Ive just finished Killing Eve Series 3: great parts for female character actors there arent enough of them. Im now re-watching The Bridge. Coffee. I need space, peace, a gently guided focus to allow the imagination to fly. Im a great believer in canine therapy. Pure selfish. After watching it the first time I ended up in tears and Im looking forward to it again. My professional debut as an actor was playing the protagonist Ann Elizabeth McGlone from No Mate for the Magpie by the late, great Frances Molloy. Ted makes me very happy. I can see Harland & Wolffs two yellow cranes and Stormont in the distance. Read every day. Lol sorry Ingo, we have to downsize the golden ratio. (I stole that last bit from Bob Dylan. Golbeck is a computer scientist researching online wellbeing and the effect dogs can have on human experience. I love cinema as much as books: Brief Encounter, Singin in the Rain, Some Like It Hot, post-war French cinema like Louis Malles LAscenseur with its glorious Miles Davis soundtrack and the output of courageous Italian neo-Realists who started a cinematic movement with practically nothing but huge energy and imagination. Its often one of the dogs.

I write slowly. I grew up reciting a lot of poetry, Heaney and Yeats especially, and Heaney first editions were a feature of my childhood brought home by my parents who passed them on to us. Best advice for writers?Be brave. It came down to you or voodoo, but at least he knows what room he supposed to eat in!, I tell you what. And endurance: keep on keeping on. Ill also check the bird feeders. Im a sociable introvert. I like to read short stories in the morning, when Ive more energy for the attention the form demands, and save the novel-reading for the stretch of evening. You're BeeWees!" Specifically, one poem for tough times is Derek Mahons Everything is going to be All Right: I too look out from a dormer window here and derive great comfort and renewed resolve from The poems flow from the hand unbidden/and the hidden source is the watchful heart.. At my home desk, theres always a dog or two nearby. Time for a break? And go back to the desk What are you reading/watching these days? but they don't listen. Write every day. Alsation pup decided to rearrange his face. Then theres the plate of beautiful polished stones brought from Brazil by close friends I love them and always keep them beside me. Your subscription allows access for one user. Free access is provided to the 8 hour timeframe for this page. We can take him off your hands for a bit. Before Cusk I read several stunning Jon McGregor novels. 2 is screaming at me. Id recommend The Golden Ratio dogs in all their online forms to anyone feeling the stress of lockdown and/or Covid. Coffee. Heaney steadies the ship, always. When editing, in contrast, isolation can be a drawback because I often break away from the desk, head in a flurry, desperate for a wee chat with somebody, anybody. Or a track Ive just discovered, obsess about and play on a loop. And make more coffee. I grab my battered pair of gardening gloves and weed until the cardboard box I keep especially for this purpose is full. Stories, short and long. So yeah, steal good stuff and make it work for you. Or I text some friends working at home to distract them. ), Seamus Heaney Centre University Road, Belfast BT7 1NN. Finally, one very special favourite is The Golden Ratio Podcast featuring Professor Jen Golbeck, her husband Ingo Burghardt and their five golden retrievers. On balance, it helps. Waffles and Ladybug have been clamoring for a GR DAD & I keep saying "But you're not GRs! What might you revisit in times of crisis or uncertainty?I revisit pieces that made me happy back in the day when I first met them. All life affirming stuff! When Ive had my social fix, isolation is welcome again. Youre doing okay. Now every time I look up from the screen Teds face cheers me on and Im a playful, happy kid again. Its usually either Miles or Mozart when it comes to music. As well as the usual books and literary shows The Stinging Fly podcast, Backlisted, BBC Bookclub I avidly follow a range of American political podcasts as well as the BBCs Americast essential for any Emily Maitlis fan. If you require access for more users, you can create additional subscriptions. If the weather is kind I hit the garden for a while and do a few jobs. I also love podcasts. Shut out the naysayers. Over there on the desk is my favourite childhood teddy bear, a precious possession since babyhood gifted to me by my favourite uncle. Shes a writer Ive wanted to read for a long time and Im delighted to get to her at last. The book is such a thing of wonder and beauty and sadness and laughter that every time I read it I collapse with joy and give thanks that Im alive to re-read it. Years ago he had to have reconstructive surgery in the Dublin Dolls Hospital when our zealous (or jealous?) The surgeons did a great restoration job. At the Belfast desk, in the attic, facing the window, near the top of the trees, next stop the sky I also have a desk in North Antrim where curious cows peer at me over the hedge. Another great female protagonist. Read Sheila's full Writers' Rooms interview here Where are you? This account is already logged in to Trendsmap. What are you working on?

Its a great feeling, a good place for a writer to be. Whats that sound?Rain thumping off the roof, my little dog Dusty snoring on the sofa behind me, and Miles DavisKind of Blue. Like Teds benign presence, its a timeless, optimistic rallying cry for writers, artists everywhere. Like a trial or a foster home while you figure out what your staffing needs are gonna be.

I listen to the writing and social values of those periods. Highly recommended. Im reading Rachel Cusk, the first of her trilogy Outline. I had the happiest of times playing that part and spending time with Frances. Radio was a big deal back in the day and Im fascinated by that. The 2020 lockdown will forever be associated with Badly Drawn Boys All Possibilities from 2002. Whats that over there?Out the window is the city of Belfast, resplendently laid out between her rolling Antrim and Down hills. I adore quality TV drama and bless the day TV-on-demand was born. Novel No. When writing, isolation is definitely preferable. Then more coffee and later perhaps something thats been waiting on ice if its the weekend or, alleluia, I sense theres a breakthrough on the page and I cant wait to get back to the desk next day and this calls for a mini-celebration Im also a great believer in short changes of scene, maybe a walk or another wee chat with someone. How does isolation help or hinder you? And Ill be returning imminently to a couple of drafted research articles on novelist Janet McNeill. I scour BBC Sounds for 1940s-1950s-1960s radio dramas and sitcoms. Me being me, I will read the entire trilogy so Transit and Kudos are next.