The dreaded procrastination habit

I was reading an article about procrastination today and decided to put aside one hour every day to pay attention to my work which in my case is finishing my third book and keeping up to date with social media and blogging. The winter in particular is a hard time to drag yourself up off the comfortable chair in front of the fire and up to the room where the computer is feeling unused.
One way to beat the dreaded procrastination is to set aside the same time every day to do my work. I've decided to do this because if I don't I find it backlogging on me which only adds more pressure and I end up doing nothing at all because I feel so overwhelmed with it all! What is it that makes us all procrastinate when it makes life so much simpler to do what needs to be done at the time? The mind is a very powerful force and once the seed is sown the procrastination begins. So I think it is better not to start thinking about what I have to do in any great detail or it won't get done! If anyone has any suggestions about beating the procrastination bug I'd love to hear them.

Christmas meanderings

Christmas is a great time of the year. However, it can also be stressful. People are always looking for your attention in one way or another. I play music and quite often I am asked to join in choirs or other social gatherings. Initially I don't feel like doing them, but once I get into it, there is great joy and camaraderie to be gained from such events. On top of this there is the normal pressures of family, work and in my case writing. At the moment I'm doing a third level course in Irish Culture and Heritage and am under pressure to finish off projects. I also spend a few nights playing music so its hard to squeeze in my writing. I hope to finish my third book in The Tadhg Sullivan Series early in the New Year. So with everything that's going on, it looks like I'm going to have a busy Christmas. On the bright side, all this pressure should create a dramatic climax to the book. No matter what the situation, we always have to look on the bright side.

No.# 3. "The Crucifixion" is on the way, so it looks like Detective Tadhg Sullivan is in for a stressful time also.

 How Reading Helps my Writing

Recently I’ve noticed I’ve been finding it more and more difficult to write. I am on my third book of a series I’m writing about Detective Tadhg Sullivan. Up until now my writing has flowed along at a fairly steady pace. Yet this summer, which is normally my best time for writing, due to the fact that I am in third level education I have noticed my ability to write wane. Initially I panicked thinking that the pool of imagination which drives my stories had dried up. Then one night after giving up on trying to write a new chapter in my latest book, I went down to the bookshelf in my living room and picked out a book I thought I might enjoy. I was only a few pages into it when I found I couldn’t read another word.

Was the same fatigue that was affecting my writing now affecting my reading as well?

Panic gripped me! Here were two of the things I loved doing, starting to feel like they were becoming a chore. What could I do to get out of this rut? I went back to the bookshelf and took out another book, this time in the same genre in which I write. The book was “Headhunters” by Jo Nesbo. Initially I found it hard to get into but I persevered. And like with my writing my perseverance was rewarded. The book began to grip me. I’ll be forever grateful to Jo Nesbo for writing this book, as shortly afterwards I began to write fluidly again. My enthusiasm returned and as with Nesbo’s book my writing began to speed up, as I was eager to find out what was going to happen next. These are the moments when I know my writing is going in the right direction, when I am feeling excited about the direction the book is taking.

For me, writing is not a formula. It is not something that I can always plot and steer in the direction I would like it to go. Instead the characters often take on a life of their own and I just go with them. Tadhg Sullivan is one of those characters who will always do his own thing and forces me as his creator to travel the road that he chooses.

Music tames the savage beast!!

I haven't blogged in a while and suddenly feel the need to discuss my present book The Brotherhood with you all. Thankfully I've had a great reaction to it so far and have received good reviews on it. I am sitting here at the moment relaxing after being out playing music with my family last night. My daughter Ella now gets up on stage with me to play the fiddle with the rest of the lads in the group. She's really starting to enjoy playing and I'm delighted now that myself and Caroline stuck with it and insisted on them practicing their music when they were small.  Tonight we'll be going out again, this time simply to sit around a table in a bar.

My son Rory will come along as well. Rory plays the uilleann pipes, flute and tin whistle and its a joy to watch them both grow in their ability.

Music is a big part of my life and strangely enough none of the characters in my books The Brotherhood and The Gun are in any way musical. There is a mention of a traditional session in The Gun but apart from that music has no role. Having said that I think the stories would make an excellent TV crime series and I would love to be involved in putting together a score to go along with the series.

Tadhg Sullivan the main character in the series is troubled and I believe music would help him to exorcise some of his demons. I find that songs and music are often a great way of expressing and hence expelling the things that trouble us.

Anyway thats whats on my mind at the moment. Hope to get back to you soon with another few thoughts.

