A Load of Old Rubbish

Model of #Success

It’s a wet Saturday; I’ve just bought the Irish Independent having scanned it in the Spar to make sure my piece is in it, otherwise, I’m afraid it’s online for me. I’m still pinching myself that my opinion is getting into print. No point in wondering if I went public on the D v Ireland case eleven years ago how my *career* might have shaped. Would my yearning to be a writer have been fulfilled sooner? I wouldn’t have done all the other stuff like a Masters in Building Conservation to block  the memory of the D Case and because the college was in walking distance.

The Cost Centres were eleven and thirteen when I started that course, I was sure it would slot nicely into our lives. One should always remember that taking exams and writing a thesis in a subject one loves is guaranteed to put you right off. It does, until it suddenly helps you find work, work that you enjoy and that pays. I'm even going back to college again in a few weeks, or rather I will be if I can pay my fees in kind. More anon.

Since the Big R the old building conservation work dwindled to nothing, so in 2011 I decided to write a novel based on my thesis; the Cost Centres were going to be away for the whole summer on their J1s, absolutely no excuse to put it off any longer. I had it finished in six months. Finished as in 70,000 words with a beginning, middle and end. Basing it on the thesis didn't work (as in boring) so I set half in New York and half in a rural Irish backwater. I'm not trying to sell it here BTW.... Plenty of time for that.

This week I did the thirteenth re-write, cut from 140,000 words to 98,000, having been two books in one, with a screenplay rearing up every now and then.

Discipline, I realise now, is everything in writing, I just filled pages to get wordcounts up, which is a good ploy, very motivating. But then you've got to get the scalpel at it quickly.  It has been read in many versions by dear friends and one professional editor. The editor had me dismantle my ‘experimental’ structure; every alternate chapter was set in 1850 and 2011. After meeting an agent three weeks ago who encouraged me to shorten it and change the title, I had a new version on Tuesday to be read by a literary queen. It just had to be printed and bound, I was relieved to email it to the printers with instructions for two copies.

Little Cost Centre graduated in Economics and Philosophy this week, he wasn’t even bothered about his graduation, but a lot of work went into those exams so I encouraged him, planned a lunch with his girlfriend, brother and a dear family friend and prevailed on jewellery star, Clarice, to find a worthy memento for the day, the *boy* version of the ‘success amulet’. I sat beside his girlfriend in UCD while the ceremony proceeded, naughtily tweeting and checking emails on my phone while other people’s children were being conferred.

I had an email from info@panda.ie ‘this appears to have been sent to us in error’.

My manuscript. My two and a half year slog. The meaning of my future career/life. 

I’d sent it to the binmen.

The cost centres have told me not to over-react.

Bellinis and Ohlala

The new, new charity 5* hotel lunch is a simple brunch over a pub. 

The Bower Bird by Melissa Curry

Recently I attended a right girly get-together to raise funds to buy a special computer for a little girl who has Rett Syndrome. The venue was the Sussex bar and the place was humming with very positive, lively ladies from all aspects of the fashion magazine world (unlike me!). From 11am, we were treated to delicious granola with fresh berries, Bellinis and a strange tasting raspberry drink that I realised was actually beetroot.

By the time my jewellery designer friend, Clarice, arrived I’d had a good chat with the gorgeous mother of the little girl.

Rett Syndrome almost exclusively affects females and was often confused with autism. It is a neurodevelopmental disorder of the grey matter in the brain and affects verbal and movement ability. The special computer will help this little girl identify images to convey how she feels and what she needs. Her dad has become her full-time carer and I came away feeling that a most authentic sense of community had taken place in that space. Sadly, as we so often hear these days, there is little or no help through the HSE or Dept of Education to help this little girl fulfil her potential.

Clarice brought a piece of her legendary ohlala jewellery for the raffle, one the most sought after of the many generously donated prizes. We can all make renewed efforts these days, now that we have time to take time and give a hand, to encourage, to mentor or to just listen. And this clever designer has something else up her sleeve, watch this space

They raised over the target, we feasted on eggs Florentine and coffee and there were no flouncy gowns in sight. I sat there enjoying the delicious home-made hollandaise cut with some deviliciously acid vinager when my phone tooted, the text one least expects, 'I caught the rat'. It was McGyver, cost centre #1, 'I need a photo' I replied, thinking it should at least go in the blog file, 'are you mad? I've double bagged it and put it in the bin, not taking it out.' So well done, great to have a young man about the house. Only when the handsome, blue-eyed ratcatcher arrived days later, I mentioned this fact to him. Uh-oh, not supposed to do that, they have to be buried. So now you know. I don't know how this went from Rett to Rat but it wasn't planned that way.
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