Orna Ross

WB Yeats And His Family Have Lunch

Orna Ross — Sun, 05 May 2013 20:19:59 +0000

Here’s a sneak peak of the book I’m working on now, The Pilgrim Soul. It’s the first in a trilogy about love and loss, based around the lives of the poet, WB Yeats, and the mother and daughter he loved, Maud and Iseult Gonne. The time is Christmas Day, 1893 and WB, or Willie as [...]

How Can I Be Happy When Bad Things Happen?

Orna Ross — Sun, 28 Apr 2013 07:59:46 +0000

This post offers an answer to that question. I call it Creative Acceptance and it works better for me when adversity strikes than any of the coping strategies outlined last time. The idea is simple. Instead of resisting and railing against adversity, we allow it to deliver us into the present moment by completely accepting what [...]

Living in Lemony Land

Orna Ross — Sun, 14 Apr 2013 17:57:16 +0000

THIS WEEK ON THE BLOGS: On the Go Creative! Blog: I’m talking about The Seven Stages of the Creative Process There’s a post on How to invite Insights And Kira is posting her accountancy certificates back to make sure her boats are well and truly burned. On The Self-Publishing Advice Blog: There’s our usual Member Update A post on eight things an indie [...]

St Patrick’s Night 2013

Orna Ross — Sun, 17 Mar 2013 11:55:33 +0000

~ Biddy’s man, Mick, is home early, She heard him fall in. Now he’s lying, face down, in the hall. On she sits, in her room made for sitting, fingers wrapped round the remote. Bid long ago quit getting Michael back onto his feet. While they’re playing the ads, she untwists the cap for one last little splash of [...]

Mother’s Day or Mothering Day?

Orna Ross — Sun, 10 Mar 2013 09:00:11 +0000

It’s Mothering Sunday in the UK, the fourth Sunday in Lent. On this side of the Atlantic, the celebration arises out of a Christian tradition. This is the day each year, Laetare Sunday, when people used to return to their “mother church”, the main church or cathedral in their area, for a special service. To do this [...]

Hilary Mantel & Kate Middleton

Orna Ross — Sun, 24 Feb 2013 12:47:37 +0000

I broke my arm on holiday — and lots of other personals have taken over time during the past weeks — including a burglar who made off with my computer and work I hadn’t backed up. So I’m just tuning in today to explain that I’m on an enforced go slow, which is why you [...]

Goodbye to Blue Mercy

Orna Ross — Sun, 03 Feb 2013 13:12:23 +0000

I’ve been doing my last ever read through of BLUE MERCY as I finalise it for the print-on-demand (POD) edition of the book. While doing so, I’ve been enjoying the reconnection with two of its major inspirations. One was a place — Laragh in County Wicklow, Ireland – and the other a poem: “St Kevin and [...]

Three Orna Ross Novels in Amazon Top Five

Orna Ross — Sun, 06 Jan 2013 16:39:45 +0000

Happy New Year! I wanted to say a huge , huge “Thank You!” if you bought one of my ebooks over the Reading Season (AKA Christmas holidays). You’ve helped to put the three novels into Amazon’s Top 5 in the British and Irish fiction, drama category. Yes, all three of them! At the moment, Blue Mercy [...]

Happy Holidays!

Orna Ross — Mon, 24 Dec 2012 09:00:00 +0000

I hope you're enjoying a special and happy time over these days. Here is a seasonal poem for you, based on an old Irish mid-winter blessing, that sends you all good wishes. Thank you, as always, for reading -- and wishing you and yours the very best for 2013.

Read A Poem A Day

Orna Ross — Sun, 23 Dec 2012 14:56:01 +0000

A poem a day is my prescription for a good life. Everyday language is, as Flaubert once said, “a cracked kettle on which we tap crude rhythms for bears to dance to — while we long to make music that will melt the stars”. Poetry makes of language that melting kind of music. This is [...]