Well folks, The Brotherhood was released on the 20th May. I hope anyone who buys it will enjoy it as much as I enjoyed writing it. I'm delighted to say I've already received quite a lot of feedback and have received a 4 star review from author Cathy Geha which is published on Library Thing.com. If anyone is interested, if you've read the book, you can review it and post the review on Amazon. All the feedback I receive helps me to understand where I am going right and where I am going wrong with my writing. It helps me to move in a direction that the readers of my books will enjoy. I'd love to hear from other bloggers and receive tips from them on how best to move forward with my blogs. I would really enjoy a personal connection with the readers of my books. I have started my third book in The Tadhg Sullivan Series and hope to have it out by the end of the year. Talk to you all again soon.
Daithi

THE BROTHERHOOD - Countdown!

Hello everyone! It's been a while since my last blog. I am studying hard at the moment. I'm doing a third level course in Irish Culture and Heritage Studies. I am enjoying the course but at times it is a bit hectic trying to study, write and play music. I have started my third book in The Tadhg Sullivan Series. The second one The Brotherhood is available to pre order and due for release on the 20th May 2015. My family have had an opportunity to read the book and believe it to be even more exciting than the first! There are a lot of twists and turns in the story and I feel the reader really gets to know Sullivan on a much more personal level. Once again the story is affected by my own personal experiences in life and by the society that surrounds me. I tried to make the characters and the situations that they find themselves in as believable as possible and would love feedback in this regard from anyone who reads the book. Sullivan's character may be flawed, yet he is equally as heroic as a lot of the straight up, hard boiled detectives we encounter.Politics once again rears its ugly head in this novel. I find it hard to avoid as it is another big driving force in my life. I hope anyone who buys the book will enjoy it and please feel free to get back to me. Thanks everyone for their support in the past and in particular Kem, Peter, Troy and all at Tirgearr. Daithi

Winter Sale on Tirgearr Publishing

Happy New Year everyone! Don't start with a dull New Year, liven it up with a bit of excitement by reading my Irish crime novel 'The Gun' which is the first in The Tadhg Sullivan Series. Tirgearr Publishing winter sale now on through January - £0.99p on Amazon UK and on sale on all other Amazon sites. Check out the links below.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00NU8MDTA

http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=The%20Gun%20by%20daithi%20kavanagh

http://www.tirgearrpublishing.com/authors/Kavanagh_Daithi/index.htm

Hello everyone,

Well my book was published on the 30th September 2014 by Tirgearr Publishing and is available on all Amazon Sites. I can't believe my book is published. It is a great honour for me. To think just over a year ago 'The Gun' was a little idea in my head that I wrote down in my kids old school copy books. It just goes to show that anything is possible, just go for it! I have now completed my second book as I've already said called 'The Brotherhood' more in the Tadhg Sullivan series. Tadhg has come alive for me since I started writing about him and his crime solving. Here is what my book cover looks like. I love the cover and think it really captures the essence of the book. I hope you all enjoy the book, it gave me great pleasure and satisfaction to write it. I want to thank my family particularly Caroline, Ella and Rory for all their support and my mother, sisters and brothers and all my friends. The encouragement and support has been great. Talk soon Daithi

I'm back. Just 8 days to go before my debut novel 'The Gun' is published. The cover is complete and here it is. Thank you again to Kem, Troy my editor and all the team at Tirgearr Publishing for making this possible. I have nearly finished my second book in the Tadhg Sullivan series called 'The Brotherhood' so watch this space. Thanks all - Daithi

Hello there, haven't blogged for a couple of weeks have been editing The Gun - a whole new experience for me. Looking forward to seeing how my book will read after being edited. My book is due to be published on the 30th September next, can't believe it's nearly there! Hope to have my follow up book in the series involving Detective Tadhg Sullivan finished by then. The new book is called The Brotherhood and is once again a mixture of murder, intrigue and politics. Hope you will enjoy it!

Daithi

I'm continuing my blog on The Gun. Not even sure if I'm making sense in the way I'm blogging.  I'm going to try to get in on other authors blogs and read theirs to see how they are proceeding with their blogs in an effort to learn more about this.  I hope some day I'll become good at this and enjoy it. At the moment its all a bit confusing. I hope anyone who reads my blogs will find them interesting and hopefully it will entice them to buy my book when it comes out after the summer. I'm half way through my second book at the moment. Detective Tadhg Sullivan the main character from The Gun is pursuing another case and once again is embroiled in controversy. I'm looking forward to seeing how it turns out and hope you will be as well.

Sorry folks had a bit of trouble with my blogs so am going to do it again all in one blog.  As you know I'm promoting my book 'The Gun' which is being published by Tirgearr Publishers hopefully by the end of September.  The book is about a man who has become so angered by the government that he feels he has no alternative but to strike back.  He is being pursued by Detective Tadhg Sullivan who is embroiled in problems of his own.  The book is set in a fictional Ireland, but one that everyone will recognise.

Initially the driving force behind me writing the book was a feeling of empathy with the position that the character in the book found himself.  But as my writing progressed the driving force became a belief in the old cliche 'that the pen is mightier than the sword' (or in this case -The Gun!!)