The Bord Gáis Energy Irish Book Award 2011

Tonight we celebrated the 6^th year of the Bord Gáis Energy Irish Book Award 2011, in the company of Seamus Heaney and President Higgins. There was a public vote and some 33,000 Irish readers cast their votes for the favorite titles. Nobel Laureate Seamus Heaney was presented with the Bob Hughes Lifetime Achievement Award by President Michael D. Higgins............




If you were on Twitter, then you would have been kept in the loop with the hashtag #BGEIBA.




When Caitlin Moran won she tweeted, ‘Just won the Irish Book Award and described myself as "Just a sweaty woman in a dress" in front of Seamus Heaney and the Irish President.’ I like her!


It was broadcast on RTE One Thurs 24th 10.45pm. If you missed it, you can watch it here.




Irish Book Awards 2011 from Another Avenue on Vimeo.

The Hughes & Hughes Irish Novel of the Year:
 Mistaken by Neil Jordan (John Murray)


RTÉ Radio 1’s The John Murray Show Listeners’ Choice Award:
How to be a Woman by Caitlin Moran (Ebury)


The Ireland AM Irish Crime Fiction Book of the Year:
Bloodland by Alan Glynn (Faber)


The Argosy Irish Non-Fiction Book of the Year:
Easy Meals by Rachel Allen (Collins)


Eason Irish Popular Fiction Book of the Year:
All For You by Sheila O’Flanagan (Headline)


Irish Sports Book of the Year:
Inside the Peloton by Nicolas Roche (Transworld Ireland)


Bord Gáis Energy Irish Bookshop of the Year:
Crannóg Bookshop, Cavan town


Sunday Independent Best Irish Newcomer of the Year:
Solace by Belinda McKeon (Picador)


International Education Services Best Irish Published Book of the Year:
Connemara: A Little Gaelic Kingdom by Tim Robinson (Penguin Ireland)


Specsavers Irish Children’s Book of the Year:
Junior
The Lonely Beast by Chris Judge (Andersen Press)

Senior
The Real Rebecca by Anna Carey (O’Brien)

 Nominee - Sinead Moriarity and The Queen of Twitter and writer -Maria Duffy

MC - Claire Byrne

Nominee - Alan Early

 Michael d and Seamus Heaney

Nominee - Denise Deegan

The Crowds pre-show



Winner - Nicolas Roche  and Chiara at the awards

WInner - Crannog Bookshop

Table set up

Nominee - The Gutter Book Shop

If you enjoyed my blog, you can subscribe to the blog by entering your email address in the box on the right hand sidebar. And sure throw us an aould vote here (just one click).

Thanks and Reki Blessings for stopping by! The fact that anyone would be interested in what I have to say....well it still shocks me. :-)

New Experiences

I was on Twitter last night while I was watching Frozen Planet. Mr. King decided that nature was too cruel to watch so we changed the channel and I became bored. So I grabbed my Archaeology Ireland magazine and sent out a tweet on one of the articles. This article said that in 50 years time historians will be investigating the start of the web. My tweet questioned if bloggers would be included in the investigation. @Greyadder got back to me saying ‘Yes, I think they should; as they contribute so much to it.’ Well, as Graham is a non-blogger I wanted him to contribute so here it is. And it’s a good ‘un!

Enjoy!

It has been said that a journey starts with a single footstep just making sure your facing in the right direction is the tricky bit after all retracing steps can be painful.

So I am surprised and very pleased to say I am writing a guest blog. Never thought I would be asked to blog, and it has started me thinking about all the effort, thought, and stress that goes in to writing one.

Overstatement, well not always! To come up with subjects and write in a way to interest you every time cannot be easy. In fact, it must take a while getting the grammar right too, and yes I have been helped! It is important to select a relevant subject matter and insert humour where and if required.

Sometimes it can be difficult, as in the case of personal blogs, where events that must hurt very much to write, making it even more special and important that they were shared. But these can help to inspire and comfort others.

Plus, to open themselves up to criticism, ninety nine percent of the time nice and constructive, but I am sure the one percent hurts but despite that they carry on.

And in time, the history pages will be electronic too and the blogs of many people will be remembered. So, what is written now will be discussed in the future as a guide to our thoughts hopes and dreams of today.

As with a lot of things in life if you think back to the first time you tried something and you do not always get it right. And if ever I write a story probably for fun........now there is a challenge! I have never been confident in the written word, but I did not think I would ever blog until yesterday, so anything can happen.

I have got a storyline seventy percent there, just to start to work out the characters. And the story and perspective! Put simply; do I write ‘he said such and such,’ and ‘she replied,’ or as if I was in the room with them? Should I be more descriptive with the dialogue? When you have had an idea for the past seven years you do think things through and through and through.

