Grace Wynne-Jones

Thought I’d better add a new blog since Honey has written such long ones recently. I don’t think she’s finished reading The Artists’ Way yet though she frequently opens it and feels very virtuous when she does her ‘morning pages’.

Got a lovely comment from a reader recently who said that ‘Wise Follies’ had really cheered her up and made her felt understood…I’m so glad the book felt like a friend. I got a number of letters from readers of ‘Ordinary Miracles’ saying that they felt I had been spying on their marriages (in a nice way of course). Someone once described it as ‘Victoria Wood meets Shirley Valentine’.

You can read summaries of my books and some lovely reviews on the thingys at the top of this page.

Some quick advice for new authors seeking publicity in papers, on radio and the like. I’ve found that the fact that one has written a novel often simply isn’t enough to send a journalist scampering off to interview you. I’m also a freelance journalist myself. Those features editors really like their ‘hot’ angles. If your book is about something unusual, or you wrote it on a desert island or are currently dating a well-known footballer etc then there’ll be lots of interest. Another way to gain interest is to have something else to talk about. For example when I wrote a big article about women and cats for The Irish Times various radio stations contacted me to discuss it…and I naturally mentioned the new book and said that intriguing animals frequently appear in my novels. A highly personal article about self-esteem led to an interview on one of Ireland’s most popular radio shows (yes I bought a bottle of Rescue Remedy). There are many other examples I could cite. For example an article about ‘BookCrossing’…do look it up on Google…also led to radio interviews.

And if you want a boost Google ‘Elizabeth Gilbert Ted Talks’. Bracing words!

Lots of love,

Grace

My name is Honey Morenzo and I’ve been asked to occasionally contribute to this website. You’ll need to read my previous blog (July 14th) to understand some stuff in this one.

10th August 2009

Can’t spend long typing this ‘cos am at my desk and Roderick is in a foul mood about sales figures. Am feeling extremely demoralised myself today because realise, yet again, that I should have jumped ship from this job when there were loads of other jobs to apply for. Looked up a volunteering website a while ago and saw there were some very interesting jobs in Peru…somewhere near the Amazon…possibly in or near the jungle. Got quite excited until I saw it required fluency in Spanish. Perhaps should start attending Spanish night-classes. Similar vacancies may pop up in the future.

Last night I visited my pal Astrid who’s in her mid sixties and a student of Shamanism. The ‘healing traditions of indigenous cultures’ really float her boat. Thank God she didn’t tell me I was creating my own reality because I might well have thrown the plate of chocolate digestives at her. Sometimes there’s only so much of this ‘evolving consciousness’ stuff one can take. Anyway….she made me a nice mug of Earl Grey Tea and her Siamese cat Biggles sat on my lap. “This too will pass Honey” she said with her big sweet smile. How does she know this stuff about me? I was doing my best to appear really contented because as Tanbo (boyfriend) frequently points out I am not living in a shack in the ‘developing’ world and have access to clean water and electricity and pleasant enough food…including Starbars. The great thing about Astrid is she doesn’t mind when I get pissed off.
She just accepts people as they are.

Gotta go because reception has just rung to say there’s an author skulking around wanting to know why their manuscript ‘isn’t suitable for our list’. She’s told them no-one is available for comment but they are now attempting to get into the lift. Will have to head them off somehow. Yikes.

Byeeee

Honey

Some hours later

Took marauding author out for quick cappuccino. Highly unprofessional but he is very attractive and American. Roderick told him to “drop by sometime” when they met in Manhattan. He has just written a book of poems called ‘The Quiet Fig’. I doubt that Roderick knew of these impending stanzas when they met in NYC…seems they share an interest in motorbikes. I told him that if and when he actually meets Roderick again he should not mention ‘The Quiet Fig’ or the letter (he just signs them anyway) or the ‘list’ which is rarely explained to anyone and is basically a secular mystery. I added that we do not publish poetry anyway and briskly suggested that he buy the Writers’ and Artists’ Handbook.

I wanted to make a quick exit before he suggested that I read ‘The Quiet Fig’ but suddenly we were talking about 2012 and the Mayan calendar and various prophecies which, to be honest, take quite a bit of getting used to. Scott, that’s his name, also believes the world is undergoing some vast transformation. He has actually studied quantum physics and the mating habits of hummingbirds and lived in the Amazon jungle for five months as a volunteer teacher. (He speaks fluent Spanish.) We both adore Frazier and antique fabrics and E.M. Forster. We discovered all this about each other in 21 minutes. Suddenly I knew he had to meet my pal Astrid. She’d love him. When I said this he said he was going back to New York tomorrow. In just twenty four hours.

I tried to feel grateful that I had met this wonderful creature…he resembles a gazelle in some way…which sounds stupid I know…but it’s true. But, as Tanbo would certainly point out, gratitude is on my improvement list. He is wonderful at pointing out all the things that I need to work on and I don’t even feel grateful for his judicious mentoring. He would also almost certainly say that the sudden attraction I felt for Scott was, in fact, a projection. That I was seeing qualities in him I didn’t fully own in myself. Tanbo can make relationships sound like macrame. It’s one of his many talents. He also makes really delicious bread.

