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PaulineMcLynn.com

welcome to the official website of Pauline McLynn

addict - spelling etc corrected... 8 August 2008

I have a bit of an addictive personality, I would say (if one can be a LITTLE bit addictive? discuss…) I get obsessed from time to time…but not like some. Take Himself, for example. He is nearing the end of a fortnight in Edinburgh and, as an agent, has been going to several shows a day. That’s not the obsession (though it might look like it from here to any sane person). No, it’s that he has organised Russian lessons for most mornings of the week before work starts – he goes to shows from 11am onwards and his teacher has a ‘proper’ job so they begin at 8am. He would call this dedication and it’s impressive, to say the least, if a little scary. He’s got a really good teacher, though, who lets him away with nothing and is a stickler for pronounciation. Today she told him he speaks Russian like a foreigner…At one point a while back he said, in Russian, that he was like a snail in his attempts to learn the language and she thought this a foolish comparison and one for which Russian could not supply proper words. She said he was like a giraffe…yup, you and me both puzzling over that one…but it would make a great title for an autobiography ‘Richard Cook: My Life as a Giraffe’ or a chapter within a book could be ‘The Giraffe Years’ and so on. High brow indeed…

VP 8 August 2008

I had a close encounter tonight with the Visiting Pussycat. I was sat by candlelight (lights all gone in that area) in front of the tv in the shell of what was once my kitchen and I heard the sound of the cat eating from the bowl to my side. But when I turned to look it was not the G but the black and white scrap I suspected was visiting and whom I had met once out front on the street. He looked a lot better tonight…and why wouldn’t he? he’s getting the best of food every night Chez Pauline. This evening he got some pouch food but even if he’s eating the dried stuff left out for the G that’s very good for him too as it’s special diet stuff to promote urinary and bladder health. Anyhow, he saw I was watching him and continued to eat – it was really cute: he lifted food out of the bowl and dropped it on the floor closer to him from whence/where he ate it, all the while watching me closely in case I made a move. I continued to chat to him and when I thought he’d had a good meal I made a move toward him and he scarpered. Top marks to that tom cat for not spraying while he was in and, fingers crossed, he hasn’t bothered to for a while now…perhaps he feels the place is his anyhow so there’s no need to smelly it up – hope so.

ending 6 August 2008

As I work toward the end of the novel I am printing out the rest, chapter by chapter from the beginning, to see if it’s still the same book I am writing. I find I can only do so much, by way of change, on the laptop – comes a time when I have to hold paper in hand and see and feel it that way. It’s interesting because I wrote those early bits last year. Yes, it’s the same story but styles are a bit different -not a huge thing to tweak if needs be. Thing is, do I think the earlier tone and content was better than the stuff I am writing now? Which bits should be changed to tally with the other? I can’t make up my mind…this is The Hard Bit…I wonder about my taste, my judgement…HELP! (well, that’s what my editor and copy editor will help with and there are a few others who’ll have a gander too – in the end of all, though, it’s up to me to pull it out of the bag and I do have the final say on a lot…again my taste, my judgement – way too hard from here but it has to be done)

archeeeology 5 August 2008

hav fallin fer bonekikers, da bbc serious, n em luvin et tho et bee dredfull hokum altegedder…dammit I can’t keep it up!
Had lovely and mischievous suggestion that I do a whole blog slightly, or wholly, misspelled but it’s a lot harder to do (especially subtly) than I’d ever have imagined.
Anyhow, yes, I have fallen under the spell of BONEKICKERS. I also love MIDSOMER MURDERS and am distraught now that the present season is over. I like my silly tv to be of quality and both of those series are class.
I feel I am spreading by the day as the novel deadline inches ever closer. The treadmill is under a ton of packing and MUST be revealed and used again soon. The only time I get a bit of a walk to to go to the supermarket each evening and then it’s to get food which I cook and eat too much of. I put on weight quite quickly, though the flip side is that it can sometimes come off quickly too. The nagging suspicion is that not all of the stuff that went on comes off in certain areas though – under the chin for instance…the upper arms…well, thighs, tum and bum too, while I’m at it (pretty much covers the lot then…hip hip hooray)
Still madly spotty, bug-eyed from dust and cat hair, and have those dry lips that love to retain the admission of my few glasses of red wine at night (the body is SUCH a traitor) – not a pretty sight at all, at all. I am hoping to be able to find my best camouflage makeup in the morning as am off to do a photoshoot to promote WORLD VISION IRELAND of which I am patron with Victoria Smurfit. We are on a mission for the month, with Today FM in Dublin, to get more child sponsors. The way I’m looking I’ll probably frighten off a lot of humans and a few other creatures too. Still, no such thing as bad publicity, they say, (though I think that may be, what we call in the trade, bollocks)

going postal 5 August 2008

I may be losing it – I don’t know if I did that bounty blog yesterday or the night before…time, my sweets, has started to go wonky. it is, however, still HURTLING towards all of the truly unavoidable deadlines that are stacked up at the end of the week. What am I saying? One of them is today, so I’d best set to.

