Well, I’ve been writing lately about all the Irish writers who, for no particular reason, have gone out of their way to help me and to champion my book. Their help is hugely appreciated, but they’re not alone.
So, The Accidental Wife is making its way to a shelf near you (near me, anyway!) So many people involved, so much thanks to express. Where to start? Well we could start with Paul McVeigh, a writer from Belfast, whose debut novel The Good Son has swept the boards with numerous nominations and awards in the year since its publications. You can read my 5 star review here, but don’t take my word for it, tap it into your search engine and see the accolades. Paul runs an amazing website, full of submission and competition opportunities for writers. He trawls the web, searching out the good, reputable contests…
That brings us nicely to Debra Leigh Scott, writer, singer, activist, educator and founder of the Hidden River Arts Centre in Philadelphia. Debra set up the centre with her own prize-winnings from a competition she won twenty years ago, and the centre has gone from strength to strength. You’ve got to commend Debra’s impeccable taste for choosing The Accidental Wife from hundreds of anonymous entries in the Eludia Prize 2014! We’ve never met, but I feel I know Debra now, after months of Facebook interaction and back and forth regarding the forthcoming publication. Next time I make it to the USA, I’m going to try to make it my business to shake this woman’s hand!
Debra sent my scrappy, half-formatted Microsoft Word document to Doug Gordon of P M Gordon Associates, Philadelphia and he chose a beautiful font, formatted the book to perfection and then went through it with a fine-tooth comb, finding dozens of mistakes, anachronisms and typos that I had overlooked forty times each. Any errors remaining are definitely my own!
Artist and designer Miriam Seidel created a cover I adore and took me painstakingly through the process of choosing, designing, tweaking, editing, formatting.
And finally, many thanks are also due to the management of my two wonderful local bookshops: Barker and Jones, Naas; Farrell and Nephew, Newbridge and to Mario Corrigan, executive librarian of the Kildare County Library service. The books will be available on the shelves at these stores and in all the branches of the Kildare Library network, for those who can’t make it to the launch, and don’t know which door to knock on to meet me face to face. The Accidental Wife will be available on Amazon, of course, and by contacting this website, but nothing beats a bookshop or library!
Details of the launch will follow as soon as possible!
Orla McAlinden. 
Lovely piece, Orla! My book Inscription and I have also benefited from the creative energy of Debra Leigh Scott and the skills of Doug Gordon and Miriam Seidel, and it’s so true, every book is made by many people besides the author. Look forward to holding and reading the finished product!
Inscription is such a beautifully produced book. It gave me great confidence to hold it in my hand all those months ago and to know that the same team of professionals would be guiding my manuscript to production! Your excellent and fascinating novel deserved the attention to detail that Sowilo Press has brought to it .