The Story Behind the Story of Writing a Book....

Writing a book….something I’ve wanted to do for as long as I can remember…. All through my life, from when I was a teenager right through to getting my first job as a sport journalist in my early twenties, anyone that knew me from my writing field, their early statements to me were always the same & would go a bit like this “When are you writing that book Louise?”… And then for all those years I spent at my computer screen, moving from newspaper to newspaper, radio station to radio station, the same train of thought followed me from colleague to colleague… “When are you going to write that book Louise?”….Chasing deadlines and working through the night, my jobs were always in the communications field and the more I typed, the more the question of my book followed me.…I never dodged the question, but instead I would say yep i’m working on it…knowing I had 47,000 files on my desktop with the words ‘The Book’ captioned on it…47,000 times I started but never finished….Different titles, different topics, different ideas but all with the same twist…I could never stick with them….My enthusiasm would fall off when life became busy or doubt would creep in with what I was at….For a lifetime I’ve been writing ‘that book’ yet not getting anywhere really….

Now in saying that, I never believe there is a right or wrong way to do something…If anything you must stop and start as you climb Mount Everest or you would never make it to the top…and not only that with no map to know how to climb the mountain, one must fail many times before getting the whole way to the top so that’s how I look at my writing career…Yes I may only be moving now with my first book but for a lifetime I’ve sat with a pen in my hand and for a whole career, I’ve sat at my screen, typing letters upon letters, words upon words, adjectives followed by nouns, thoughts followed by more thoughts, facts followed by opinions, articles followed by more articles and now comes my moment to send off that file that says ‘The Book - Final Draft' to the printers…I’ve made it…Where am I now? Am I on top of the mountain? Who knows? I’m not really a big adventure type girl…instead I’m a more of a slow and steady kind of character that follows her heart and if that means happily holding jackets for people who want to climb mountains you can bet I’ll be there supporting you even if I’m not going climb myself…

In my early writing days, I was a journalist for The Topic Newspapers for four and a half years and I loved every second of it.

Is this book a culmination of all my life’s work?...Yes in many ways it is but more importantly than anything else it is a combination of my love for one person and my want to share her innate gift of holding out hope to the world that has me completing my first book. On top of that, I believe my gift lies in connecting with people and maybe, just maybe, I’ve a little bit of that hope holding card Gran had too in me.

I love to write. I love to communicate. I love to talk. I love to listen. I love to look. I love to hear people’s stories. I love to hear their voices. I love to hear the tone they use when telling their stories. I love to watch their body language. I love to try hear what they are saying in between their words. I love to see how they see the world. I genuinely love people and all they offer and I absolutely love to see people do well. I also love to help people get through hard stuff and I love to see people smile. And at the heart of this book, I just know you are going to smile as you read it & you are going to feel that you can take on life and survive it just like Gran did.

Not only can you survive this life but you can win with Granny Nancy at your side. She didn’t just survive life, she faced her fears with immeasurable strength and character when they came knocking and when life was good, she made sure to enjoy every second of the good times. Gran was a great woman to enjoy life to the max. She was on this earth for 107 years and 326 days and left this world smiling and I think for any of us, there is a great healing and hope in her words and her story will inspire you that no matter what happens, a prayer, a chat with a friend and a big cup of tea can actually solve anything, and even if it doesn’t solve it, it will lessen the heaviness of the burden for sure.. I hope when you read the book, you will feel her close by you and I feel her strength and faith in keeping going will transcend the pages into your heart.

