I've started a couple. One is something I've had in mind for years, but it's never really got going. It is set in Ireland in the time of the War of Independence. I'm trying to have my fictional characters interact with real people from the era, like Michael Collins and Tom Barry, to name but two. What I find really hard is trying to be accurate about dates and places. It needs a lot of research, which is quite hard going. I've also started a follow-up to The King. I wasn't sure about this, as I was worried I might be writing the same book twice. So what I've done is disposed of nearly all the characters from the first book and I'll see where it goes. Romance? Nah!
I didn't miss it, it's just that it's a tough question and I didn't have a ready answer. I'm not sure I do now, but let's have a go. So many...wouldn't it be nice to be a really great sportsman for a week? I used to play cricket regularly and I was a decent club player, but imagine being somebody like Don Bradman, a man whose record still remains way above what anybody has achieved in the game? How about this? Che Guevara, travelling around South America on his motorbike. Of more recent vintage, David Attenborough, especially that famous scene where he is sitting with that troupe of gorillas. Wow!
Tough question and I'm not sure I have an answer. A strength can often be a weakness at the same time. I'm a fairly opinionated person, which some people will see as a good thing and others bad. I have paradoxical tendencies; in some ways, I can be very sensitive and in others, I really don't care what other people think of me. I am also a mixture of shyness and outright bolshiness. This, of course, is assuming the presence of a personality. I'll leave you with a brief conversation between Catherine and one of her former bosses. Boss: Why don't you like (so-and-so)? Catherine: Personality clash. I've got one and he hasn't.
I'm not sure it was direct advice, more something that I learned from experience. It's certainly something that I used to say to people that I trained in IT. Put simply, never be afraid to make a mistake. Everybody makes them and that is how we learn things. But once you've made that mistake, don't keep repeating it. Find a new mistake to make.
Tom thanks for the replies thus far...it's been very enjoyable to learn more about you...at any point up to now tho', have you regretted volunteering for the Hot Seat ?
Ooh, here's one that I missed, so apologies for that. To answer the second part first, the death of my parents in the same year, either side of my fifteenth birthday, was obviously hard to take for someone in those awkward teenage years. Joy? Quite a few things have given me pleasure. Getting my degree, somewhat later in life than most people do these these, was truly satisfying, likewise getting books published, especially my novel. Less selfishly, seeing people that had never touched a computer in their lives become confident and proficient users pleased me more than I can say, and knowing that I'd played a small part was a source of genuine pleasure. Closer to home - and forgive me for turning this into some kind of Hollywood love story - was meeting my partner Catherine. I remember when we first started going out together, a friend of mine said, albeit with good humour, "You're punching above your weight there." That was back in the late 1980s and we're still doing just fine!
Not really. I live up to a number of Irish stereotypes, such as being unable to stop once you've got me started. As the genius Flann O'Brien wrote, "I hate talking about my bowels in public, but the national interest must be served."
Okay...if you are still open for questions @Tom Locke here's one I love to ask everyone. If you were granted 3 wishes...what would they be? And why?
Well now... Tom! Looks as if you're going to be in the hot seat for a looooong time, so I'll throw a question of the trade at ya.... Oxford comma or AP? I hate hate HATE AP. It makes me cringe and I'll always be an Oxford girl. @Tom Locke
@Terry Page - Terry, I want to know what the overtime rates are. Easter's got to be quadruple time, surely?