So Scott and I parted, like ships in the night and I’m back home and feeling guilty. Because Tanbo is my soul mate. That’s what he says anyway and he knows about that kind of thing. He follows his ‘intuitive wisdom’. He even gave a workshop about it. He knows what he wants and how to get it. But Scott is bewildered…a little lost even…uncertain. He’s all done sorts of great things but he doesn’t even seem to know he’s done them. He feels like a “schmuck”. That’s what he said before he left. A fake. A cheerful desperado. I loved it when he said that. I don’t know why. And now he’s gone and it shouldn’t matter, but it does. And I will probably never understand why. What it meant. What it reminded me of. By next week he’ll be an anecdote.

But I know I’ll never think of figs in the same way again.

Love,

Honey

14th July 2009

My name is Honey Morenzo and I’ve been asked to occasionally contribute to this website. I’m not getting paid for my contributions but I hope that it will give me some practice in writing stuff.
There are two teddies on my desk….actually it’s not a ‘desk’ as such…it’s a large table…and both of them (the teddies) are staring at me hopefully. One of them is wearing an Aran jumper. I already feel a little tired after typing these words. Perhaps I should take a little break and have one of those creamy biscuits I put in the freezer. I hoped they would take time to thaw and therefore be unavailable for immediate consumption, but they don’t seem to freeze for some reason. I will have pea soup for lunch.

The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.

Back at laptop after having watched Oprah Winfrey during lunch. She was talking about American Country Music. There were lots of cheery people singing sad songs.

This writing lark takes practice. I recently went to a creative writing course and was all ooomphed up about it for a while. Bought a new pen and swanky notepad and put on blue scarf. Tried to ‘woo’ my creative side with cappuccinos and mild flirtations with Italian waiters.

Am I finding my authentic voice? The teacher said that’s what we had to do. She also said cherish the details and less can be more. She falls in love with her characters sometimes. I’m hoping that, as I type this, some gorgeous sensitive hunk is going to introduce himself to me. I will not make him a yoga teacher. Been there done that wanted to take off the t-shirt. It happened in Greece.

I really miss not having a cat.

Need to take rest from writing now. I am clearly not in the ‘zone’. Also need to handwash bra…

Later

Another thing she said…the teacher…was that we should introduce characters at an interesting juncture in their lives.

Juncture is an interesting word. It’s not something one says very often is it? Tad…that’s another word I like. They use it in upmarket American sitcoms. And chiaroscuro. Must look that one up.

I know loads of eager people who say that a new paradigm of consciousness is emerging on the planet. I go to workshops. I discuss that kind of thing. I meditated this morning and stared at a candle.

Think I may go and get another biscuit.

I am nearly forty. I have an imaginary home in Provence with hens, lavender, a horse, large cream cups and sunflowers. Typing this has meant I have missed Wogan’s Total Recall. Have just received an email from someone wanting to sell me replica watches.

Tried to Google my first love yesterday but I don’t think he is an Engineer in Texas…a male escort or a someone who’s really keen on low carbon emissions. His name was listed many times, but not him. Perhaps it’s just as well. Don’t know what I’d say to him anyway. And meeting him again wouldn’t please Tanbo. That is the unlikely name of my occasional boyfriend. We met in Argos. If I hadn’t wanted a swanky new kettle I would never have known he existed. The main thing we have in common is the belief that the world us undergoing some vast sort of transformation. He’s into quantum physics and bakes large quantities of bread which he sells as markets. Before the recession he was in marketing. He sometimes camps in the wilds and chants in Sanskrit. And he’s big into ‘orbs’.

One of these days I’m going to have to tell him to do something about his nose hair.

To be whole let yourself be partial. Wise person said this. Must look up quote on Google for attribution.

I work for a publishing company.. It sounds interesting but it isn’t. I’m an assistant to Roderick Organza Treadmull who keeps getting me to type letters to poor authors telling them their book isn’t ’suitable for our list’. I sometimes dab a bit of aromatherapy oil on this bleak correspondence. Occasionally I add a little x after his signature too. Roderick really put me off writing for ages. Somehow he found out that I was doing a creative writing course and said he’d “love” to look at my scribblings. He has a bit of a wandering eye does Roderick. He arrives in the office in his leather motorbike gear and puts on the Pet Shop Boys at full volume.
He doesn’t know I know his middle name.

Must go ‘cos Tanbo is at the door to take me to a meeting about dolphin communication.

Love,

Honey

Yesterday I went to Dun Laoghaire Co. Dublin with a friend. It’s by the sea and we walked to a part of the pier where seals often gather but they weren’t there…they probably prefer to hang around when the small fish shop in that particular location is open. Maybe they get leftovers or something. Savvy seals! Then we walked to a shop that has a most beautiful array of tropical fish and admired them with awe. Those colours! Those shapes! Such beauty. I would love to keep some ‘neon tetras’ sometime. They are mentioned in my novel ‘Wise Follies’. Had a lovely creamy cappuccino streetside afterwards. The cafe was ‘delicious’. Jazzy type music. Reminded me of California days though it did not smell of cinnamon…an aroma that was highly favoured in the Bay Area. Went to the film ‘Coco Before Chanel’ later. Very nice.