 Did I mention I take my time?

 As for blogging, writing is tough, you read a great story but filling two hundred  pages plus just from your own thoughts and creativity now that takes some doing. You never know on a few occasions the plot might need stretching to make book long enough as you can tell I have given it a lot of thought maybe not always correct but the rights and wrongs of peoples thoughts good and bad another blog another time.

I would also like to thank @MoloneyKing for asking me and I hope for a first try it is OK. It is a new experience for me it has been fun, sharpens the mind too and adds to life’s achievements pleased I have tried.

  

Graham, well done! I really enjoyed reading and sharing your post. I have LOADS of advice on how to set up a blog. The posts are on the top left of the page, just click on the label ‘Blogging.’ In relation to your questions, the best advice I can give you is to do a writing course. Join a writing circle and most importantly read. And make notes of how your favourite writers write. Then follow your own voice and go mad!

If you enjoyed my blog, you can subscribe to the blog by entering your email address in the box on the right hand sidebar ,and sure throw us an aould vote here (just one click). Thanks and Reki Blessings for stopping by; the fact that anyone would be interested in what I have to say still shocks me. :-)

Our Oil & Gas - Ireland and Norway

                                                        Can you answer this question?

Back me up!

'Isn't it ironic...It's like rain on wedding day....'


I wrote here before about karma. I kinda made a joke of it. I don't believe that good things will come to you by just sitting on your ass all day long praying, wishing and dreaming about them. I firmly believe that you have to work hard, study and stay positive.


You gotta watch your energy. Yeah, yeah....I know I sound like a hippy but I am a Reki Master so it is part and parcel of who I am. Blame my grandmother who bought a book on positive thinking in the 50's, I read it every year from the age of 7. I thought it was the most interesting concept, like, ever. Until I got side-tracked by The Famous Five, boys and TV.


Why am I ranting about karma, energy and watching it? Well, a few weeks ago, a twitter friend of mine, Martina Reilly, lost a lot of her work and was forced to do a lot of re-writes. I felt sorry for her and tweeted her my consolations. But I thought how could anyone loose data in this day and age? We have USB's with huge capacity, we have the cloud* and we have external hard-drives. Yeah OK, so I once lost everything (my first teaching practice data), but since I have bought an external hard-drive, so I was golden. Right?





Wrong! The only thing golden about me is my hair.And even that needs help! After having broken my 3rd laptop in as many years I was using my sisters one. Thanks Sheevaun! I backed-up sure, but sporadically (love you Cher!). Now, while sporadically may be the best thing to have come from Clueless it is not a word that we should use when discussing backing up data.

And I should know this, sure wasn't my first job writing up the procedures for my IT department?






To go in a tangent for a sec, how many times have you read interviews about women writers being asked; 'How can you juggle writing and being a mother?' or 'How do you manage your relationships and writing?' Well these questions use to make my blood boil. You never, ever,  read interviews of men being asked these questions.


I guess I never realised what special roles us ladies play in society. We can earn the dough sure, but we also have to cook, serve and clean up after it. Equal rights exist in the fiction we write.






Now, to combine my two parts to this story, I did not have any procedure to back-up, and while tidying my laptop and USB I was being pestered and bombarded with questions by someone wanting my attention, urgently! As a result I ended up deleting my book. I hit the delete button when I was mid crys of, 'give me a minute, please! I will help you in a minute!' Hello delete button, hello being a chick who is distracted by domestic duties and goodbye book.




It. Is. Gone.




Thankfully I entered the Irish Writers Centre Novel Fair so I have the first three chapters, at least.  I tweeted about my loss and as a result Caren Kennedy, has backed up her data. So that's good, I helped my karmic future.




My tips? Have a look at my procedure and come up with your own then FOLLOW it!

1. Use three separate sources to back-up data such as:
2. The cloud (*saving to google docs, Dropbox,  or saved drafts in email.)
3. A large capacity USB stick (you can work on the go)
4. An external hard-drive.
5. Have a DR plan (disaster recovery) If my laptop dies I have my work saved on x and can work from...
6. Back-up to all your 3 devices daily.
7. And for the love of God, don't get as easily distracted as me!

Oh Gawwd, how I now pray, wish, and still dream I can find my lost data somewhere and yes, the irony is killing me softly.

COMMENT ME PEEPS!
What back-up procedures do you use?
Has this ever happened to you?
 This has happened to me (an IT guru (!!)) about 5 times, will I ever learn?






If you enjoyed this post, you can subscribe to the blog by entering your email address in the box on the right hand sidebar ,and sure throw us an aould vote here (just one click). Thanks and Reki Blessings for stopping by; the fact that anyone would be interested in what I have to say still shocks me.  :-)