Author Ruth O’Leary on the writing of her debut novel, The Weekend Break . . .
“I couldn’t write a book!”
These are the words I typed in October 2020 in response to someone asking me why I was not doing NaNoWriMo. That someone was Luciana Damasceno from my online writing group Writers Ink. Luciana was joining a Facebook group set up by fellow member Clo Carey, for Inkers who were participating in the worldwide phenomenon that is NaNoWriMo which invites people to try to write 50,000 words in 30 Days.
The project was set up in 1999 in San Francisco with just 21 participants. It then moved online in 2000, and now, according to the NaNoWriMo website, they have over 798,000 active participants.
When I joined Writers Ink in February 2020, I hoped to learn some writing skills to improve my short story and flash fiction writing, and until Luciana asked me that question I hadn’t considered writing a full-length novel. Now, four years later, I have written four full-length novels plus the 50,000-word novella that I wrote for NaNoWriMo. Although I haven’t edited or even read over that novella, it opened my mind to the possibility that after years of writing short stories, maybe I could write a full-length novel.
The idea for The Weekend Break came to me immediately. This was November 2020, and the country was still in lockdown. Usually, at this time I would be planning and researching destinations for a spring weekend break with my women friends. As we couldn’t do that, I decided to write about a weekend break instead.
I lived in Galway City in 1988 working in John Ryan Travel Agency which used to be located on a corner of Eyre Square. I love Galway and have returned many times. I went on a weekend break myself with my women friends to celebrate my 40th birthday during the Galway Arts Festival many years ago and used the same accommodation we stayed in, City Point Holiday apartments for the women in my book. The women in The Weekend Break also go to the restaurants I visited with my friends on that trip.
Having watched author interviews on the Writers Ink Facebook page, many debut authors, having secured two or three book deals, spoke about the pressure of time limits involved in writing the second books so I decided that if possible, I would have at least two books written before approaching any agent or publisher. So, I put The Weekend Break aside and started book 2.
When my writer friend Lucy O’Callaghan told me about a Kate Nash Literary Agency open day in Birmingham, I felt I was ready. I registered and emailed a synopsis and the first three chapters prior to my meeting with Kate Nash and thankfully she liked what she read and asked for the full manuscript there and then. Within a few weeks I had signed with The Kate Nash Agency and Poolbeg Books in Dublin offered me a three-book deal. The Weekend Break was as good as I could make it, so I handed that in in March 2023 having signed the contract. And as I had finished book two, The Bookshop Café, I handed that in in June 2023 just before I received the edits for The Weekend Break from their editor. I had written book 3 but I wasn’t completely happy with it as I wrote it with a Penguin Christmas Romance competition in mind, so it was more romance than uplit or contemporary women’s fiction. So, in August of last year, I started what will now be book 3, Dear Sadie. That is currently with my beta reader.
To go from writing short stories to having a three-book deal has been incredible. Poolbeg Books have been so supportive especially Paula Campbell who has answered all my rookie questions with great patience and humour. I still write short stories and my most recent one was published in this month’s Ireland’s Own Valentine Day Special.
As I type this there is a box of author copies of my book beside me and I am getting ready for my book launch. This is a dream come true for me and I am loving every part of the process. It is incredible to think that the story of the four women I made up in my head will be very shortly in the hands of readers. I really hope people love them as much as I do.
(c) Ruth O’Leary
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About The Weekend Break by Ruth O’Leary:
Friendship, Lies, and Galway Skies: The Explosive Weekend that Redefined Everything!
VIVIENNE’S perfect life is a façade, and she at last wants out. She needs a divorce fast.
HELEN’S nightly glass of wine has become a bottle or two, and her drinking is threatening her marriage.
CLARA feels she must lie to her husband to save her sanity and reach towards some freedom.
MIRIAM, wanting to change her life, does so in the most dramatic way possible. Her friends are supportive when she tells them, but she knows there is still a hidden truth that can never be exposed.
Their time in Galway has life-changing consequences. As the weekend unfolds and their secrets are laid bare, will it be too much for some to cope with?
Will their friendship and loyalty to each other survive the weekend break and its painful aftermath?