Was thinking a lot about the Limerick man who seems to have perished on K2 just after his triumphant trip to the summit – first Irishman to achieve it. It’s very sad that he didn’t live to enjoy his wonderful achievement more. I cannot decide whether it’s best to go in such a blaze of glory when I am so against ‘going’ at all (you all know me on that) but I’m guessing to bow out at the top of your game has merits.
My Dad will be gone 3 years next week – how can so much time have passed since the awful day?
Again, time is a wonky thing and I’ll never get the hang of it.

bounty 3 August 2008

as much as the garden is out of commission at the moment i am getting out there and harvesting the fresh herbs have – i know, i know, ‘harvesting is probably grandiose but the pleasure is huge. my fave right now is to make up a chunky tzatziki with my own mint …well, i add apple and spring onion and lil extra garlic too – DELICIOUS.
but the thing that has blown me away is the HUGE bowl of blackberries i had tonight. all from brambles i let roam through the garden. i cut them back whenever they stray where they’re not wanted and this year is bumper crop time. they are wild and totally wonderful and i gorged on at least 5 supermarket euro’s worth while i was picking them, let alone what i got back into the kitchen and what’s still out there waiting for me tomorrow. food for free and all the tastier for it.
gardenwise, i am also inclined to leave so called weeds in situ if they have a pretty flower and are not interfering with other plants.

yup, have given up on capitals, for the moment.

and further yup – even as i posted last night’s blog i saw the ‘aqnd’ and hadn’t the energy left to admit to it (blame late night telly) – FIRST thing Himself mentioned, of course…

well... 3 August 2008

update – insect/vampire bites receding but prone to flare ups.
writing going moderately well but needs to rev right up if ‘tis to be finished by next saturday (won’t be able to attend to it much on sunday 10th as will be attending the Edinburgh International Book Festival and all of the wonderfulness that entails – me and laura marney, 8.30pm, by the by).
had a tastrel of how awful the dust will be as bathroom window continues to be knocked to shit – fine film of the asthma-inducing stuff everywhere and that’s just a minor’ operation’ compared to what’s descending next week.
have got into habit of sitting in front of the telly till 2 in the morning watching pointless movies and repeats of shows – this MUST END
am veh veh spotty.
aqnd old.
and not getting enough exercise.
threw out mattress so am in spare room till that’s replaced.
ironing board also gone.
garden overgrown yet and packed ‘n piled with builders’ supplies and my potted plants from the patio.
rain biblical.
bed now…spare room…not MADLY comfy…
nite.

itchy 1 August 2008

Those darn bites are itchy in spite of my taking an antihistamine tablet – they could be vampire damage after all. I would check for a reflection in a mirror but seeing anything is a challenge in the house as most of the lights have blown for some reason – the paranormal is not out of the question, all things considered. Anyhow wouldn’t like what I saw one way or the other, I suspect, so best left alone. If we get any sunshine tomorrow (seems unlikely from where I am sitting) and I have a bad reaction to it, I may have to start sharpening stakes…
Does a shower count as running water, but the way – aren’t we creatures of the night/The Undead supposed to be agin that or allergic or summat? The morning will tell a tale….

teeth 1 August 2008

It’s only just occurred to me – double bite mark on the neck, pulsating with blood – vampire, anyone??? Probably not, I know, as I was in Chiswick in South London and it’s not RENOWNED for vampires, but…
also in all of the books I have read about those lads, and the films I have seen, I have never heard tell of an itchy reaction to a vampire bite…
okay, am revising opinion to ‘may have overreacted a little this morning and these are still midge bites’

'et' alive 1 August 2008

I had my first real evening al fresco in a magnificent garden in London last night and I got eaten by midges. Yes, they live by the river (as do my friends in whose garden I was) though those darn midges are, in fact, EVERYWHERE. Because I am unused to such fabulous social occasions and because I have been largely hiding from people, because I get too distracted and happy and don’t get enough writing done, I haven’t had to encounter mild to humid weather out of doors much, especially at night, this year. So, I had forgotten about the CREATURES that LOVE to chew on me. Honestly, I am delicious to the insect world. What I can’t understand is how I never feel it, the bite. And I have never seen a midge bite someone else, though I know I have been around when that’s happened. Worst moment for, which I did not point out to others or draw attention to in any way, was when I went to the loo after lunch and noticed in the mirror that I had actually got a double bit on my neck (there are others on back and legs) and that it reddened and paled with every beat of my heat…a pulsating blob…not good…

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