How to look good on TV

So your book is released, you've done your PR (or someone has) and you've got such a good hook that, hurrah, they want you to appear on TV. There's five second joy then you start to worry about what to wear. Check out the link. Basically it says:

Don't wear black or white or red
Don't wear patterns
Dark solid colours are slimming
Make sure you are comfortable in your clothes
Dress for heat under the lights
Avoid flashy or jangley jewelery
Wear strong makeup, more than usual (we're generally talking girls here or politicians)
Wear powder - shiny is bad
Smile - not like an idiot but like you're not miserable
V necks are the most flattering - again with the girls.
Try to minimise hand and head movement without appearing wooden and stilted, gestures should be smaller.
Yes you do sound like that when you talk/ look like that - live with it.
Don't assume anyone will have read the book, just the blurb.
Bring a copy of the book with you for the camera.
Plan what you are going to say ahead of time, think memorable soundbites that grab the attention.

Seioge and O'Shea Short Story Competition

Well here are the 14 names of writers whose stories will be appearing the anthology or RTE's Seioge and O'Shea's short story anthology to be published by Poolbeg this autumn. Do the Write Thing. All royalties go to charity (I wonder which) so only fame for me, no fortune. The show gave no idea what sort of stories were chosen. They should have read some extracts to give people a taster.

Ciara Geraghty, Donabate, Co Dublin "Waiting"
Eileen Keane, Newbridge, CO kildare "Tryst"
Elizabeth Bradley, Coolock, Dublin "Dead Ends and New Beginnings"
Ita Roche, Arklow, Co Wicklow "The Locket"
Jackie Walsh, Navan Rd, Dublin, "The Black Wallet"
Jacqueline Ashmore, Santry, Co Dublin "Eton Road"
Kate Dempsey, Maynooth, Co Kildare "The Essential Ingredient"
Katie Ward, Mayor Street, Dublin "Defying Gravity"
Maura McClean, Glengormley, Co Antrim "Mother, Daughters and Frog Legs"
Patricia McAdoo, Moycullen, Co Galway "Fallow Time"
Patrick Brosnan, Brat, Co Wicklow "Baghdad Days"

The top 3 were in the studio:
Antoinette Mangan "Poles Apart"
Ellen McCarthy
Vanessa O'Loughlin

Publisher in Poolbeg and one of the judges was Paula Campbell. As the weeks went on, the writing received improved. As they always do, she mentioned that they had lots of entries that did not adhere to the requirements, particularly with presentation - double spaced etc. So easy to do and so essential. Only one man in the list. I wonder if that was proportional to the entries.

Do the Write Thing

Well, I was having a very bad day. My mother was over and we had spent some time chasing rabbits out of my garden as they were eating it all. They wait for the tiny green shoots of new plants to emerge and then eat them. They must have eaten hundreds of euros of bushes and flowers. I used to have a herb garden. The rabbits like herbs. The rabbits like eating roses. The rabbits like eating plants that are supposed to be poisonous for rabbits.

Anyway then I convinced myself that I had lost my daughter's mobile phone, probably in tescos. So I was dreading confessing when my phone rang. It was RTE from Seioge and O'Shea to say I was in the top 50 of the short stories selected for this competition and congratulations and was I a real person and aware of the terms and conditions. I was so I'm in the shortlist to be announced tomorrow. Fingers crossed. THe top 14 go in an anthology published by Poolbeg.

Poetry Ireland Introductions

Went to my monthly writers' group and went through my short story for Seoige and O’Shea. I will update and post out the earlier the better as I expect they will be flooded at the last minute and I don't want to get lost in the rush - assuming they read at least the first page of each one. Getting over 4,500 words without being stodgy is tough for me. I expect they will choose a range of stories for the eventual Poolbeg publication - 14 in all, I believe.

I told the group about my reading in Poetry Ireland Introductions series April 3rd. 6:30 pm which is a little early to get into town if you won't work in town. 5 poets reading.

Be there, it'll be interesting. May be the start of something new. Who knows. The Original Print Gallery near Temple Bar square.