I am so grateful for this moment......

Today is the day. What day is I hear you ask? Well first and foremost it’s Friday….Friday is always a good day to announce itself right?

And to add to that good news story……Today is the day where I travel to Dublin tonight to be part of the magic of the Carousel Aware Book Prize (Cap Awards) ceremony in the Aishling Hotel in the capital city.

My and Gran’s book has been shortlisted for the Best Non Fiction section and I’m more than over the moon about that. I’m eternally grateful for the opportunity to have been chosen from the endless talent of writers that our beautiful little island continues to produce. We are a country of artists, we always have been…..from the likes of James Joyce to Yeats to my ever favourite Maeve Binchy, Marian Keyes, Anne Enright, John O’Donoghue and the list goes on and on.

So tonight in a room full of writers I will sit with my mam and a few of my closest friends and we will watch the magic unfold. To be nominated for a best book award is the stuff of dreams for all writers so that is why I am so grateful. I’m grateful just to have made it out of the no doubt a huge amount of books that entered….then to have made it to the long list of 12 and now I sit in the shortlist of six. God wouldn’t it be amazing to win it?

To be honest, I am not one who likes competitions in general - yes I’m ‘that’ child…I just much prefer everyone to win, even though I know that’s not how the world works but I’ve always been like that.

I like to see people smile. I like to see people happy. I like to see joy rise up a person’s face. There is nothing as beautiful as someone who smiles from their heart. Nowadays a lot of people smile just to smile but I always know when a smile is genuine. It’s in the person’s eyes and more often than not you can feel the authentic joy & energy beaming from them. Happiness is such a special thing and as we all know it is fleeting in its own way so today I will embrace this moment and breathe every second of it in.

To be nominated is the most special part because it means I’ve been seen and I have to be honest as a self published author and a social entrepreneur, it is a very lonely path particularly in this first year while still grieving the loss of Gran. To speak of her everyday is a real gift but on days when I’m not feeling as strong, it’s hard to speak of someone I miss and someone who is no longer here. Grief really is a very heavy cross to carry.

In looking at this time, I was just thinking I am now one year old when it comes to my professional writing life. Only a youngster I am, not even a toddler yet haha ;) Well I suppose I was a journalist for many years but when it comes to being your own captain of your own writing ship, I think this is a very special different kind of story I am now telling. I am so grateful to whatever unfolds tonight at the ceremony and just look forward to spending time amongst so many talented people who have chosen to be brave and write their story. If the opportunity and luck falls to me to win my category then I have to be honest and say that it would mean a lot to me as then I would get an bigger chance to shine a light on Granny’s life in that moment and also it would be an extra special sort of sign from Heaven that she’s knows I haven’t forgotten her. A bit like the empty seat beside us as the Coldplay gig in Vancouver, the seat number being 107 and empty for the whole concert was a sure sign from Gran telling me she’s watching and she’s with me. I am indeed at a moment in my story that I would love to further progress my career and I know to do that I need the support of the industry. I need a literary agent or a booker to help me book my talks and also with my next books. Yes I said ‘books’, I have so much to write, so much to share, so much to set free from my soul in words and that excites me. I not only know I need to write more books but I really feel it is my calling, my vocation of sorts. Last night as part of ‘All Soul’s Day’ I held a special FB live remembering not only all who have died but also remembering all who are grieving and are heartbroken at this time. I feel honoured that I have built a community who not only see me but support me and I hope I return that same love back to them all. Together we are stronger and I feel it is because of them, and you, my lovely reader that I will keep my light shining and I will keep writing and hopefully soon, someone with some helpful influence or further support might step my way to bring my future plans to fruition. I have so many plans but for now, I will enjoy today. Thank you to all who are lighting candles for tonight and saying prayers that I might win, that means the world to me, and really award or no award, I have won because I have you in my life x

One other very exciting note this week, I just want to declare some very good news. On Wednesday night, I officially started book number two. I finally pushed away doubt and fear and leaned into my light and into my bravery to begin and I am officially off the starting line. I will try over the month of November to get words down when I can but I’m definitely moving which is exciting. To tie in with me beginning to write book number two, I have set up a four week webinar which will give you a taster of what the new book will be all about. It will be a social gathering every Monday night on zoom throughout the month of November where friends and strangers will meet (we will all be friends within five minutes - good people find good people is my policy) and we will meet, chat, think, ponder, share and just relax together and discuss the themes of hope, love, light and looking up. The aim of these webinars are to make you feel good. I hope by the end of each session you will leave lighter and feel very much that you are not on your own in this world. Life can be so tough and sometimes we just need a door to enter where light lives. I’m hoping that virtually I am going to create that door and that home for you in a consistent way for the month of November. If things go well I will run this on a regular basis. Maybe December could be a more fun festive month for us.

If you wish to join the poster is below and also a short video explaining it all - payment is through Paypal and Revolut and I’ve also set up a more traditional link where you can pay with your card here - The link to that is: Finding The Light When The Darkness is Against You Webinar

Thanking you always for your support and I’d be thrilled if you might subscribe to this substack if you have found my writing home here for the first time. There is a free option and I’d love to have you part of my community if you felt the energy in here was your kind of buzz! I’d love to keep you x

Until next week, my Substack family. Thank you for being here, without you, I would be writing and talking to myself and that would be awful lonely. I appreciate your comments an awful lot so please feel free to drop a word or three down below.

Keep looking up and keep being your magic selves,

Love always,

Lou x

PS. One final little message even though she will never see this, because as she says herself “I can't do those substacks of yours Lou because you know how I am with this phone” - Irish mammy in full flight ;) …..But I just want to write how blessed I have been to have such an amazing mam in my life. She is not only one of the…. but she is the absolute best person I have ever met in my life, never mind, got to love. She is without doubt her mother’s daughter.

We are not mushy mushy people in our family but Ollie (fondly named by my nephews and nieces - Olive is her full name) but I just want to take this moment to say how lucky I am to have her in my life. I wouldn’t want anyone else by my side tonight and everyday I have her in my life, I bless myself twice and look up to the sky and simply say ‘Thank you’. To have a mother and best friend like Ollie is the stuff many spend their lives searching for. Her generosity of spirit and kindness knows no bounds and I just want to take this moment to recognise and acknowledge how lucky I am and that on a day where we might be apart and I hope that is a long time away ( and of course that could be me gone ahead of her to the stars), I want to take this moment and remember that I knew how lucky I was in every minute and how lucky I have been in my life to have a mother who loves unconditionally and loves me warts and all and also her limitless support to me in every way. I could not or would not be the person I am without her in my life and every time I smile, you can be assured, it’s my mam who has given me the light that shines brightly inside of me and it’s all because of her. I will never take a minute with Ollie for granted and I will count my lucky stars to have such an amazing supportive human by my side x

PPS. Thank you to the 1000 people who read my substack last week x