Peeking Between the Pages

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Guest Post with Aine Greaney, author of Dance Lessons & Giveaway

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Good day everyone! Today we are welcoming Aine Greaney, author of Dance Lessons, to Peeking Between the Pages. My copy of Dance Lessons arrived last week and I’m hoping to fit it in very soon because it sounds like such a good story! Today Aine joins us with a guest post all about Summer Travel Plans…

I haven’t made any summer travel plans yet. And I’m not really sure why I should get started.

Except that, every year around this time, the travel section of the Sunday newspaper urges us to “book early,” or “grab those summer specials.”

Some years, I just stay home. Or I’m happy to snag a quickie trip to Cape Cod or a long weekend at my favorite writer’s retreat. In middle age, I keep my vacations shorter. I plan them more meticulously. I mitigate against the potential mishaps or missed connections. In middle age, I’ve lost that youthful impetuosity.

Aine’s favorite bakery in her adopted hometown on the Mass. seacoast, and also the place upon which she has based Coventry by the Sea, the fictional town in which her novel, Dance Lessons, opens.

I grew up in the Irish countryside—first on a farm and then in a tiny village (a half-mile from the farm). The words “farm” or “countryside” evoke images of rustic bliss. But to a kid with a curious mind and a perpetual eye on the horizon, a country childhood was actually quite boring.

County Mayo, where Aine is from in Ireland.

So I spent most of my childhood and teenage years craving adventure. And adventure could only happen in one of two ways: by going on a trip or by reading a book. Sometimes, a book took me away. Or a trip included a book. In this latter case, my young world was complete.

I was about 10 years old when my auntie took me to the city where she lived and we went downtown to a Woolworths.

“Get yourself something,” she said. “Something you really like.”

To this rural kid in 1970s, those florescent aisles and trinket shelves were real nirvana. And … best of all, that Woolworths had a children’s book section. That vacation, my city auntie treated me to two new paperbacks by Enid Blyton (check out the Enid Blyton Society at www.enidblytonsociety.co.uk ). Now, this was an exciting vacation.

Galway City, where Aine’s auntie bought her a book at Woolworths.

All these years later and across the ocean in America, I’m a grown up with a Visa card and a number of paid vacation days from my day job. So I can just book an exciting vacation whenever I please. Right?

But a funny thing happened me on my way to middle age. Now, when I trawl the Internet for bargain flights or self-catering vacation rentals, I’m often tempted to abandon the whole idea before it even begins. What if these shiny travel photos are all fake? What if I get to the airport and have forgotten my passport? What if our rental is a mildewy dump or the landlord has already skipped town and the bank has seized and padlocked the property (I actually know someone this happened to)?

What if? What if? What if?

And what happened to the carefree travel of my youth?

These woodlands are from Aine’s favorite artist’s retreat in central Massachusetts.

The “what if” questions nudge into my writing, too.

In the early days, I wrote and submitted to editors with a neophyte’s sense of trust in the world. I had a bold courage that was born of passion and naivite. Now, when I’m starting a new writing project, when I’m half-way through the first draft, here are those same ‘what-if’ voices . What if you get started and then, the idea peters out? What if readers just hate this? What if (gulp!) the day job and the bill-paying and the mortgage have eroded all your creativity? Permanently?

But here’s the thing: Whether our journeys are physical or metaphysical, there are two things that move us beyond the fear factor. First, even as those ‘what-if’ voices whisper, we face down our doubts by packing those bags and canceling the mail and double-checking the flight time.

And second, we remind ourselves that, just like last time, it all works out great in the end.

And it does.

The sunset over the marshes in Cape Cod.

What are your summer travel plans? Do the travel plans fill you with joy or fear?
__________

Great guest post Aine! I am so bad for the ‘what ifs’! I can drive myself absolutely crazy with them and any travel plans are thwarted by them for sure. By the time I actually get anywhere I’m so stressed out that I don’t enjoy myself half as much as I should have. lol. I love the pictures you shared with us well. I would love to be visiting that quaint little bakery, not to mention walking along that gorgeous country road! Thanks for being here at Peeking Between the Pages!
__________

About the Book (from Syracuse University Press)

A year after her husband’s death in a sailing accident off Martha’s Vineyard, Ellen Boisvert bumps into an old friend. In this chance encounter, she discovers that her immigrant husband of almost fifteen years was not an orphan after all. Instead, his aged mother Jo is alive and residing on the family’s isolated farm in the west of Ireland.

Faced with news of her mother-in-law incarnate, the thirty-nine-year-old American prep school teacher decides to travel to Ireland to investigate the truth about her husband Fintan and why he kept his family’s existence a secret for so many years.

Between Jo’s hilltop farm and the lakeside village of Gowna, Ellen begins to uncover the mysteries of her Irish husband’s past and the cruelties and isolation of his rural childhood. Ellen also stumbles upon Fintan’s long-ago romance with a local village woman, with whom he had a daughter, Cat. Cat is now fourteen and living with her mother in London. As Ellen reconciles her troubled relationship with Fintan, she discovers a way to heal the wounds of the past.

Deeply rooted in the Irish landscape and sensibility, Dance Lessons is a powerful story of loss, regret, and transformation.

Buy Dance Lessons on Amazon.com or Amazon.ca

About the Author (from Aine Greaney’s website)


I’m an Irish-born writer now living on Boston’s North Shore. I’ve published novels, short stories, personal essays, feature articles and (coming soon!) a how-to book on writing.

