Post by susanmay on Sept 18, 2008 10:16:29 GMT
CECELIA Ahern is momentarily fed up.
It's not the fact that the bestselling novelist was up until 5am in the morning writing her seventh book that's bugging her -- that's her normal routine and doesn't faze her at all.
Nor is it because she's being obliged to pose in an ice-cream van, melting cone dripping down her arm, for enthusiastic photographers in the middle of Dublin's St Stephen's Green to promote her new play 'Mrs Whippy' while curious passers-by attempt to buy refreshments from her.
And it's not even a reporter, to tie in with the theme, chattily asking whether her father, Bertie Ahern, ever bought her ice-cream from Mr Whippy during her childhood growing up beside the seaside at Malahide.
What sparks her ire is the phrase 'chick lit', which another reporter casually drops into the conversation.
"It's not chick lit. Don't call it that," she reprimands him sharply, while almost apologetically going on to explain that she does not feel this to be a flattering term for what should really be described as 'women's fiction'.
"It's not particularly respectful for the people who read it -- or for the writer," she says.
Well might she demand respect. Her first novel 'PS I Love You', written at the age of 21, topped bestsellers lists in Ireland, the UK, the US, Germany and the Netherlands, before being made into a Hollywood movie starring Hilary Swank, while her subsequent novels have been hailed as major publishing successes.
The second season of her ABC comedy series, 'Samantha Who?' starring Christina Applegate, is currently in production in the US, while the first season has just been bought up by TG4.
In person, the 27-year-old blonde brims with fun and is refreshingly 'normal'.
She enjoys her success but is cautious that she should never take it for granted. "I love being a writer. People are so lovely, so friendly. I never get anything but 'I read your book and loved it' -- you don't really hear anything else," she says.
She admits to regular bouts of writer's block. "Days, weeks go by, where there is a famine," she says. She finds the only solution to it is to "just busy yourself with life".
Somewhat surprisingly, her own reading choices are mostly thrillers. "Anything with blood and guts and gore," she says.
Her latest project is a one-woman play based on her novella 'Mrs Whippy', which she wrote three years ago for the Open Door adult-literacy programme.
The play revolves around a frustrated Dublin housewife whose five sons blame her for the fact her husband has left her for another woman. Ice cream is her only comfort in life while the familiar tinkle of the Mr Whippy van stirs bittersweet memories of the past.
Ahern says it was the tinkle of 'Greensleeves' from the Mr Whippy van that first inspired her to write the story. And she says she had "tears in her eyes" when she first heard the words of the play being spoken by Dublin actress Marion O'Dwyer.
She said she had only heard the words before in her own head -- but O'Dwyer had "bettered" them.
l 'Mrs Whippy' opens at Liberty Hall theatre for a limited run, starting October 29. Tickets are on sale now from Ticketmaster and usual outlets nationwide.
It's not the fact that the bestselling novelist was up until 5am in the morning writing her seventh book that's bugging her -- that's her normal routine and doesn't faze her at all.
Nor is it because she's being obliged to pose in an ice-cream van, melting cone dripping down her arm, for enthusiastic photographers in the middle of Dublin's St Stephen's Green to promote her new play 'Mrs Whippy' while curious passers-by attempt to buy refreshments from her.
And it's not even a reporter, to tie in with the theme, chattily asking whether her father, Bertie Ahern, ever bought her ice-cream from Mr Whippy during her childhood growing up beside the seaside at Malahide.
What sparks her ire is the phrase 'chick lit', which another reporter casually drops into the conversation.
"It's not chick lit. Don't call it that," she reprimands him sharply, while almost apologetically going on to explain that she does not feel this to be a flattering term for what should really be described as 'women's fiction'.
"It's not particularly respectful for the people who read it -- or for the writer," she says.
Well might she demand respect. Her first novel 'PS I Love You', written at the age of 21, topped bestsellers lists in Ireland, the UK, the US, Germany and the Netherlands, before being made into a Hollywood movie starring Hilary Swank, while her subsequent novels have been hailed as major publishing successes.
The second season of her ABC comedy series, 'Samantha Who?' starring Christina Applegate, is currently in production in the US, while the first season has just been bought up by TG4.
In person, the 27-year-old blonde brims with fun and is refreshingly 'normal'.
She enjoys her success but is cautious that she should never take it for granted. "I love being a writer. People are so lovely, so friendly. I never get anything but 'I read your book and loved it' -- you don't really hear anything else," she says.
She admits to regular bouts of writer's block. "Days, weeks go by, where there is a famine," she says. She finds the only solution to it is to "just busy yourself with life".
Somewhat surprisingly, her own reading choices are mostly thrillers. "Anything with blood and guts and gore," she says.
Her latest project is a one-woman play based on her novella 'Mrs Whippy', which she wrote three years ago for the Open Door adult-literacy programme.
The play revolves around a frustrated Dublin housewife whose five sons blame her for the fact her husband has left her for another woman. Ice cream is her only comfort in life while the familiar tinkle of the Mr Whippy van stirs bittersweet memories of the past.
Ahern says it was the tinkle of 'Greensleeves' from the Mr Whippy van that first inspired her to write the story. And she says she had "tears in her eyes" when she first heard the words of the play being spoken by Dublin actress Marion O'Dwyer.
She said she had only heard the words before in her own head -- but O'Dwyer had "bettered" them.
l 'Mrs Whippy' opens at Liberty Hall theatre for a limited run, starting October 29. Tickets are on sale now from Ticketmaster and usual outlets nationwide.
