Jane Gilheaney, Author & Writing Coach

December, the quiet month in nature.
Muted amber, dripping grey.
Stillness mesmerising,
Natures sculpture on display.

Here's a cool thing about writing. Until you begin it you really don't know what your style is and what kind of writer you'll be but whatever it is is already in you just waiting to be set free! There is a lot you don't know about yourself until you start writing/creating and it shows up quickly if you let it. Do you know what kind of writer you are yet? 🪄✨

Greetings, a chairde. Happy December to you all. I'm back from the writing trenches with another draft of my dark historical fantasy novel BANSHEE. The odyssey continues and I'll be going back for yet another draft in the new year. Hopefully the last one... but could be the second to last one. 🤔😂
No wonder I write short, fast poems!
As much as I'd love to speed up the process I believe it's the best work I've done to date. It's satisfying to feel I'm progressing on a craft level which for me is more important.

In other news...

I have a few places left on my Nollaig na mBan (Women's Christmas) VISION BOARD WORKSHOP at the house on January 6th so drop me an email [email protected] if you'd like to book a place or if you have any questions. I'll share the event link in comments.

SAVE THE DATE... I'm still finalising details of my women's WRITING RETREAT IN PORTO, PORTUGAL August 2nd to 5th, 2024 and I'm delighted to announce the inclusion of an art element as artist Kato Ivannikova will be hosting a workshop en plein air with our group on the Sunday. You can check out her beautiful work on Instagram .ivannikova 💫

That's all for now folks, from me and my little car in the wilds of lovely Leitrim.
With Love,
Jane. 🍃

Happy Saturday, friends, checking in. Still in deep writing and editing mode here in lovely Leitrim. Just taking a tiny breather for the weekend. Truth be told, it could not be going better. Hope you’re all well? xo Jane. 🙌

P.S. My last newsletter of the year goes out this week so if you're on my list keep an eye out for that rarity. 🙂

Back Soon...⚡️🔥

Happy Sunday, from Ireland's north west. I started my day with a guided meditation in bed and the sound of the rain pouring down before coffee and chats with my girls. They're spending the day with their Dad so I'm spending mine working on the novel. 🪄💫✍️

Later I'll go for a walk, get the fire prepared and sticks in before dark. I'll call to Mum and Dad, see how they're doing, and then if I'm able I'll go back to the book. If not I'll do other things to support the work, reading, housework, plotting the week. I've trained myself to see everything as supporting the work - a helpful practice for creative angst. And I'll be ready to pick up again in the morning.

I've been getting up early to write again. There is just something about that time when the rest of the world is sleeping. It's a different level of quiet. And I don't even mind the dark.

There is no doubt being organised helps if you're going to write, but when you are in the zone it has to all take a back seat. And when this happens, and the dishes are up to the ceiling, remind yourself that the zone is a beautiful hard won place.... and try to remember to eat. ☺

With Love, Jane. ♥️

Yes.

A candle for my niece Rowan who is in surgery this morning and for her mother, my sister Brenda. Please send thoughts of healing energy and love their way, they have been through such a lot. Thank you friends. ♥️

I woke to night and pouring rain,
like a bulb lying deep in the earth,
like a flower in a very dark painting.
I rose and put away my summer dress,
and wrote until my fingers burned.
About a life that's unmoored to the world,
and turned my cheek to winters dark caress.

Good morning from the moor of the Iron, Leitrim in Ireland's north west. We are firmly back in the dark since the time change. I can't say I am thrilled about this but it does spark the odd poem. I've been feeling very creatively inspired, energised and excited about many things so I can't complain.

For starters I'm very immersed in the novel, getting deep work done. Even days when I can't spend a lot of time it is 'easier' to go in and out, to stay present and connected with it.

My editor Stephen Black on twitter said the book resembled a stone skipping across a vast lake, and that to do it justice I should immerse myself farther and explore its dark and dangerous depths...
He said BANSHEE is 'a languid bath, not a quick shower.' 🙂
Forever grateful to Stephen for taking me under his expert wing. Life events had taken their toll, had slowed the pace of this and subsequent books but I am back and full of creative fire now. Perhaps more than ever...

Let me tell you about 3 events coming in 2024...

