I live in Mullingar with my husband John.  I have three children, and four grandchildren. My grandchildren are my inspiration for  my first book If I were a bee.... launched in May 2009 and also my second book Jenny the little brown  hen.....which was launched in August 2010.  I then received a grant from Foras na Gaeilge to translate Jenny i.e. Jenny an chearc bheag dhonn.     I have just launched my latest book, which is for everyone young and old alike called Earth Angels are Everywhere; are you one?   So I am pretty busy.    I have several other books in the pipeline for next year.

I have been painting for the best part of 30 years. My first art lesson was in early 70's when I attended night class in the local Vocational School in Mullingar the tutor being Valerie O'Brien. I then went on to take more night classes under the guidance of our very own gifted artist Anna Marie Leavy. She was such a great teacher and when finished our group went on to form the Lakeland Art Group and this group has been together for 25 years. I branched out on my own and have been painting miniature watercolours and painting on slate for the past 10 years. I have to say Anna Marie Leavy was a great tutor and she gave me an excellent foundation for watercolour.

 

If you had said to me three years ago that I would have become an author and illustrator of children’s books, I would not have believed you.    So, this really confirms my belief that you never know what is around the bend.   

 

I continued to paint for pleasure.   It was a great way for me to chill out and to express myself in my paintings.  I loved painting flowers and I really made this my painting choice. I had trained as a therapist and a Reiki Master and had started a small business but I missed my garden and the outdoors and I decided to take a break for a while. It was during this time that and out of the blue I was inspired to write down  poems about  bees. I had lots of paintings of flowers completed and I took the poems and the flowers and put them together and I had the makings of a book.

Just when I thought I would be retiring, a whole new career has opened up for me which I am hugely excited about. I am full of confidence and expectation about the future.

Self publishing is not for the faint hearted.   You need great stamina to go down that route.   I spent hours and hours on my computer looking up ways that I could promote my book.  In fact I suppose you could say it took almost two years before I was ready to publish my first book.  With a lot of hard work and determination I think I am getting there.

Writing books is a bit addictive because when you have one written, then you want another and another.   For me writing has been the most rewarding and  satisfying thing I have ever done and I have finally  found my myself.

 

I am a member of the Ann Kiernan Book Club here in Mullingar since early 1997. We meet every month and read a wide range of publications new and old. I like mostly non fiction. My favourite authors are, Colm Toibin, Manchan Mangan, Brian Keenan, to name but a few. We have read so many good books it is hard to name my favourite but I liked Brian Keenan's "Four Quarters of Light" very much, also Colm Toibin's "The Story of the Night"  Colm Toibin's "Brooklyn", and  a wonderful book  "The Hare with the amber eyes"

I meditate daily and am a qualified therapist and a Reiki Master.

I support Plan Ireland www.plan.ie

Thanks for taking the time to read this. Any questions you may have you can simply send to me via the contact page of this website.