‘Lockdown not unlike grief’

Lockdown and its different phases is not so unlike the different stages of grief.

“It’s a shock to the system.”

So says Mullingar writer, Patricia Gibney, breakout author of the Lottie Parker series, which has sold more than a million and a half books worldwide.

The international bestselling author was preparing for the release of her eighth book in the series, Buried Angels, out Tuesday May 26, when we spoke to her.

“In lockdown I find it very difficult to write. For the first month I couldn’t write at all.

“I was able to do edits and proofreading for Buried Angels, but to sit down and try and write the next book, I just found it impossible.

“I had no inspiration. I think it was the whole confinement, not being able to go further than two kilometres.

“Your freedom is kind of taken away from you, and that really affected me.

“Whereas many people were able to bake and paint, do the ‘divil an all’, I just wasn’t able to do anything.”

Deadlines

“I had a deadline for the next book so what I did was speak to my editor, and I brought my deadline forward.

“So I said to myself, ‘Well, I really have to do this now!’. I set myself manageable work terms but I still found it very hard to visualise characters.

“I cut out images from magazines and put them up on a vision board to try and give me inspiration, because you couldn’t actually get in the car and drive anywhere to get that inspiration as you would normally.

“That really helped me. I am writing now again but it took me a good while.

“I never had writers block before because I’ve written eight books in three years, so it was never really a problem with me before.

“I think it was the psychological effect of the lockdown that affected me big time.”

Patricia also began writing ‘Morning Pages’, a tool much heralded by Julia Cameron in The Artist’s Way, to scribble her way out of writer’s block.

‘Morning pages’ had helped her once before following the death from cancer of her husband Aidan almost 11 years ago.

It’s what led Patricia to begin writing creatively in the first place.

“It’s coming up to Aidan’s anniversary this week, and I had some mad dreams and Aidan was in them.

“It actually got me back into writing ‘morning pages’ again, even though it was all gobbledygook, but it helped me.

Do you think it might have been Aidan with you on from the other side?

“I don’t know but I definitely needed someone to give me a push!” Patricia says.

“Everyone has been affected differently by this lockdown, but I just found the total lack of freedom, not that I wanted to go anywhere, but the fact that you couldn’t, very difficult to deal with.

“It affected my creativity. I suppose it’s nearly like a grieving process, and you have to go through all of these stages. It definitely was a shock to the system.”

Time blindness

“I have had to structure my day because I did have ‘time blindness’ with this pandemic, where you don’t know what day of the week it is.

“So I try to do my writing in the morning, and go for at least an hour’s walk in the afternoon.

“And now that we can go further than two kilometres, I visit the graveyard in the evening just to take another half an hour out of the day.

“I know it sounds bad when the only place you can go for a walk is the graveyard, but it’s good for social distancing,” she laughs.

Are there any lessons she will take away from this time in lockdown?

“You learn how resilient you are. You go through shock, but you do come out the other side.

“I know families have been impacted by sickness and death, the whole pandemic has affected everybody, and some more than others.

“But on a personal level you have to work your way through it. Resilience, that is what I will take away from this.

Buried Angels is the eighth book in the Lottie Parker series.

It is available on audio, ebook and paperback, and Patricia takes inspiration from “what’s happening in the news, and what’s current” for her storylines.

Ryan Tubridy is among her growing legion of fans, and she has been a guest on his radio show and on The Late Late Show.

She is also one of the featured authors he has chosen for his guide to reading in lockdown.

“That’s really thrilling. Even before I was writing, if Ryan Tubridy suggested a book that he was reading, I would immediately go out and buy it.

“It’s another way of getting the books out there because not everyone will hear about you.

“But I have been getting lots of nice messages about the books, and people are beginning to recognise me now when I’m out for my walk, even with the grey hair that’s starting to creep in.

“People tell me they are enjoying the series and I will keep writing for as a long as I can write. I am so grateful to my readers, and to my agent Ger Nichol and publisher, Bookouture.

“I have three more books to write in this current series, the contract is up to 2021, so there will be a few more.

“Lottie has her own ups and downs in her personal life, so the readers love following her and seeing how she is getting on.

“People want to know what’s going to happen to Lottie, what’s going to happen to Boyd next, that’s what keeps the series going.”

It has been a difficult time for authors, so the fact that Patricia already has a steady fanbase in the ebook market has stood to her.

“Publishing houses have been impacted by the lockdown, they’ve had to pull back, so Buried Angels it will be available on ebook and audio, as well paperback,” says Patricia.

“Michelle Moran, who does the audio, is absolutely brilliant and she set up a studio in her own apartment in London just to do the audiobook. I think she’s just phenomenal.

“It has been a hard time for traditionally published authors, and not everybody shops online either. So it’s been really tough for some authors to get their books out there. But Buried Angels will be on ebook on Amazon, with some hard copies available in Just Books in Mullingar.

Patricia’s books have been translated into numerous languages, and just recently she has been signed to far flung places such Taiwan.

With one and a half million books sold to date, her debut book, The Missing Ones has placed in the top five bestsellers list in the US, Canada and Australia.

“The lockdown has given me time to appreciate how far I’ve come. Eight books in just over three years,.. usually I’m always so busy, it has given me time to appreciate that achievement.”

Looking to the future, and a time when we are free to get out and about, Patricia says she just wants to get into the car and go.

“Just to leave Mullingar for a couple of days would be great,” she jokes.

“And to be able to give my grandkids a hug again!”