Paula Meehan and Returning Home

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She stands in front of a packed room, eyes closed, smile on her face, and recites stories about Ireland and snowdrops and home. Paula Meehan, a Dublin poet, has decades of work to share and decades more to produce. Nothing about her homeland is too small to examine or too large to expose—an artist with courage.

When Minnesota Cold was released in 2009, Sarah Palin was talking about death panels hidden in President Obama’s healthcare plan. My first radio interview as an author, I was asked about national healthcare policy. For a person who usually listens to new acquaintances’ political beliefs before disclosing my own, the experience was jolting. If you write speculative fiction with political and social themes, you will be asked for your opinions. Of course.

Leaving Ireland tomorrow. Back to the quiet of my office and to a regular schedule and everyday life. February’s AWP swarm of thousands of attendees representing all parts of the creative and business parts of the writing world will fill another notebook with stuff I need to manage, but these eight days with ten other writers has filled my heart with stories.

Time Zones

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When a crisis hits at home and you are 3, 700 miles away, differing time zones magnify each bump. Our small family steps up and carries on. Decisions are made while you sleep or you don’t sleep then try to fully engage with the business that has brought you to a foreign place.

Having dinner with a circle of newly made writer friends, in a traditional Irish pub at the top of a very steep hill, brings a time of peace. Two musicians play the sweetest Irish music on flutes, string instruments and a bodhrán. On the telly a mindless reality show featuring former celebrities trying to ice dance sparks conversations where we bond over similar opinions about men in sequined tank tops and women with shellacked hair. A young couple with an adorable Irish lassie babe share their evening. The pink-cheeked little one bounces in time to the music, smiles for pictures and claps for anyone who takes a few seconds to engage her attention. For ninety minutes there is nothing else in the world outside. This is exactly what you came here to experience.

In the morning the news will be better or not. The shower will generously spill out hot and cold water in an unpredictable way. Breakfast will feature spectacular fresh fish, brown bread, locally made cheeses and jams and endless tea. Work will continue. For the morning, the family sleeps at home. In the late afternoon there will be text messages and emails or not.

The one thing a connected world has not been able to design is a trans-Atlantic hug for when a crisis hits at home and you are 3, 700 miles away.

Reading in Howth

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Writers are as valued by the Irish as a busload of athletes would be by Americans. The land of Joyce and Yeats and Hamilton and McCourt treasure these artists as symbols of what is good about the country. So reading in Howth, with Dublin’s lights on the other side of the bay, is a gift to an unknown American author. Adding to the evening was sharing the stage with Annie Deppe, an American poet loved by the Irish, and Jessica de Koninck, a New Jersey poet capturing Pushcart nominations and accolades for her first works.

In this waterfront town, people join the Stonecoast in Ireland residency audience each day for readings by their beloved Irish writers. They are readers of poetry and fiction who carry their own poems in a pocket or their heart. We talk the universal language of the heart—love, friendship, loss, joy, God, peace, dreams. Then there is time for Guinness or Irish whiskey or wine or hot tea and talk. So much talk.

If you love poetry, look up Annie and Jessica. Their American stories will make you smile or feel the quiet that can come with just the right choice of words.

Speckled People

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The rain stopped, the winds quieted, and we explored the town of Howth today. With the Irish Sea always audible, we walked the coast line for lunch, the hill for dinner then back to the Howth Yacht Club for time with best selling Irish writer Hugo Hamilton.

Hamilton’s Speckled People, a memoir of growing up in Ireland during the 1950s and 60s as a German-Irish child whose father forbids the use of English in their home, received international recognition and has been made into a stage play. He spoke of writing out of his nightmares, “of the pieces of memory that walk beside you like a ghost and taunt you until you write them down.” Our group had the luxury of three hours with Hamilton to talk about the writing process before an evening reading.

It’s hard not to fill this entry with lines of Hamilton quotes. Even his humorous description of interviewing a not very talkative Jonathan Franzen (Freedoms) was filled with wonderful twists of words. I’ll just capture this one thought from Hamilton about writing memoir: “The answer to how to approach difficulties in a memoir is—it is your story. All the people you’ve met are your stories. You have to be loyal to the truth—”the narrative of your life.”

Tomorrow my own reading in Howth.

Welcome to Ireland

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It’s hard to fit a decent night’s sleep into a five hour flight. When Delta’s overly efficient attendants on New York JFK to Dublin flight squeezed in a hot meal about forty minutes into the flight (roughly 10:15 p.m.) and turned on the cabin lights three hours later to serve breakfast, the concept of real sleep was replaced with an uncomfortable nap.

The first photo taken of me walking into the Dublin airport’s arrival hall is blurry, a great description of how I also felt. But being in Ireland is grand. The stern yet somewhat questions of the custom’s officer, hugs from Ted and Annie Deppe, the first sight of the mountains surrounding Howth, a wonderful high tea at the King Stiric create high expectations for the rest of this visit.

Tonight’s dramatic performance of Eamon Grennan’s Emigration Road at the Howth Yacht Club brought deeper insights into the continuing drain of youth and intellect from this country. Centuries of men and women fled grinding poverty. While many returned during the business boom earlier this century, that success has now disappeared. The young are once again heading to the U.S., Australia and other places to find work. For a country where family’s roots are a critical part of one’s identity, the sadness of its departing children is part of the cultural and political discussion.

A Writer’s First Blog

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Writers write—pages, scripts, poems, blogs. While many say they are stalled by creative blocks, working as a journalist forced respect for deadlines. Reporters either write or find an alternative career.

During mornings at the computer, there are other topics (snacks, music, petting the dog, visiting Facebook) that sometimes work against adding words to those on screen. One habit that’s worked through the years to break through distraction is to set a timer for thirty minutes and write just one paragraph of at least five sentences. If an actual manuscript doesn’t inspire work, pulling a title from the bookshelves to twist it into a character profile or flash fiction opening usually creates challenge.

Devoting that energy to you via a blog is a far more attractive use of time. There are exciting writing events in the next six months to share with you. First up-the Stonecoast Writers workshop in Howth, Ireland this week. When a few dozen Irish and American writers spend eight days together, there will be many good stories.

The AWP Annual Conference in Chicago is a writer’s dream. Thousands of authors, poets, editors, publishers, agents and writing program faculty gather for five days of workshops, presentations about the industry, readings and networking.

More often, I’ll share with you the life of a writer published by a small press—the writing, revision, marketing and pure hard work that goes into release of a new book–Harvesting Ashwood: Minnesota 2037. Events are fun, other writers are interesting. You’ll enjoy meeting our book club and might find good recommendations about books you’d like to read. You might even enjoy the entries about one writer facing the challenging publishing world in 2012.

In front of the desk in my office there is one comfy visitor chair. Please feel free to virtually claim it while reading Cynthia Kraack’s blog.