Tyrone Guthrie Centre

by Mary Cassat

I just received a letter that made me scream (in a good way)- I've been awarded some writing time at The Tyrone Guthrie Centre in Monaghan. So a big thanks to Kildare County Councils Art Office - I'll be heading up to Monaghan on Friday with a big smile on my face. And it's lovely to get a letter - it really is a dying art. I asked my ten year old what he thought the woman in the Cassat painting was doing, he thought she was cleaning her face with a napkin! I'm bringing him straight home to lick an envelope :)

retreating...

photo by Sarah Clancy

photo by Sarah Clancy

If its been quiet here for a while, its due to the fact that I've been temporarily living a life miles away from my own. I've been hanging out at the edge of the world, listening to the sea, meeting other writers, quaffing wine, laughing, running, keeping the stove burning, day dreaming, night dreaming and scribbling. I was on a retreat at Cill Rialaig - a restored pre-famine village on Bolus Head at the very end of the Iveragh Peninsula.

Once away from the routine and chores of daily life, work, motherhood etc... I imagined that I'd be writing every second of every day, even through the night, would I even have time to eat? In truth, it took a few days of wrestling with stories that needed endings, poems that needed clear eyes before I could begin to write anything new. And no, I didn't write every minute of every day - I couldn't live somewhere so beautiful and atmospheric and keep my head down. That wouldn't be living. More and more, I'm finding that I need to strike a balance, and surprisingly that means writing less and living more, in order to have a better quality life as a writer. So I wrote early and wrote late, and in between I ran, prepared meals, and met with the other residents who were full of fun, warmth & stories of their own.

The suspicion that my house was slightly haunted has provided fuel for the novel I'm working on at the moment, as has the brutal, beautiful scenery of Cill Rialig itself. I ended the week by travelling to Cork and reading as guest poet at ó' Bheal session, brainchild of the charming and talented Paul Casey.

And, for anyone with a story or poem that needs a home...

The Cúirt New Writing Prize is still (just about) open:

The poetry entries must consist of 3 poems under 50 lines each, and the fiction pieces may be up to 2000 words. Entries in both English and Irish are welcome.Three copies of the work are required and a €10 entry fee applies, which must be a postal order or bank draft. Writers submitting work should not have had a collection published in the category in which they enter.This does not include the publication of single poems, stories or chapbooks. Send to - The Galway Arts Centre,47 Dominick Street.

Retreating - The Tyrone Guthrie Centre

The Tyrone Guthrie Centre is paradise. I haven't cooked or committed acts of housework in seven days. I'll get to the writing part soon...but the food (dinner is every evening at seven) is exquisite. A fatted calf took the bus back to Laois yesterday! Thai food, vegetarian, fish, roast...every evening was different and a taste of heaven.

The novelty of writing uninterrupted never wore off. My room was large, en suite and had plenty of light. I do wish I'd brought a sketchbook, the gardens were stunning. If I went to the kitchen for coffee, there was always homemade scones and someone to talk to. The balance is perfect, if you need to work for hours at a time in silence, you have it. If you'd like a break and a chat, you have that too. I've made new friends and will be keeping an eye out for various plays, exhibitions, poems and novels...

Writing wise, it was hard work. I discovered my novel isn't as near to finished as I'd imagined. I could wrap it up now but it needs deeper writing, one of my main characters has a lot more to tell. The person who went to Monaghan would have been gutted by this revelation, but I'm not. It takes time. I've two points of view with a third one creeping in. You tackle what you can at the time of writing, and when I started this novel I didn't know the characters well enough, now I know them well enough to continue...
Another rewrite!

Did I mention the lake? The organic gardens? The relaxed atmosphere?