“A life filled with love must have some thorns, but a life empty of love will have no roses.”

— Anonymous

Greetings from a cold, damp mountainside in County Wexford… The clocks have just gone back and the newly darkened evenings close around me like a choke-hold – or a cozy blanket – depending on the day that’s in it. This year the darkness and isolation of the impending winter feels less ominous than it did a year ago.

My mam passed away two years ago this very month, breaking my heart into raw, weeping fragments as she left. I began to question everything. What was the point in life that brought such pain to so many people? What was my role and purpose now my children were grown and I was no longer a full-time carer for my mam? I began to think about all of the difficult things I had experienced throughout my lifetime and, although I got caught up in bitterness at times, my thoughts naturally progressed to the good things, the mediocre things.

I remembered how I had always wanted to write a book about my journey through life. So many things had happened which I had never had the opportunity to speak out about – so many secrets, so many lies and injustices. And so I sat down in my little sun-room here in the hills of Wexford and began to write, memories flooding my waking and dreaming existences as I committed them to paper.

The single-mindedness that getting this done required didn’t come from any natural writer’s instincts on my part. I don’t read a tonne of literature, and I won’t be able to quote you apt impressive text from even more impressive heavy-weight writers. I wasn’t particularly good at school and I would get nothing fit for print without help from an editor. I’m not the person anyone would have expected to sit down and write a book. But there are different books for different purposes, and I really do believe that everyone has an interesting story to tell. After all, isn’t literature all about portraying human truth? I had a story I felt I needed to tell, and knowing this gave me the incentive to keep going with it.

The next few weeks are going to be busy as I get ready to launch the book I am thrilled I managed to finish, while also organising a house sale and the start of a brand new chapter in my life. Come back often to follow my journey:) Margaret x