Bridget McNulty

My (fun) disaster:

// June 18th, 2009 // No Comments » // Life (and the living of it), Strange Nervous Laughter, book launch, travelling

The plan seemed simple enough:
While in New York City, organise a relaxed, informal reading somewhere pretty (i.e. in Central Park) and bake cupcakes to give to people so they have a little something to snack on while I read. Then invite all my friends and contacts in New York (check out the lovely invitation here), and get them to invite all their friends and contacts.

What could possibly go wrong?

Well, global warming. In a word (or two).
You see, NYC is not usually wet or rainy in June – it’s summer, it should be deliciously sunny. But the weather has been a little crazy of late, and the craziness did not work in my favour… The forecasts said scattered thundershowers would hit at 6pm. They hit at 2.30pm. My reading was at 3pm.

We’d already baked delicious cupcakes, by this stage (chocolate with vanilla icing and mini M&Ms… yummy!)

And we’d figured out how to transport them across town on the subway (by buying a couple of doughnut boxes from the doughnut store across the road)…

When we exited the subway, it was breezy and warm, and we thought we’d missed the morning rain and were going to miss the evening storms. But when we arrived at Central Park…

The heavens opened. It poured. Bucketed. Deluged us with rain. So that anyone in their right mind, looking out the window in the hour before the reading and deciding whether to come to an outdoor event in the park, would have decided against it (I was already there, so I couldn’t change my mind!)

Still, I had a couple of extremely loyal friends who decided to brave the weather, most notably my Number One Fan, Jess (in her handmade t-shirt)…

Once we realised that the rain was not going to let up any time soon, we traipsed off through the park handing out free cupcakes. It was so much fun! I started off on the baseball field, and people came flocking towards me when they heard the magical word ‘cupcake’ (combined with the equally magical word ‘free’)… and then we walked through the park and I approached people and asked if they wanted a cupcake. They were either totally delighted, or looked a little scared. It was very amusing!

We ended up in a Starbucks (because it was warm, cosy, and quintessentially American)…

Where I gave a short reading, after all…

It was, to all intents and purposes, a complete disaster. But it was a really fun disaster! As I led my merry band of wet friends through the park, handing out cupcakes, I was loving it! It was great fun.

Now, this could have been because I’d had an amazing hour-long interview on Cosmo Radio the day before, and I felt as if I’d already done my bit for book marketing; or because it was the end of a really wonderful three week friend tour all over the East Coast of the USA; or even because I have recently realised that I don’t like organising publicity stuff for myself any more (give me online stuff to do and I’m happy, organise something for me to do and I’m even happier, but don’t put me in charge please!)

It might even be that I am slowly, ever so slowly, learning to let go and see where life takes me. That I am finally learning to be a bit more easy-going and not trying to control everything. Whatever the reason, I had myself an extremely fun disaster of A Reading in Central Park.

Do you want to be in the loop…

// April 21st, 2009 // 1 Comment » // Blogs, Strange Nervous Laughter

… with all matters Strange Nervous Laughter / novels / Bridget McNulty / USA / readings / cupcakes / green food / love / musings on life, love and everything else?

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Come on… you know you want to!

I’m in love!

// April 15th, 2009 // 9 Comments » // Publishing, Strange Nervous Laughter, Writing, book launch

I just got the first hardcover copy of ‘Strange Nervous Laughter’, the US edition.

It is, hands down, the most beautiful book I’ve ever seen. Crisp, clean, quirky and all mine!
I love it.

Want to see?

Here’s the cover…. isn’t it lovely? I never knew hardcover looked so much better, but it does!

Open the book, and you get the…. inside cover! (with a delightful description that you probably can’t read!)

Then there’s the first page. *sigh!*

The last page, with my gratitude list…

The back cover, with the only author picture of myself I’ve ever loved (courtesy of my man!)

And the back of the book, with a whole lot of excessively wonderful things that other writers have said about Strange Nervous Laughter…

Oh, and there’s the spine! I even love the spine.

Be honest with me, have you ever seen a book this beautiful in your life?

I didn’t think so!

Looking back is a funny thing.

// April 9th, 2009 // No Comments » // Life (and the living of it), Strange Nervous Laughter

We’re mere hours away from a 4 day Easter weekend here, and Lordy Lord am I ready for it!

My man and I are heading off to a little cottage up the West Coast tomorrow, for a glorious 2 nights and 3 days, and I can’t wait! We’re not going to do anything but read, eat, go for long walks and relax… Just exactly what I need. Check it out: www.fairfieldsguestfarm.co.za

What’s interesting about this impending weekend, though, is that we’re going back to a place we went just over a year and a half ago, at the beginning of September 2007. I had been working nonstop doing marketing stuff for Strange Nervous Laughter’s impending release, and we decided to take some time out without computers or deadlines or to-do lists and spend a few days of quality time with each other.

