I am a double agent. As well as writing, I work as a librarian in the National Library in Dublin, tidying up other people's writing. When I worked full-time I used to write at night. This I resented. But for several years I have job-shared, which means every second week I can write during the day and spend my evenings watching television and washing clothes. And every second week I can commute, chat with my cheerful colleagues, and check out the special offers on Grafton Street at lunch-time. It's a good life.
I am a morning person, although not in the sense of being eager to hop out of bed. I get up reluctantly before seven and drive my teenage boys to the bus-stop for the elusive 84 bus. There is often a moment of high drama if it comes too early but mostly they manage to catch it. Then I come home, get coffee for myself and Bo, my husband, and go right back to bed. Not to sleep, however. I either snooze and think, or else begin to write. After a while Bo gets up and goes to college. He retired a few years ago from UCD. I thought he would stay at home then and do housework. But after about two days he went right back to Belfield.
When the house is safely empty I move to my desk, or perhaps to some cosy spot downstairs. When I got a laptop I became peripatetic, selecting a chair-of-the-day, like the cat. I work until about two o'clock. Then I go for a walk, buy the paper, listen to The Arts Show. I'm addicted to literary gossip and news. Afterwards I continue writing until the boys come in from school. Unless i'm working to a deadline, I tend to clock off about this stage and devote myself to frying chips and other domestic pleasures. After dinner Bo and I go for a long walk.
During the summer we go to Kerry where routines get turned upside-down. In the mornings we are busy fixing things - the roof, the gutters, the water supply. Something is invariably in urgent need of repair. It's like A Year in Provence from that point of view, if from few others. Then we shop, go for a swim, pick berries. So I write at night - when Bo goes ag bothantaiocht or ag ol (unless I go, too). Writing, like everything else, is less systematic in Kerry. But it's different, perhaps better. The peace, the space, above all the sleep, ensure this. Sleeping, dreaming and reading are the essential nutrients of literary creativity. And thinking is beneficial, too. I am fairly disciplined about scribbling away diligently. Taking time to think is also important. I believe art and literature are forces of good in the world but I'm not sure where my work might fit into this scheme, if at all. I want to think much more about that.
Eilis Ni Dhuibhne's novel, The Dancers Dancing, is published by Blackstaff Press this month