milly, a mother of two, discovers she has breast cancer things begin to spiral out of control. Jess is there for her friend, but Milly seems to have lost all sight of anyone around her, as Jess puts it she becomes a “cancer bully”.

Anyone who thinks, “I know that story”, is correct; Miss you Already has more than a few similarities with the 1988 Beaches, staring Bette Midler as C.C. Bloom and Barbara Hershey as Hillary Whitney – just with a few role reversals.

And like Beaches, Miss you Already relies on the tight bond that women form, deep unconditional love with lots of humour thrown in – men are really only arm-candy.

Set in modern day London it does seem a little odd that both main characters are not English, and while Collette’s British accent is good, Barrymore’s absence of one is explained away. But Collette and Barrymore are expertly cast and the chemistry between the two is evident.

Both male leads however hold up the flag as Dominic Cooper partners up with Collette, as her saintly husband Kit, and Paddy Considine teams up with Barrymore as her life partner Jago.

Director Catherine Hardwicke is brave enough to not gloss over the gory bits and shots of mastectomy scars show us how rarely, if ever, we see, the reality of what cancer means to so many. This paired with the humour of how Milly tells her children about cancer and chemotherapy treatment Miss you Already really does show how cancer effects everyone around the person suffering.

Not knowing what to say or what to do is a bit part of how everyone around Milly reacts to her illness. Acceptance and humour is how Jess copes with the situation, Milly’s husband Kit seems less able to find a way to communicate. Milly’s mum, a vain TV actress, endearingly captured by Jacqueline Bisset, bumbles around never knowing what to do but always wanting to help – and in the end she has her shining moment, much to her own surprise.

Beautifully shot, the moor scenes in particular, Hardwicke howeveroverdoes the close-ups at times. Both Collette and Barymore are excellent actors and their skill would have allowed for a little bit of a distance.

So, even if Miss you Already is a bit Beach-y and not necessarily all that new, it is a modern day portrayal of what cancer does to lives. It is well worth a few packets of tissues and a perfect film for a night out with the girls. But men should watch it too, as they can learn a thing or two about women.

So if you don’t have any plans tonight, the Irish Cancer Society has organised a Miss You Already Special Fundraising Preview Screening today (Monday 21^st of September) at 6.30pm at the Light House Cinema, Smithfield Square. Grab your best friends and treat yourself to a great night out. Tickets are €25 each, which includes goodie bag and a drink at the pre-screening reception.

Weekly Photo Challenge – Grid

Tags

Grid, photography, photos, travel, Weekly Photo Challenge, Weekly Photo Challenge – Grid

Grid – such a small word for something that surrounds us everywhere. We may not always notice them but brickwork, zebra-crossings, fences, windows, flowerbeds and trees forming avenues form the grids of our everyday life. Even the ripple of waves and crisscrossing of branches create grids in nature.

While on my own personal photographic journey through life I have discovered that my eye enjoys finding grids, so many of my photos of patterns and designs created by just these grids.

Museums Insel, Berlin

random grid in an alleyway, Rome

inside a 60s building, St. Petersburg

steps , Lisbon

wave breakers, Zingst

 

 

of pigtails and schoolbags

Tags

Dublin, Ireland, leraning, Oscar Wilde, Oscar Wilde house, pigtails, quote, school, schoolbags

In good the old-fashion first-day-of-school tradition I decided to put my hair into pigtails yesterday morning. I do tend to do this anyway, but I couldn’t help and smile at how fitting it felt. And while I don’t have any first-day-of school photos of myself, as a cheeky four-year-old, I do know it was a very possible hairdo back then for my blond curls, so I enjoyed the idea of symmetry.

After a good hearty breakfast, strong tea and packing my school bag I set out for college – a symphony of emotions conducting my feet and thoughts.

The classroom is situated in the Oscar Wilde House overlooking Merrion Square and the famous lounging figure of Oscar Wilde himself can be seen form the windows. As the first-day-of-school-awkwardness ensued amongst myself and my fellow students introductions were made and first opinions formed – if correct is yet to be seen.

And so it began- my life as a MfA student. A long list of books to read, my first writing assignment and an empty flask of herbal tea later I was released back onto the sunny streets of Dublin, my schoolbag heavy on my shoulder, my mind whirling and my pigtails bouncing as I made my way back home.

With the promise of another great day ahead of me I pack my schoolbag again, no pigtails today, but a sense of where this year is heading and an idea of where I am going is forming in my mind!

The direction in which education starts a man will determine his future in life.

Plato

Oscar Wilde lounging on Merrion Square, Dublin

Blood & the Moon – a concert at the NCH

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Adrian Crowley, Anna Calvi, Blood & the Moon, Dublin, music, National Concert hall, NCH, Pat McCabe, Thomas Bartlett, W.B. Yeats, William Butler Yeats, Yeats, Yeats year 2015

To mark the beginning of a new adventure (my MfA) I decided to take myself out on a treat.

A while ago I had seen that the NCH (National Concert Hall) was hosting an intriguing performance called Blood & the Moon so when the Irish Times offered a special deal – with per-concert canapes and all- I decided it was the perfect night out to mark this new chapter in my life.

All year long Ireland has been celebrating the great Irish poet W.B Yeats (he was born 150 years ago) and the NCH asked renowned pianist and composer Thomas Bartlett (aka Dove of The Gloaming) to create an evening of Yeats words put to music. And this is exactly what he did.

Thomas Bartlett gathered a selection of friends and ‘friends he hadn’t met yet’, as Yeats would say, for an amazing evening of music and film. Caberatist Mx Justin Vivian Bond opened the night and a quick succession of other greats followed. Anna Calvi, Sam Amidon, Adrian Crowley, Cathal Coughlan , Robert Foster, Pat McCabe and Benedict Schlepper-Connolly all spoke or sang words inspired or directly taken from Yeats’ poems. But that wasn’t enough, the ‘band’ was equally amazing with Doug Weiselman on Saxophones, Brad Albetta on bass, Lisa Dowdall on viola and Paul Noonan on the drums.

This potpourri of national and international musicians and poets created a magical evening, one I am truly grateful to have been part of, and one I will be thinking of for a very long time. It will invade my dreams and hopefully inspire me to write a few poetic words of my own.

Tread softly, because you tread on my dreams.

William Butler Yeats