In May I'll be hosting a one day WOMEN'S RETREAT in Leitrim. THE WAY OF THE CAILLEACH... Just writing those words thrills my spirit. Do you feel it too? Think deep immersion in the landscape and expression of it through writing and art. More soon...

Following a one year hiatus my annual VISION BOARD WORKSHOP for Nollaig na mBan, Women's Christmas is back! I'll share the event link again in comments. I have a gorgeous new format and can't wait to welcome you. 🙂

My first RETREAT for women writers in PORTO takes place from August 2nd to 4th. I dreamed of doing this and it's coming together, as are all these events, in the most organic pure way, it's a joy. I'll link another post about this in comments. The event page will be LIVE soon!

If you could join me for one of these which would you choose?

That's the latest from me, Fb will penalise me hard for this post so if you see it please throw a like, comments, shares, all welcome and good, thank you friends. 🙂

Wishing you all an inspiring, creative week. I'll leave you with a song I'm loving lately... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gxclVew-sN0

xo Jane Gilheaney, Author & Writing Coach

Sadhbh’s moon… 🌙 By Alan Mc Grath Sculpture 💫

With thanks to Bruised But Not Broken page

Excerpt from 'A Sparrow Stirs it's Wings' ~ Healing from Sexual Violence °•♡*

Hello November, from me, the house and the beech tree. A beautiful day is a powerful poem for the start of our winter and here is another... 🔥

BADHBH.
You heard I knit tiny black hearts
with woven hair from dog and goat.
I hang hag stones on fawn coloured strings of leather
so I can unsee cloudy stormy weather.
A life they say blending threads with wood and rock and sea, battle fields for company.
Returning recipes and signs where only crow will fly,
hiding the who, burying the why.
Fairy elders riding on my back firing ash arrows,
under feathered hoods we soar over midnight woods.
Sunrise gleaming sorrowful awakening
for some who open the letters of double vowels
Screeching death in illuminating caws and howls.
Fear me. Adore me. Scorn me.
Wrap me. Bleed me.Need me.
Twisting tongue fire, pierce my evil eye,
by my side on winter nights you long to lie. ~ by Yvonne Brewer Y's Words 🔥🔥🔥

Badhbh is my favourite poem from Yvonne's latest poetry collection The Woman Who Talked to Stones: Poems of Stone and Bone. And as I wrote in my review I found the themes so powerful and her weaving of them so beautiful in this moving collection on the connection between women's stories and the landscape, of memory in the stones. Something I think a lot of us feel but can't always articulate. I'll share the link in comments. Yvonne, please keep writing and never stop!

You can support a fellow poet, woman and writer by purchasing and reviewing her book AND/OR you could help her reach 1000 followers on her author page Y's Words All these actions help Yvonne continue her valuable work and find new readers. Thank you dear friends.

xo Jane

November is a pale bride,
under the bones of silent trees,
treading a carpet of fallen leaves,
her veil a Miss Havisham sky.


Words & Art by Jane Gilheaney 💫

November is a pale bride,
under the bones of silent trees,
treading a carpet of faded leaves,
her veil a Miss Havisham sky.

Over the lane her passionless march,
she rattles the stone cold stream.
Up to the house and knocks at the door,
her dress with frost agleam.

Staring in at the windowpane,
misting and sleeting the glass.
But her day is as short as a lovers dream,
Dark days too shall pass.

Jane Gilheaney, Author of Cailleach~Witch.

My new poem and art to welcome November. 🪄💫🍁🔥🍂

Don't forget, if you subscribe to my mailing list you should have received your complementary copy of my ghost tales book by now (it went out a few days ago) so be sure to check your mail... 💌♥️

So you think you know about Samhain/Halloween?

Ancient Irish people depended on light for survival, to grow food, to move around. To see the light decline was frightening. What if it never returned? For Christian Ireland the fear was a different one, meeting the dead.

When my mother Nora Fox was a child, All Hallow's Eve was the night they celebrated the division of the year between the light half and the dark half. For people who were used to simple food all year, the whole month of October was filled with thoughts of and preparation for the great feast that would take place through midnight. We can scarcely now imagine that excitement.

Apples, nuts and berries, collected all autumn, were turned into jams and cakes that had been stored in preparation. All day on the eve of Samhain the mothers and grandmothers would be busy making toffee apples, boxty (potato) dumplings and potato cakes. Sloe or apple wine stored in the rick of hay a month before would be brought in for the table.

