Publishing Success in the Dublin Quarterly

Image: Stock

The Dublin Quarterly
I’ve had the honour of being published in the new issue of the Dublin Quarterly. My short story, REGRETS, now appears in the summer issue alongside some other fantastic authors, as well as one of the most important writers of his generation, the Irish poet, Michael O’Loughlin.

Have a read of the new issue, and REGRETS here: www.dublinquarterly.ie

Writing
I did some more good work on the London chapbook in the morning before heading to work. It’s reaching the stage where almost all of the poems now have been thoroughly drafted, and although I’m still thinking up new ones, I would say that very soon it will be time to let it settle before I go back to consider what the design of it will look like.

I managed to find some time to take care of some admin work—never fun but glad to have got it completed anyway.

The BACCARA BURNING rewrite is still going very strong and last night I reached the point where some key decisions have to be made. These are the decision I’ve not been looking forward to due to the history of this work, but if I can just find the way through to where the story lies I think it will be a clear run in. I’m in the woods now but there’s still a path to follow.

Madstock
I forgot to mention that yesterday was the 15th anniversary of my first ever Madness gig in London: Madstock 3. I flew into London with three mates on the Friday morning and after dropping our bags off at a £9 per night hotel behind Victoria bus station, we made our way to Hammersmith. We drank in a pub on Crisp Road (The Crown or something like that) before sharing a pint with Chris Evans and then watching the live filming of his show, TFI Friday.

I’d managed to wangle tickets earlier in the week and so there we were, in the audience on a show that included Manic Street Preachers, Kula Shaker, Paul Gascoigne, Ally McCoist, Danny Baker and Keith Floyd. What an experience it was and we got ourselves on the television more than once.

The following day it was off to Finsbury Park and the Madstock festival. We saw bands like Space, Catatonia, Audioweb, Flowered Up and a couple of others that my memory has forgotten. Madness came on and played a cracking set in front of 40,000 fans, and with it all happening to the backdrop of Euro ’96—being held in London and England also beating Spain to get to the semi-finals that very day—it was a brilliant atmosphere that swamped the North London gig.

I was 22 years old. It was a magical memory from a magical time.

And with that, I shall leave you. Until tomorrow—peace out!

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