Thursday, April 23, 2009

Snakes and Ladders Days...

This year's Francis McManus Award shortlist is up on RTE's website. I had submitted a story back in September, entitled, 'More Than One Way To Skin A Cat,' and I had been harbouring high hopes that it would turn up trumps for me. Unfortunately, there is no sign of my name (or my story) on the shortlist. To say that I am disappointed would be one of the understatements of the year so far, but it's not as if I haven't been through this before. I submit a story for this award every year and I have only ever been shortlisted once, with a story called 'War Song', back in 2005. Perhaps my stories are just not suited to radio. Well, that is yet another thing for me to work on.
Oddly, my writing is flowing really well at the moment. I have the novel in my sights, I'm putting in the hours and I know exactly what I want to do with the story. I am only at the beginning, of course, and I have to force myself to stop fantasising about the finish, but unlike some of the other false-start novels I have attempted, the finish seems genuinely attainable. Whether or not the book will actually be any good is another matter, but for now the writing is coming easily, and I am happy. So, despite the latest disappointment my head is in a good state, and that's a golden feeling.

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