In the early evening the games would begin and the bonfire lit, they didn’t know it at the time but this was an ancient symbol of man’s attempt to assist the weakening sun across the skies. The children went bobbing for apples and coins, played games like blind mans buff and danced around the bonfire. But no child would be left alone, and no one, adult or child, would be out if it happened to be a moonless night.

Aside from the great feast of food it was also now the feast of saints and so very important to the religious, christian people of the time. All thoughts would be for local people who had died. The belief was that this was the one night of the year that the souls could wander the earth, and would.

'For people in 1940’s Ireland before electricity autumn was a golden time with a kind of magical light you wouldn’t find any other time of the year. But once winter came, the dark and decay of the season was all consuming, and more deeply felt for people who lived only by candlelight.' Stories was how they coped, dark stories in particular.

My mother remembers going to 'wakes' in the Irish tradition of ‘waking’ the dead, where family and friends sit with the deceased for a time before removal and burial, to celebrate the life, tell stories, say prayers and mourn together.

In the dark lanes she went, holding her mothers hand as tight as she could. In the house, that was dark too, the body of this person you knew was laid out. Dark houses, dark lanes, and then home in the dark again. 'At every age you knew the people as they lived, you saw them in death, and you spent a great part of the year in darkness. So you had no problem imagining ghosts. Everyone believed it.' It was a combination of fervent religion, ancient custom and the reality of life.

'When the feast of All Hallows Eve had ended, the table was reset and another feast laid on all night for the wandering souls.'

One, less poetic tradition, was leaving a hollowed out turnip with a carved face and lit candle at a place where someone reported to have seen a ghost. This was done purely to scare people, a trick of sorts. And is the origin of the Halloween pumpkin.

By the 70’s and 80’s when my sisters and brother and I were children, Halloween was a magical night because Mum made it so. She worked hard all day making delicious things, like her boxty and apple cake. We too had bonfires, played Blind Man's Buff and went bobbing for apples and coin. And we too enjoyed the feast, moved now to the 31st instead of the eve and ending well before midnight. We also dressed up and went trick or treating, not done in my parents time but adapted from an earlier time, when people dressed their children for protection from bad spirits.

The feeling of magic was strong around the bonfire and as darkness fell, walking the lane we felt there could be ghosts about. It was a little scary, but we felt perhaps much like the ancient Irish, protected by our costumes. And we reveled in it all! One thing we didn’t feel was any fear of the dead or meeting anyone who had died. This was a welcome change from my parents childhood, Halloween had become more about fun than fear.

Tonight as children across Ireland, England and America, dress up and go trick or treating few will be aware of its ancient Irish origin and of what it meant to the millions of people who went before them. Those who compare Halloween to devil worship and say it isn’t for christians may leave it back to us if they wish. Back to the land of its birth. Christian or pagan, it was never about the devil. It was always about celebration and survival, about life and death.

From an interview with my mum Nora Fox that originally appeared on the blog in 2013.

Art: Allhallow Eve, Kilkenny, Ireland, 1858 by Edward Fitzpatrick.

Todays costume is this fab 60’s/70’s dress from vintage clothing store in Dublin town…

🙌

If the cloak fits… 🪄💫🔥 Happy Halloween weekend. 🔮

I haunt the mirror... Some wordplay for a wet, dark, rainy evening. 🖤

the house and I, today we hide,
the fog has carried us away.
the outside world has disappeared,
it wasn't real anyway.
to be sure I walked over the cold green,
right to the edge of darkness,
and reaching out my pale hand felt winter's grip in the nothingness.
I'm ready to go in now. 🍂🍁💫

(c) J a n e G i l h e a n e y

Good morning from the northwest of Ireland. 🥀🍁🍂

Alan Mc Grath Sculpture has kindly gifted my daughter Sadhbh with the moon after she fell love with it at the launch of his latest collection recently. Isn’t that just the loveliest thing ever. We can’t get over it. 🥹 Thank you Alan, we will treasure it. 🙏

Today's Energy... Rain soaked and wind swept on the moor of the iron. I’m feeling good as hell this rainy Friday. 🙌🪄💫🔥♥️✨

This week I've been...
MEDITATING - I just completed 30 days of meditation. I started about a year ago and have found it a-ma-zing. It literally changes the 'script' in your head. I use the free Insight Timer App and listen mostly in bed. 😌

