5 Questions with Carlene O’ Connor

Today, I am sharing Carlene O’Connor’s Answers to 5 Questions. Ms. O’ Connor is the author of Murder in an Irish Village. It is the first story in a new Cozy Mystery Series. You can read our 5 star review of the book here.

About The Author:

Carlene O’Connor comes from a long line of Irish storytellers, or professional liars as she prefers to call herself. Her great grandmother emigrated from Ireland to America during The Troubles, and the stories have been flowing ever since. She has dual citizenship and divides her time between New York and the Emerald Isle. Of all the places across the pond she’s wandered, she fell most in love with a walled town in County Limerick and was inspired by the town to create Kilbane, County Cork.

Author Links: Webpage / Facebook / Blog

To start with can you tell us a little about yourself and the project we are seeing today?

I am participating today to spread the news about my new release, Murder in an Irish Village. It’s the first in cozy mystery series set in Ireland. The central sleuth is 22-year-old Siobhán O’Sullivan who takes care of her five siblings (the O’Sullivan Six) while running the family bistro. When a man is found murdered in their establishment and her brother is accused of doing the deed, Siobhán must step in and find the true killer before it’s too late.

What does it mean to you to be called an author?

Carlene- It means that I am doing what I love for a living, but also working very hard at it. It means there are a lot of people who think all authors are on book tours and featured prominently in airports, and on the bestseller lists, when in truth there are a lot of us toiling away under the radar, creating and publishing stories, just making our living without a lot of fanfare. That doesn’t mean I don’t appreciate it, but as someone who also teaches creative writing to adults, I can always see that “I want to be a bestselling novelist” gleam in their eye. That’s just the fantasy part, as a writer I spend ninety percent of my time in the reality of the day to day. I love that too by the way, especially working in my pajamas quite often, but it’s quite different than what a lot of people imagine.

Lian- Wow! Your viewpoint is extremely interesting. I really like that you point out the reality. I love asking people what their jobs mean to them because the answers are almost always different than the way the job is perceived by the general public.

What advice do you have for new authors, like me?

Keep writing. Practice, practice, practice. Stay passionate. Read. Never give up. Embrace that writing is rewriting. You won’t start out good at it. But if you keep up, keep writing and rewriting, you will get better.

Is it weird that I hear Dory (from Finding Nemo) singing “Just keep Writing?” That is good advice, because it is easy to give up and think it s too hard.

What is the first book that you remember reading?

Green Eggs and Ham by Dr. Seuss.

Awesome! My first book is by that author also, only under the pen name Theodore Geisel, The Eye Book.

If you could have lunch with 3 authors (past and present) who would they be and what do you think you would all talk about during lunch?

Colum McCann I’d have to tell him how the opening of Let the Great World Spin chokes me up every time I read it.

Herman Hesse. I’d have to tell him that I absolutely loved his book of essays. That he’d written them so vividly I still have the memories of them to this day. That I felt he was a kindred spirit and I was sorry we’d never met.

Robert Kirkman, Walking Dead I would probably spend the entire lunch saying “Thank you, thank you, thank you,” and please don’t kill off anymore characters that I love.

YES! None more killing off characters!
What is an underrated book, series or author that you think everyone should read?

Mary Carter. Okay I’m being a little cheeky here because that’s my real name and I have published ten novels under that name. The next one – Home With My Sisters– comes out next fall. I also get excited about all the students in my writing class and their wonderful stories, and I hope to see some of them published someday. As I’m going through my head of recent books I’ve loved, I have to say that all the authors are pretty well known. Great stories usually rise to the top.

I think it is great to talk about your work and good luck with the newest release.

Thanks so much to Carlene O’ Connor for talking with me. You can purchase Murder in an Irish Village at Amazon and other book retailers