A cat in Longford

Today was the day Fergus travelled from Carrickfergus to Longford  - quite a journey for anyone....

 A cat's journey

So we decided to take advantage and make a mini break out of it and explore the area while we were there.

We spotted these two and their Mum in the cemetery in Longford yesterday afternoon and knew from the way they are being cared for, that Fergus was going to receive a warm welcome.

Co Longford has literary links to Oliver Goldsmith (I loved seeing 'She Stoops to Conquer' at Belfast's Lyric theatre when studying 'A' level English) and Maria Edgeworth (I have to shamefully confess I still haven't read any of her work). The area has a thriving arts scene. The event I attended this morning in Longford Library was part of the Aisling Children's Arts festival.

Local children came along to hear the five shortlisted entries in the Longford Writers 'Write a Story for Children' competition. I was delighted to have my story 'Fearless Fergus, King of the Castle' included. The children listened intently as Rose read all five stories to them. Then they cast their votes in the special voting boxes.

I was delighted to her that my writing friend Rhonda's story 'Tooth Fairy Trouble' was voted second in the competition by the children. My story was a runner up.

 

Most importantly though, this morning gave me the opportunity to see and hear the children's reactions to all the stories. And I got to make new writing friends with some of the prizewinners and competition organisers. Thanks to all involved in Longford Writers for a fantastically run competition from start to finish. It was refreshing to have the children judge the competition and great to see such a vibrant, buzzing library. Thanks also for making us feel so welcome.

SCBWI meet up

This morning I caught up in Belfast with fellow writing friends for the Belfast SCBWI meet up over a coffee in the Crescent Arts centre café. It was good to see everyone and to catch up on each others news - writing and otherwise.

The venue for these meet-ups is so important for them to be a success. It seems the criteria is as follows- it has to be welcoming, serve good coffee (and cake), support creative learning, be near good public transport links and most importantly, it must be near a book shop.

 

There is of course a danger in this - that I end up in the bookshop, and purchase a book. Today I was delighted to get my (signed! :-)) copy of Orla McAlinden's new book, 'The Flight of the Wren'. And even more delighted to be travelling home on the train, so I could start reading it.

Seals, swimmers and sparkly sea

As the wind howls and the rain batters the window this evening, it's hard to believe yesterday was one of those 'Indian summer' autumn days. It started off cool yesterday morning when I baked some writing fuel

- aka chocanana muffins. But by the time we reached Coney Island the sun had come out and was shining! It was shining so much even a seal was tempted to swim by and distract us from writing (not very difficult with such stunning views!). He was soon followed by a lady swimming in the sparkling sea.

As we munched muffins and drank coffee we tried to get to grips with different points of view (I still need to practice 'third person limited' and 'fly on the wall') and used a few exercises to try this out. at one point the sun streaming through the window was so hot I had to move seats to cool down and concentrate! Days like these help keep winter at bay.