I’m an avid reader of contemporary novels, the occasional memoir, poetry and short-fiction collection.

I’m also a lifelong journal writer, and I love to lead writing workshops with teens and adults.

Visit Aine’s website.
Find Aine on Facebook.
Find Aine on Twitter.

GIVEAWAY DETAILS

I have one copy of Dance Lessons by Aine Greaney to share with my readers. To enter…

  • For 1 entry leave me a comment with an email address to contact you (no email address, no entry).
  • For 2 entries, follow my blog. If you already do, thank you, and please let me know in your comment so I can pass on the extra entry to you as well.
  • For 3 entries, blog or tweet this giveaway to spread the word.

This giveaway is open to US & Canadian residents only (no PO boxes) and I will draw for the winner on Saturday, June 18/11. Good luck everyone!

© 2010, Darlene of Peeking Between the Pages. All Rights Reserved. If you’re reading this on a site other than Peeking Between the Pages or Darlene’s Feed, be aware that this post has been stolen and is used without permission.

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Hey Dar – I would love to read this book! Just my type, don't you think?
    Please enter me!

    I am a follower.

    I will post it on my sidebar.

    forevereading at gmail dot com

  3. Loved this post. Loved the sound of this book. Absolutely drop my name in the hat! LOL

    janezfan (at) yahoo (dot) com

  4. Oh, I would have loved to grow up in the Irish countryside! Well, maybe just visit for a little bit! Fantastic guest post today, Dar!

  7. This does sound like a very good book! I would love to enter the giveaway and look forward to your thoughts on it as well. I love those pictures! Really beautiful places! Thanks for offering the giveaway.

    bthgordon(at)yahoo(dot)com

  8. Oh this book sounds really good! I definitely want it on my shelf!

    behapppppppy(at)hotmail(dot)com

  10. I follow you on Twitter and through email. I think this book sounds
    lovely and I'd love to read it.

    annfesATyahooDOTcom

  11. That would be a shocker to find out that your husband is not an orphan but his mother is still alive. I would love to win this book.

    CarolNWong(at)aol(dot)com

  17. Thanks to everyone for their kind comments on the photos and post and my book, Dance Lessons. I love to take photographs–and feel lucky to have visited such beautiful spots on the planet. And I'm sooooo glad to see that, so far, nobody has the same trepidations as me about making summer travel plans.
    Thanks again,
    aine

  18. BTW, I'm sure you all know this … but … you can just click on the pics to make them almost screen sized. The County Mayo one especially looks good that way.

  24. GFC follower as Karen B – but I can't sign in on your page today?????

    kpbarnett1941[at]aol.com

  25. I enjoyed this wonderful post. What a great book. thanks. saubleb(at)gmail(dot)com

  26. I enjoyed reading this post. I can relate to the author's sentiments about not being able to travel so "carefree" anymore…The pictures of Cape Cod make me long to go to the ocean, though 🙂

  27. This book sounds memorable and emotional. The post resounds with me greatly. rojosho(at)hotmail(dot)com

  33. What a great interview; loved the photos of places that (SOME)look very familiar to me.

    Thanks for the giveaway Dar.

  34. Would love to win this! Thanks for the opportunity

    quixoticdreamer(at)hotmail(dot)com

  35. I already follow via GFC -quixoticdreamer

    quixoticdreamer(at)hotmail(dot)com

  37. Dance Lessons seems like SUCH an interesting book. And thank you for all the material related to the book – it truly made this post that much more enjoyable! 🙂

    Thank you for this giveaway opportunity – I'd love to be able to win/read this book.

    ~Hira~
    GFC Follower: ~Enamored Soul~
    Email: Enamoredsoul(at)gmail(dot)com
    Twitter: @inluvwithbookz

  38. I'm a GFC Follower of the blog.

    ~Hira~
    GFC Follower: ~Enamored Soul~
    Email: Enamoredsoul(at)gmail(dot)com
    Twitter: @inluvwithbookz

  39. I'm a confirmed email subscriber of your blog.

    ~Hira~
    GFC Follower: ~Enamored Soul~
    Email: Enamoredsoul(at)gmail(dot)com
    Twitter: @inluvwithbookz

  41. It is true we are so care free in our younger years. If we were to rent a place that wasn't like the pics we would suck it up. But nows that I am older, I need those creature comforts. Great guest post.
    Thanks for the contest!
    +2 follower
    jennygirl73[at]gmail[dot]com

  43. Those are lovely pictures. Thank you for the giveaway!

    I'm an old follower on GFC w/ @headlessfowl.

    headlessfowl at gmail dot com

  51. Sounds like a great way to do some armchair travelling, would like a chance to win, thanks!

    wanda_waiting[@].com

    I follow and will post here

  52. This book sounds great!! Thanks for the chance to win!!

    I also follow!!

    areallibrarian[at]gmail[dot]com

  53. I love the sound of this book. Count me in. Follower.

    thisbookforfree at gmail dot com

  60. Winning this book would make my summer. Those pictures are amazing. I love taking photographs and I love looking at other peoples.

    hootowl1978 at gmail dot com

  66. Those are some beautiful pictures. Reminds me that summer is right around the corner.

    GFC follower. cambonified(at)yahoo(dot)com

  68. I'm a GFC follower! (artsybookishgal)

    Amy // amyismyfriend at aol dot com