# science
READING - Read two astonishing books by local authors recently. ‘The Clainings Tree’ by Gerry Bohan and ‘Cures of Ireland’ by Cecily Gilligan. Highly recommend both. 💫


WORKING on my novel. What's new says you? Banshee is book 2 in my dark historical fantasy series inspired by the landscape, history and folklore of Leitrim during the famine. It's been trying to kill me but I'm not going to let it. 💪


HELPING new and emerging writers with their books. Empowering others in their creativity. I absolutely love this work. I try to be the person I needed when I started writing. For one thing I'd have started sooner and speeded up the process with much less overwhelm and doubt. I also know the powerful difference that writing has made in my life and love to share that wealth with others, so they can tap into it for themselves. 🪄💫✨🔥♥️


DEVELOPING my writing retreat in Portugal - see my last post for more on that excitement. 🥳


ENJOYING making lots of delicious plans for the weeks and months ahead. Workshops, trips, events, gigs, adventures. 😌
MOST LIKELY TO SAY... 'Have you tried meditation? And believe me, I know how that sounds.' 😂

xo Jane

WRITING PROMPT - You can use this template as a way to write something today. Start as I did... 'This week I've been...' then use as many different headings as you like... 🙌

[email protected] for workshops & coaching enquiries. 💫

TODAY’S QUOTE… ‘But always, to her, red and green cabbages were to be jade and burgundy, chrysoprase and prophyry. Life has no weapons against a woman like that.' ~ Edna Ferber 💫

We'll stay by the sea in charming Espinho, just 20 minutes from Porto city centre. With its pristine beaches, shops, restaurants and market we'll have everything we could possibly want or need. But the food alone is worth going for. And light, like champagne luminosity.

Saturday morning we'll come together on the beach with the lovely Raimonda of Yoga with Rai before making the short trip to Wendy's house for a full day of writing and creative deep diving led by yours truly. The beautiful, historic Escola Relva house and gardens have been lovingly restored by the owner, my friend Author Wendy Hermance.

With the days writing done we’ll have dinner in Espinho by the pale blue sparkling sea. We will soar, we will stop time. Already I'm dreaming of Dourada (grilled sea bream) the seas gentle roar, and the coffee, the good talk and wine… 😌

Lots more details to come on my Summer Writing Retreat in Portugal including prices and schedule for other days, but the dates again so you can start the all important dreaming are August 2nd to 5th 2024. I would love to see some of you there.

With Love, Jane.

P.S. No writing experience needed for this retreat. 🪄💫🔥♥️

Images: Escola Relva House & Kitchen, home of Author Wendy Hermance. And Wendy's wonderful memoir, Weird Foods of Portugal, available on Amazon.

Happy Sunday from my writing nook. I'm so happy to announce dates for my 2024 Writing Retreat in Portugal. Taking place from the 2nd to the 5th of August in beautiful Espinho, just outside of Porto. A place close to my heart. More details soon... 🙌

So, what do you think? Is an affordable writing holiday in beautiful surroundings your cup of tea? Would you like to write with me in Portugal?

If you know for certain that you would, want to be the first to hear details and have first option on places then drop me a dm so I can keep you in the loop. 😊

With Love & Excitement,
Jane. 🪄💫🔥🍁♥️

Have you claimed your FREE copy of my book 'Sarah's House & The Canal' yet? Two ghost stories, one fairytale re-telling and a lock of poems. https://linktr.ee/janegilheaney

I can't let October go by without this one. Good morning everyone, happy Friday. It's a beautiful one here in Leitrim, Ireland. 🍁🍂🔥

Help me choose a new profile pic for the Halloween season. Which do you prefer?
Speaking of Halloween if you haven't read my gothic novel yet now is the time... CAILLEACH~WITCH is available on Amazon and is the read for you if you want to be immersed in the mood and mystery of Ireland, the birthplace of Samhain. 🔥🍁💫🌙

Think 'Practical Magic' but Irish with the atmosphere of Daphne du Maurier and the Brontes thrown in. Inspired by the folklore and landscape of the Sliabh an Iarainn mountain in Ireland's north west and set in 90's to 60's Ireland, Cailleach tells the story of a family of sisters and aunts from the mountain whose ancestors made a forever deal with a powerful landscape spirit, the Cailleach…

If you read and enjoy CAILLEACH please consider writing a review on Amazon. Thank you friends.

