Interviewing Author Eileen Moynihan
Q1.1. Tell me about yourself. What are your favorite books to read?
A. I was born in Essex England but grew up on the Isle of Wight. I came to Ireland in 1978. I lived in West Cork with my family and moved to Co. Roscommon with my husband 9 years ago, after taking early retirement from teaching. I have self-published 4 children’s books: ‘Rory Gumboots,’ ‘The Reckolahesperus,’ ‘Hattie and Jacques Love London’ and ‘The Dreamsmith.’ I also have stories published in 3 anthologies, ‘Ring Around The Moon,’ ‘Midir and Etain,’ and ‘The King at the Back of the Hill.’ I was recently involved in a collaborative novella called ‘Let Him Lie’ with other members of Longford Writers group. One of my favorite books growing up was ‘Tom’s Midnight Garden’ by Phillipa Pearse. I loved ‘The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe’ by C.S. Lewis. ‘Little Women’ by Louisa M. Alcott was another favorite. As an adult, I have enjoyed books by Maeve Binchy.
Q2. When did you decide you were going to write a book?
A. I sent ‘Rory Gumboots’ to publishers and agents. I was told it was a sweet story that they didn’t do books with anthropomorphic animals etc.… so then I looked into self-publishing. I first did an eBook with K.D.P. and then decided to get print books with Amazon’s Createspace. I am not getting any younger so I just wanted to get on with it. This was 2013/2014.
Q3. How did you come up with the name of your books?
A.‘Rory Gumboots’ just jumped into my head.
‘The Reckolahesperus’ came from the phrase I heard as a child – ‘You look like the Wreck of
the Hesperis.’ The Wreck of the Hesperis was a poem about a shipwreck.
‘Hattie and Jacques Love London’ came from the name of Hattie Jacques who was a star of
the Carry On films.
The Dreamsmith was just pure imagination.
Q4.What are you working on for 2019?
A. My new book ‘Frances Darwin Investigates’ is out in March. It is about 10 years old Frances Darwin who accidentally gets caught up in a dognapping scam which leads her on an adventure that gains her many new friends.
I am also working on a poetry book for children about wildflowers with accompanying photographs from my friend, Margaret O’Driscoll, who is also a poet. The illustrations of accompanying flower fairies are by my sister Angela Gawn. The cover is done by my friend Dan Flynn who is an artist and fellow writer.
Q5. How long have you been writing?
A. I have always been writing from an early age but I have been writing seriously since I took early retirement from teaching.
Q6.What advice would you give other authors?
A. Join a writers group either in person or online. Get someone to look at your work. Be open to advise. Keep learning.
Q7 Where can people find you online?
Q8.Do you plan on making more books in the future?
A. Yes, I think I have a lot more books in me yet.
Q9. How many books have you written?
A.5 so far
Q10. Did you go to college to be a writer?
A.No, I went to college to be a teacher.
I would like to say thank you too Eileen Moynihan for allowing me to interview her.
Enjoy reading Angelika.
Hi, I enjoyed reading this very positive and inspirational interview! Thank you so much for sharing this interview, I loved reading it. Thank you so much for sharing your Gift of writing Eileen. Have a Great rest of the week. God Bless you .
ReplyDeleteWonderful interview! I really enjoy reading about each author. Thank you for keeping your blog clean and informative.
ReplyDeleteYou're welcome thank you
Delete