I started on this project when lockdown began in 2020. When we would be in the mood of chatting and interviewing I would either start audio recording or video recording gran sitting in by her Stanley stove and just go from there. We had no order or structure at all. We just would just chat and I would hit record. There was only one procedure ever that we would never begin without and I’m sure you won’t be surprised by that. The kettle boiling was a must and a big mug of tea in both our hands….The sound of soft religious hymns in the background on her radio or television was most often the background company of our chat and apart from that, the one constant was this lovely sense of love, comfort and company between two great friends who just were enjoying spending unlimited time sitting beside each other. It sounds simple because it was. Everyday I spent with gran was simple and there is no doubt in the world, the simple style of living she has indeed bestowed on me. I know longer want for much or even anything in my life. Time spent drinking tea with friends and family for the remainder of my life would leave me with as big as smile on my face as Gran had…

As we chatted, Gran spoke so joyfully about her life, her loves, her feelings, travelling from one topic to another, ranging from her favourite prayer to what granny made of the political landscape of Ireland. We left no stone unturned yet Gran’s book is set in such a way that school children will be able to enjoy it. Three trains of thought run throughout the book from start to finish and those are: The first is humour and it’s definitely a special type of Granny humour. No matter how serious topics get, Gran always throws in some funny remark and in her own unique way, she seems to turn the tale upside down. When I think of her now as she gave me those answers, I see her in mind smiling from ear to ear. If there is any image of Gran that is imprinted in my mind of her for the rest of my life, it will be one of Gran with a big smile and a big laugh. Definitely a wonderful trait in any human and Gran had this in abundance.

The second train of thought that runs from start to finish through the 35,000 or so words is most definitely tea and loads of it. Gran refers to tea thirty times in the first thirty six pages and definitely nearly as many times as she laughed. Gran and tea go together like hand and glove in this book. No matter the problem or the celebration, Gran was always holding a cup of tea in her hand or mentioning that ‘maybe we should boil the kettle.’ No matter the question, tea was always the answer.

And the third aspect that continually rose its head in this book is a combination of Gran’s faith in God and all above and an attitude of believing that everything was going to be alright in the end. Somewhere between the two, myself and Granny met on a very agreed mindset. My faith in God not near anything of hers in the way she prayed and prayed but I definitely have a faith in something bigger, I do believe God or someone is up there somewhere beyond the sky and I most definitely possess an attitude of always looking for the light even in the most darkest moments. Between both these ideas, along with an endless supply of tea and lots of laughter thrown in for good measure, I think when you read her words, you will instantly feel your heart lighten and your head clear of its worries.

This book will not make your worries disappear but it might just remind you, that if a lady of 107 years of age can go through two pandemics, world wars galore, see the independence of her little green emerald isle, watch as women receive their voting rights, go from paraffin oil lamps to electricity and then as covid took over, she rose up in her seat in everyway possible to sit and do zoom interviews with BBC, Channel 4 and of course a million Facebook lives on our our Facebook Page whereby she offered endless hope and humour as the rest of the world went into carnage, I think it’s a book everyone should read. I know that’s what all authors will say about their book, but this isn’t really my book at all, I’m just the girl who got to witness Granny’s magic and luckily enough I recorded it. My presence in the book is very light as i’m the voice asking the questions but my contribution for sure comes from when I decided I was going to put it all together.

Last January, I looked into gran’s empty room & felt my heart sink. Where was she gone? How come I was now on my own even though I was standing somewhere I had stood for years & I never felt alone? It’s amazing the cacophony of sound that resonates in a house of two people. And then the silence created by one. One person cannot share chat. One person cannot be heard. One person can make two cups of tea but only one can be drank. Our voices were always alive in this house together but now, my voice was silent. My heart had a pain and I didn’t know what to do with it. Everywhere seemed empty & in many ways that was the case. Her hospital bed was gone so the room looked so bare without her there. Her most treasured holy pictures were hung where they had been hung for over a hundred years. I looked at them and they looked at me. In some strange way, I was comforted by them as if they knew how I was feeling. As if some higher power could see me stand so isolated and broken in a room that was once filled with love, chat, prayer and laughter & it was in that very moment, the pain in my heart spoke to me. Do something with your pain Louse! Do something with all the love inside you!

And in that split second, I decided to take a table and move it into the space of her bed…I knew this was where I was going to put her words down on paper. In the space where we prayed and laughed and loved. In the space where her much loved holy pictures could be close to me. A person’s bedroom is a sacred space in anyones house and Gran’s room was no different. Every morning and every night we said our prayers together and we shared that very intimidate moment in the day where we shared how happy we were to be alive for another run on the planet & by the end of it, we would be saying how grateful we made it through to the end of the day. It was a very simple policy me and Gran shared. It was one of gratitude for our health, our happiness and our friendship. We knew what we had was special & I knew I was helping someone fulfil their life’s wish to live and die in their own home.