Now, a year and a half later, I’ve been working nonstop doing marketing stuff for Strange Nervous Laughter’s impending US release, and we’ve decided to take some time out without computers or deadlines or to-do lists and spend a few days of quality time with each other.

There are a few, giant differences, of course. I’m diabetic now, I wasn’t then. I’m a freelancer, I worked full-time then. My man is a freelancer, he worked full-time then. We’re about to go on a round-the-world trip. I’m about to go to America for my US book launch. And I feel, in many ways, older and wiser. But at the same time, I still think I have a lot to learn from my younger self. Take a read of that day’s blog post and let me know what you think…

And until we meet again, I’m taking a big deep breath in, and out, and relaxing into the Easter weekend…

Our home for the weekend!

The power of focus.

// April 2nd, 2009 // No Comments » // Downloads, Life (and the living of it), Strange Nervous Laughter, Time

I’m spending the day recording podcasts of the Prelude and the first six chapters of Strange Nervous Laughter (which just so happen to be character introductions for the six main characters).

It’s a fascinating experience, because I’ve never recorded a podcast before, or done any kind of voice recording except playplay voice-over stuff when I was younger. And the main thing I keep noticing is that you have to be really focussed. The podcasts are between eight and a half and twelve minutes long (which is a loooong time to be reading in a hyper-focused way) and because I am not tech-savvy and I’m doing it on GarageBand on my MacBook (which is working out just fine and dandy), I have to do it in one take. So if I stumble over my words, I have to start again (and again, and again, for the first chapter!)

It’s so interesting, because it’s made me realise how rarely I do something with 100% focus. I have to read every single word, and make sure I pronounce it right, and add in some expression, and be careful not to swallow my words, and all of this combines into a meditation of sorts, a meditation of focus.

That said, I’m glad there are only seven to do! Focus is a little tiring…

I’ll be posting them online (one a week) in the next couple of days. Watch this space!

The No Excuse Novel.

// October 13th, 2008 // No Comments » // Downloads, Inspiration, Life (and the living of it), Strange Nervous Laughter, Writing

So this is my Big Secret: The No Excuse Novel. www.noexcusenovel.com

It’s an inspiring six week guide to (finally) writing that novel. I’m very excited about it.

Basically, I took all the questions from people who have emailed me in the last year or so, and wrote a writing guide around them. It’s in six parts – one per week – and each part is a very pretty PDF with advice and anecdotes, inspiration and homework. Each week focuses on a different part of the writing process – from getting started (how to get ideas, how to find your voice, how to create a writing schedule) to working through writer’s block, learning how to share your work, and some of the nuts and bolts of writing – metaphor, cliche, all that fun stuff. It was such a pleasure to write, because it made me realise how much I’ve learnt in the past couple of years – how much I wish I’d known all of this when I was writing Strange Nervous Laughter, and how much easier it made writing my second novel (Spectacularly Ordinary, which is still in the rough draft stage).

I think so much of the writing life is making the decision to commit – to do this thing, no matter what. No excuses. But sometimes we need a hand to drop the excuses. That’s what this guide is all about. As well as the course material every week, those who sign up get one-on-one email correspondence with me, during Week 3 and Week 6, to ask any specific questions. And they get access to a locked section on the website, with a Forum to chat to other writers, and a downloadable e-book on Marketing and Publishing. And, of course, a Writer’s Certificate to fill in and sign… a tangible promise to commit to writing.

I’m really pleased with the whole thing. I’ve been working on it for the past couple of months, and it’s ended up just as I’d hoped… Part of my reasoning for doing it was also that there are so many people who want to write, but can’t afford to pay the exorbitant prices that most writing courses demand. I’m only charging $50 (or R400, depending on the exchange rate!) so it’s affordable for most people.

So if you know anyone who keeps saying, “I really want to write a novel, but…” – send them my way!

A secret snippet…

// September 18th, 2008 // 2 Comments » // Life (and the living of it), Writing

I’m reading over the rough draft of my new novel at the moment, and just stumbled across this passage… Thought you might like it:

“How often do we do this, either to ourselves or those we love, without noticing? We make a thoughtless harsh comment about a dream, or quash a hopeful plan without really thinking about it; we pop the bubble of an imagining or stomp on a burgeoning creativity with our sense of reality… We are fragile beings not so much because we bleed when we are cut, but because our hopes are so easily deflated, so quickly turned to dust.”