Caroline becoming a writer

 Another extract from ‘Becoming Maz’: The ferry boat is arriving as they get off the train. The Hibernia bellows her horn, spitting out diesel, belching plumes of smoke into the sky, as she nudges her course through the Irish Sea. “Marion, move!” Doris startles her out of her trance. They are surrounded by people and luggage, all pushing and shoving to be first in the queue.   The returning passengers are barely off as the Granny leads the charge up the gangplank. With a stature and demeanour few dare challenge, prodding with her elbows and smacking with her bags, she secures seats in the saloon. “What kept you? Making your daddy carry all the heavy bags. Big girl like you!” She then glares at Doris who is trying to give Michael a bottle of milk. “And you need to sort the babby out!” Delving into her large carpet bag she extracts a brown paper bag and pulls out pieces of cooked chicken. She chews at a leg, pauses, then gives the other leg to Joe. “Mammy!” is all Joe says as ...

My cat Tess encouraging me to write!  I wrote my novel during the pandemic while I was having chemotherapy for Ovarian Cancer. It was a great diversion. I've had one recurrence last year and praying I'm not having another one now!   So here I am trying to stay calm and not think about this afternoon when I see my consultant oncologist for the results of my recent CT scan. Like Marion in the novel and most people I suspect, I have spent a lot of my life thinking about the future, often going down the pessimistic route: 'What if I can't get a new job?' 'What if I never meet the love of my life?' 'What if my child has an accident?', but sometimes trying the optimistic route: 'What if I win the lottery?' 'What if my book does get published?' I would then try to plan for different outcomes for the pessimistic scenarios, imagining how I would cope with situations that hadn't happened yet and mostly never did. Someone once said, 'Wor...