It was no olympic medal or world record but it was the one wish my grandmother had & I knew I could help her achieve it. I didn’t know would God take her the way she wanted to go but I really hoped he would. On Friday September 10th around 5.45am just as the sun rose, God took Gran. We had spent the whole night up chatting and praying….She just ‘couldn’t sleep’…no pain or discomfort. It was actually just a normal night for us. But then God stepped into the room and in a breathe and holding my hand, she was gone. This bedroom is more than to a bedroom to me. It’s the place in which she lived and died and it’s the room where for me our loved lived too. It’s the room where her second last dying wish was fulfilled. Yes our love in the physical form left that Friday in September but once I moved that table in here, I choose to not let her go forever. I choose a route in which her life would never be forgotten. I chose to lift my pen in one hand and my broken heart in another and in some very special way and through this book, Granny Nancy will live forever. It wasn't easy, if anything it was the hardest thing I’ve ever done. To dive into my memories and watch and listen to her voice daily over and over while looking up to her holy pictures and my heart screaming to go back in time knowing I couldn’t…. was for me, a personal struggle like no other but I’ve done it. It’s coming near the end of August now and I’m coming closer and closer to fulfilling my last promise I made to Granny. This promise was that I would finish the book, and in Gran’s own words… ‘Even if I’m not here, you write that book Louise. I’ll be watching from Heaven and I’ll be smiling.’

Surrounding myself with fourteen photographs of Gran in this room has helped me greatly to not only write but also to grieve. On top of that, the support of my mam, my family & my wonderful friends & of course my amazing Facebook Family & my LWS Family has led me to this moment. I couldn’t have done it without ye all and I’ll never be able to repay you for the support and strength you have given me to finish this.

And there lies the magic of this moment as I can now see the end of this book in sight. A few more edits, a few more changes and proof readings and it will be completed. The next step of course is to print it, travel through all those technical bits (which I dread) and then release it into the world. For this part I’m hoping I can lean on you all. I’m holding a zoom get together tonight at 7.30pm Irish time (This is the link This is the link to access it if you might like to pop along. Very informal chat whereby we bring our cups of tea and I’ll run through where I’m at on the book front and then bounce a few things around the room to see what ye think. I’ve never released a book before but my hope from the start was to do my absolutely best with it & also I want to have fun while doing it. I loved Gran with every fibre of my being and we had so much fun together. Then when our Facebook Family started to form around us, we had even more fun. Fun is what the theme of this next stage is. There is no doubt I will get stressed, I know I will because I want to do a really good job but beyond those moments of doubt and even fear, I’m going to push pass that stress and stay in fun mode.

In life you can either be serious about everything or you can have fun! Since it’s taken me 38 years to write this book & it took Gran 107 to live each word, I want to have as much fun sharing it with you as is humanly possible. I think the achievement of me completing it within ten month of starting the writing process, gives me great hope that this won’t be my one and only book. And there is a great feeling attached to the words the next time I’m asked ‘When are you writing that book Louise?’ I can finally answer, “it’s here”. And I can take it out of my bag and proudly say, I’ve finally written it. And maybe just maybe, I might be saying, “I’m working on my next one now too.”

Thanks so much to all of you who read my substack newsletter twice a week and I’m so so grateful for the time it takes you to follow links and find me here.

I hope your week is good to you and i’d absolutely love if you might like to attend tonight’s zoom. I also stream a Facebook Live everyday on 'Living and Laughing with Lou' and I’d be so thrilled to have your company there too.

Thanks again for your support and love if you might like to share this letter or leave a comment below.

Keep Looking Up.

You’re doing great and I’m so grateful that you are in my life.

Love and light for the week ahead,

Your friend always,

Lou x

Ps. This is the zoom link in the Facebook event which you can find here