Lots of love,

Grace

P.S.
From R. Griffith on Amazon called ‘Chick Lit With Depth’: ‘I have now read all of GWJ’s books and have been utterly impressed by every single one. I had never heard of her before I spotted one in my local market town shop and bought it on impulse. As with all chick lit (and all genres, let’s face it) there is always a formula somewhere but she writes with such feeling and insight…Certain elements crop up in all her books (windsurfing, budgies, biscuits and hands being just a few) but they flow beautifully, the settings are eloquent and the characters richly realised. Relationships are explored with genuine depth and humour and even if you’re not a fan of love winning out in the end you really wish you were….These will remain on my book shelf and I will send them to others as newly purchased presents. Beautiful and more please. ‘

Ordinary Miracles review: ‘She has an assured style and a wonderful insight into the separated lady’s lot…I couldn’t put it down. I literally read it from cover to cover.’ Muriel Bolger, ‘No Jacket Required’ RTE Radio One

Have joined Twitter. Didn’t think I would but I want to find out more about social media since it is clearly…well…very modern and that sort of thing.

Spent the weekend in a lovely old country house. I was on a Shamanic training course. The house reminded me of my childhood home. I often really miss the leafy eager secluded days I spent as a little girl in a rambling rectory with big grounds in County Limerick. The river and big lush fields that became as familiar to me as friends. I remember staring at a part of the river where stones gathered and formed a sweet small waterfall…sitting by it…putting my feet in the water…the cold clean splashy feel of it. Memorising the shapes and textures of the day. Wonder if I would have known that river as well if I had owned a laptop and had broadband.

Heard a wonderful interview with Leonard Cohen on the radio this morning….such wise delicious words.

Lots of love,

Grace

Hi!

I’ve added a new blog to this website. It’s by Honey Morenzo and the icon thingy is at the top of this page. It’s fictional and a bit of fun. Honey herself however takes if fairly seriously. She wants to “get into writing stuff more”. She bought ‘The Artists’ Way’ a month ago.

Lots of love,

Grace

There was a great documentary about the artist David Hockney on the telly last night (BBC2 ‘Imagine’…’A Bigger Picture’). There is something about Hockney that makes me smile. I love his playfulness. His undiminished enthusiasm for creativity. There were many images of him up very early and painting landscapes near Bradford. He is from that area. This was in great contrast to his other home in Los Angeles…he was based there for decades. I regard him as a light-hearted and wise philosopher as well as a brilliant artist. There is something about him that is simply cheery. He’s an appreciator.

Many years ago, when I worked in a publishing house in London, I sometimes used to hear Hockney’s voice as I climbed the building’s many stairs. He had done a very long interview for a book and someone in the building was transcribing the tape recording. Since I was often a bit late for work back then…the building was in Bloomsbury and I lived near Wimbledon tennis courts…I didn’t dally to hear what he was saying.

I have one of his large books in my bookcase. He reminds me that I want to do more painting. I adore colour. His portraits contain deep affection and knowing. And his paintings of dachshunds are adorable. He finds great inspiration in nature. Thank you BBC for a great programme!

Lots of love,

Grace

Like millions of others around the world I am very saddened by the death of Michael Jackson. He was such a complex genius. I wish him harmony, and much more. I adore the sweet soaring notes of ‘Human Nature’. His luminous music lives on.

Lots of love,

Grace

Hi Folks,

I recently asked Elaine O’Connor, manager of Eason’s in O’Connell Street, Limerick, to suggest some great summer reads. Here are the titles she suggests:

The Hour I First Believed- Wally Lamb
American Wife- Curtis Sittenfeld
A Fraction Of The Whole-Steve Toltz
The Believers- Zoe Heller
Breath- Tim Winton

Love,

Grace

It is very warm here today. It was warm yesterday too. After I’d sent off an article I went for a walk later on in the day. The sea looked deep blue and sparkly. I bought strawberries at a shop stall.

My duvet is out in the sunshine getting an airing. When I was an au pair in Switzerland many years ago we hung our duvets out the window every day to sweeten in the sun. Last Saturday at a frolicsome little Italian shop/cafe in Bray one of the patrons…a chef from another Italian restaurant…let me sample one of the deeply delicious biscuits he was clearly savouring. When they are back in stock I want to buy them. They are a ‘find’. And so was the pink jumper, and soft cardigan I found in a charity shop yesterday. Two for the price of one! A bargain.

I loved a documentary on BBC television last night. In it Sheila Hancock shared some of poems she loves. I particularly loved
‘Try To Praise The Mutilated World’ by Adam Zagajewski

It includes the lines

You gathered acorns in the park in autumn
and leaves eddied over the earth’s scars.
Praise the mutilated world
and the grey feather a thrush lost,
and the gentle light that strays and vanishes
and returns.

(From Without End, published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux)

Lots of love,

Grace