Today we are lucky to have author Gerry McCullough to the blog! We all have dreams during this time of the year that seem a bit more. . . MAGICAL!
Be sure to leave a comment at the end of the post to be entered into winning an ebook copy of Gerry's mystery novel, Angel in Flight! The winner will be posted at the end of tomorrow guest blog post.
Christmas Dreams and Secrets.
Do you remember really longing for some special Christmas present?
And knowing that your mother had some things hidden in her bedroom, which you
weren’t meant to know about?
One year, when I was about ten, I longed for a pair of stilts –
don’t ask me why, now! But at that time, it was the dream of my heart. I think
maybe I planned to join the circus. Hard to remember. So one day, not long
before Christmas, when my mother was busy downstairs, I went and poked about in
my mother’s and father’s wardrobe. There were two long objects wrapped in
Christmas paper behind the shoes and other objects on the wardrobe floor.
Oh, joy! It must be my stilts!
But come Christmas morning, lots of nice presents, but no stilts. I
couldn’t believe it.
Then I realized that my two older sisters had each been given an
umbrella. So that must be what the long
objects were! Sooo boring, but they seemed pleased.
So much for my stilts! With hindsight, they might not have been such
a great present. I would probably have fallen all over the place in them.
Much later, as a mother myself, I was the one who did the hiding of
presents. And one year, my youngest daughter, aged around three, must have done
some poking about in turn. Her granny had bought her some pyjamas, as well as
some toys. One evening, she disappeared upstairs, and then came down, saying
she was ready for bed – wearing the pyjamas! I really think she believed we
wouldn’t notice. How the times go round!
Then, one special year, when I was fourteen, I got a present I’d
longed for for years. It was a portable typewriter. As an intended author, I
was, for the first time, in a position to type up my stories and send them to
publishers in the required format, instead of sending a handwritten version.
(I’d had a very kind letter from one publisher, returning my manuscript, which
said that they really couldn’t undertake to read handwritten books. And I’d
thought I’d written it out so neatly, too!).
I couldn’t believe it. A typewriter! All my dreams were about to
come true – I would be a published author!
Alas, it was quite a few years later before this really happened,
and by then my sweet little portable was long gone and I was writing on a
computer. First one, then many others, of my short stories were published. One
story, Primroses, actually won an
important literary competition. Others were short-listed, were runner-ups, or
won less prestigious competitions. Then came my first published full length
novel, Belfast Girls, published by
Night Publishing; followed by Danger
Danger; Angel in Flight: An Angel
Murphy Thriller (First of Series); a collections of short stories called The Seanachie; and a YA Time Travel
Adventure, Lady Molly & The Snapper.
I’m currently working on the second Angel thriller, Angel in Belfast, which should be out in the New Year.
So Christmas dreams really can
come true, and the secrets can really bring all the happiness you longed for
and dreamed about – provided you actually do keep on hoping!
WHAT IS SOMETHING YOU DREAMED ABOUT RECEIVING? DID YOU GET IT?
BE SURE TO CHECK OUT GERRY'S BOOKS!
Belfast Girls:
Danger Danger:
Angel in Flight:
The Seanachie: Tales of Old Seamus:
Lady Molly & The Snapper: A YA Time
Travel Adventure set in Ireland and on the High Seas:
