Self-Publishing or Traditional Publishing – Which is Best?

Rural reading

To self-publish or to seek an agent and a publisher? Which is the best route? It’s a question that many writers, myself included, often ask and I’m going to attempt to answer it.

I self-published my first three books. I hadn’t planned to write a trilogy but that’s how it worked out. They focused on farming, using tongue-in-cheek humour to reflect on farming life past and present. All are non-fiction. I didn’t try to find a publisher. I decided to self-publish [...]

My Writing News

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It’s been quite a while since I’ve written about any writing news and in one way, not much has happened, and in another way, there has been loads. I’ve had quite a few people ask me recently if I’m bringing out a book for the Ploughing Championships again this year and the answer to that is no, not this year. I do have a “gift type book” in draft but the reason I’m not publishing it this year is an [...]

My Farming & Writing Week: Calves, Calf Hutches & Press Coverage

Going for a ride in a calf barrow in my new red coat

Calf Rearing

The calving season is progressing well and is keeping me busy. I started this post three weeks ago and am only getting back to it now.

The calving season started, as usual, with one cow calving a few days earlier than predicted but he wasn’t on his own for long. As the calving house filled up with more cows, it never ceases to surprise me how much cows will fight when re-introduced to each other. We had them housed in [...]

Valentine’s Night on the Farm – A Short Story

Gifts for Valentine's Day - never give wellies without jewellery!

Below is a draft of a short story I was writing up for Valentine’s Day  until I ran out of time. I’d planned to read it tonight at the Carlow Writers’ reading night in Carlow Library but between not being able to make it there due to calf feeding and child collecting plus the fact that I needed to halve the word count and just didn’t get time, it hasn’t happened.

I’d love to know what you think of it. I [...]

A “Perfect Farm Wife” wins Best NonFiction Award

lorna-sixsmith-carousel-aware

25th October 2016 was  a big day for book awards. There was the Man Booker award announcement, the Bord Gais Energy Irish Book Awards shortlists were announced and the Carousel Aware Prizes for Irish Indie books award night was held in Dublin. Guess which one I was at?!

Carolann Copland was the brainchild behind Writing CAP, determined to bring recognition to the quality of independently published books and she also thought it would be great if the charity [...]