~ Jane ♥️

A writing spell for your Tuesday, from the moor of the iron. 🪄💫🔥🍁
Dear friends, if you'd like to avail of some in-person magic I have two coaching spots left for writers in November. Your last opportunity to work with me this year. All together now... awww. 😊
If you want to begin or complete your own book/writing journey then write to me [email protected] I'd love to help. ♥️
The offer I have at the moment is one zoom or in-person session + one month of email support for only €99
Payment plan available if needed.
In-person sessions are for Carrick on Shannon only. And this part is important - NO WRITING EXPERIENCE necessary. We don't have that at the start. 🙌
Coaching with me is about lifting you up and empowering you in your unique creativity. It's inspiration, motivation + practical tools towards your writing dreams, your voice, your path. I can't wait to hear from you. xo Jane Gilheaney, Author & Writing Coach EDIT: See my pinned post for testimonials. 💫

Books are good company when writing. Cats, are a different story. 🐈‍⬛ 🍁🍂🔥

Seeing this made my day. I find taking a photo is another way to see. And writing about it is another (deeper) way to see. And on it goes…

Happy Tuesday trails, here's a little challenge based on this idea. Find something beautiful in nature, take a photo, write about it... 🙂

The results don't matter as much as just being present and immersed with the beauty and the idea. 😌🔥🍁🍂💫

With Love, Jane Gilheaney, Author & Writing Coach

Your writing spell for 🪄💫🔥🍁

Been a great writing week. No words left so tonight I'm off to an art gallery. Expression without words feels very appealing right now. Happy Friday, everyone. xo Jane. 🙌

Hansel and Gretel won't get me in this grate. 😌
Happy Sunday a chairde from the moor of the iron. 🗻

Today's colour is green as a canopied river.
Today's (writing) music is Clannad. 🎶
Today's word count is 55,000.
65,000 the goal that I seek,
Today's mood is determined.
I'm going to write like a demon this week. 🪄💫🔥💪

Have you set your creative intention for the new week? Set it now. Share in comments and I'll gather it into a magical creel. 🪄

'You get whatever accomplishment you are willing to declare.' ~ Georgia O'Keefe 💫

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r06mXc83Bfg

Good morning from the leaba, where I started my day with black coffee and a reread of report of my dark historical fantasy novel Banshee - before pressing ahead with the work itself. I need all the encouragement and inspiration I can get to push through on my new expanded ‘The End’ and is the absolute best, my knight in editorial armour. ☺️ All vibes, prayers, candles lit and ritual sacrifices gratefully accepted at this juncture. And coffee, lots of coffee. ☕️
🔥

I wish the cat would take over. 🐈‍⬛

Celebrating my 50th birthday and my daughter Saoirse’s 15th birthday with my wonderful parents, siblings, sister in-law, and children ~ Shaylyn, Saoirse and Sadhbh. 🥳

Bind us together,
hearts to a stone.
Knot us in tree roots,
briar and bone.

Wind us together,
under the moon.
Earthbound forever,
let it be soon. ~ Jane 🥀🍁🩸

There's a new moon tonight so re-sharing this dark little poem and the image that inspired it. A photo I took in a lane a while back.

Goodnight and sweet dreams, especially to all you 'look at the moon' folk because you are the loveliest. 🌙💫✨

Bought myself a few flowers. I always go for one colour over a mix, how about you? Happy Friday, my sweet poets and witches. xo Jane. ♥️🥀

‘Who would join me here in the firelight,
with rain and smoke on the edge of night.
With wine to drink and tales to spill,
and fairy folk drifting over the hill.’ ~ Jane 🔥🍁

It’s that time again. Brace yourselves for the season of fire pics and witchy atmospheric posts. 🕷️🕸️🍁🔥🧙‍♀️🙌

I blinked and the trees on the hill changed their colour. The flowers lay down, the shadows grew longer. I'd only opened the door for an hour. In rushed the thin air,
dark for the corners,
scent of rain and turf smoke,
and the house wrote,
I am an autumn house. ~ Jane. 🍁

Good morning from Ireland's north west. If you're short of gold light or a web spinning spider, I've got them. Any amount. 🕷️🕸️

🪄✨🍁