I’m insanely late posting this update. There just aren’t enough hours in a week anymore. How did I manage before? How did I ever get the actual book written, when I can no longer find the time to even update a blog page? And how on earth do more established writers cope with their time management, writing book after book, while caught up in the madness of trying to promote the first ones?

This is not a complaint! It is DEFINITELY not a complaint! It’s a longwinded way of saying I’ve been busy; talking to the media, visiting bookshops, writing press-releases and being interviewed by the local Library services here, because my story The Visit made it onto the Bord Gais Energy Irish Book Awards shortlist! I can’t tell you how exciting that is for a debut author with a very short publication record.

I’m not expecting to win the award, because I feel as though I have already won. At the shortlist announcement I managed to press my book into the hands of Donal Ryan (swoon, my current literary hero!) and a few other pairs of hands too. And what a thrill to walk into a local bookshop, Woodbine Books in Kilcullen, and find my book on the BGEIBA award table beside one of my favourite local writers, NYT bestseller Hazel Gaynor’s third novel, The Girl from the Savoy (shortlisted in the popular fiction category.) That’s nearly enough.

However, if you feel like it’s not quite enough… the six shortlisted stories are available to read here, and then you vote for your favourite. Voting is open to readers worldwide, so please do think about reading and voting. (Naturally, if you vote for The Visit, that’s even better, and I’d love you to share my news.) At the absolute worst, you get to read six excellent and very diverse stories.

Now I need a dress and a pair of shoes for the gala dinner and award announcement on Wednesday 16th November!