The Gamal by Ciarán Collins, Winner of The Rooney Prize for Irish Literature and Le Prix Des Lecteurs Escpades, France. Author Blog-Ciar n Collins
Author Blog
My bullet point author blog will be updated religiously every thirty-five years.
October 12th 1977 to March 11th 2013
· Was born.
· Learned to read
· Read
· And read
· Lots of plays
· Lots of novels
· Had an idea for a novel narrated by a village idiot type figure
· I thought the voice could give a writer the chance to do something a bit different
· Wrote thirty pages, a synopsis and a cover letter
· My girlfriend (now wife) and I emailed every agent we could find on the internet
· Waited
· Hoped
· Got three emails from interested agents, all asking for another fifty pages
· Wrote the fifty pages (instead of eating or sleeping) over a few days and sent on
· Waited
· Hoped
· Had mixed emotions when the agents said to send on the rest of the book right away
· I said I wasn’t really satisfied with the rest of the novel in its current form
· I requested a few months to ‘rearrange’ it a bit
· They didn’t say, ‘Stop wasting people’s time, you idiot.’
· They did say, ‘Fine.’
· Bought quarter of a tonne of Bewley’s Rich Roast coffee and got to work
· Finished novel and sent it on to the three agents
· Waited
· Hoped
· Reaction was positive
· Spoke with Jamie Coleman of Toby Eady Associates over the phone
· Agreed to sign with him, even though he sounded very posh
· Worked through a few drafts with the excellent Jamie and then he sent it on to publishers
· Waited
· Hoped
· After some interest, signed with wonderful Bloomsbury
· Jamie said my new editor Helen Garnons-Williams would ring shortly
· He said not to be nervous, as she sounds very posh
· I said, “Jamie, you sound very posh.”
· He said, “Really?”
· I said, “Yes.”
· Helen rang me then
· She was extremely nice, even though she sounded very posh
· My book was going to be published
· Had a celebratory beer with my girlfriend who was now my fiance
· My family, friends and the dog were astonished as I’d never told them I was writing a book
· Enjoyed working through another couple of drafts with the brilliant Helen
· Worked through the text with a copy editor
· Helen asked me what kind of book covers I like
· I told her I like ones with a human silhouette and ones that are quite dark in colour
· I sent her some examples of covers I like and she sent them on to design people
· Waited
· Hoped
· Cover arrived and I really loved it
· Then the uncorrected proofs were sent out
· Waited
· Hoped
· Was delighted when three brilliant authors were impressed with what they read
· Edna O’Brien, Colum McCann and Gavin Esler gave fantastic quotes about it
· Went to London to a thing
· I met Bloomsbury staff, authors, book sellers and media people, all of whom were lovely
· Realised that a lot of English people sound very posh to me
· After that I met my agent for the first time, and he took me to a cool tapas bar
· We spoke about my book, other books, soccer and the Irish sport, hurling
· Lately had a very enjoyable dinner with some Irish booksellers in Dublin
· Have a publicity thing coming up in Liverpool this week
· And some press stuff in Dublin the week after
· Early reviews and feedback have been very positive
· It’s now a month from publication day
· Waiting
· Hoping