20 Witty Irish Sayings to Warm (or Chill) Your Heart

Irish Blessings, Curses, & Wisdom

 

In honor of the upcoming June 2017 release of my novel The Gold-Son (which features Irish characters, lore, and settings), I offer you a collection of Irish sayings—some sweet, some humorous, and a few downright nasty (things an ornery leprechaun might say!). Enjoy!  

 

 Wisdom & Good Wishes

1. May the hinges of our friendship never grow rusty.
2. Enough is as good as a feast.
3. There's no need to fear the wind if your haystacks are tied down.
4. God is good, but never dance in a small boat.
5. It's no use carrying an umbrella if your shoes are leaking.
6. A trout in the pot is better than a salmon in the sea.
7. May the frost never afflict your spuds. May the outside leaves of your cabbage always be free from worms. May the crow never pick your haystack, and may your donkey always be in foal.
8. May I see you old and grey and combing out your grandchildren's hair.
9. May the grass grow long on the road to hell for want of use
10. May the rocks in your field turn to gold.

Cruelty & Curses "May the cat eat you and the devil eat the cat." 1. She has a tongue that would clip a hedge. 2. May you melt off the earth like snow off the ditch.  3. May the seven terriers of hell sit on the spool of your breast and bark in at your soul-case.   4. The treatment of the boiled, broken, little fish to you!    5. The devil swallow him sideways!   6. Dysentery on you!    7. Six eggs to you, and half a dozen of them rotten! 8. May you not see the cuckoo nor the corncrake.  9. The devil go with you and sixpence, then you'll want neither money nor company. 10. The death of the kittens to you!    Have any Irish sayings to add? Post them below in the comments--but please keep it clean for the kiddies & grannies! Beir bua agus beannacht,* Carrie  *Take victory & blessings!

Five Book Recommendations (and Another Thing or Two)

Novels for Your TBR List

 

Here's a shocking confession: I read A LOT of books. Also (and sometimes unfortunately), I rarely read a book anymore without critiquing and editing every page in my head--so there are fewer and fewer books I fall in love with. With that in mind, the following are books I've read lately that I greatly enjoyed. I think these are all considered Young Adult novels, and each has some fairy tale or folk tale qualities.

The Lie Tree by Frances Hardinge
The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden
Egg and Spoon by Gregory Maguire
A Green and Ancient Light by Frederic S. Durbin
The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater (not a recent "new read" technically, but one I like to reread now and then because I love this book!)

In other news...

 

Here's a lovely review of The Gold-Son (from Goodreads), written by a teen reader who read an advance copy. 

 
"If you want to read a fantastical novel, I promise you, this is the one for you. This story centered around leprechauns is one of the best fantasy novels I've read in a while. I laughed and cried and felt every emotion known to man--and it was glorious.

This YA fantasy novel is great for literally any age. I could go straight from reading this to kids to reading it myself to giving it to my mother to read. There's not one person that I wouldn't recommend this book to."--Olivia
  
The Gold-Son will be released June 20, 2017, and is available for pre-order on Amazon now.

Happy reading, everyone! Be sure to leave me a note in the comments if you read any of the novels I've suggested--or if you have a recommendation for me.

Carrie Anne




 








 

Have you seen this cover???

Here it is!

I am thrilled to share this gorgeous cover with you! 

Like the cover for The Mermaid's Sister, The Gold-Son's cover was designed by the ridiculously talented M.S. Corley.  

You can see more of his work here: The Art of M.S. Corley

 

 

Everything on the cover represents something in the story, so when you read it, you might want to play a little game of "I Spy."

For more about The Gold-Son and to pre-order the book (which comes out June 20, 2017), click here: The Gold-Son on Amazon

 

The Gold-Son is coming!

A little more about the new book...

 

All sixteen-year-old Tommin wants is to make beautiful shoes and take care of his granny, but his insatiable need to steal threatens to destroy everything. Driven by a curse that demands more and more gold, he’s sure to get caught eventually.

When mysterious Lorcan Reilly arrives in town with his “niece” Eve, Tommin believes the fellow wants to help him. Instead, Lorcan whisks him off to the underground realm of the Leprechauns, where, alongside Eve, he’s forced to prepare to become one of them.

While Lorcan plots to use his “gold-children” as stepping-stones to the throne of the Leprechaun king, Tommin and Eve plan their escape—and find themselves falling in love. But Tommin’s humanity is slipping away, and unless Eve discovers the remedy in time, he’ll be doomed to spend eternity as a thieving trickster.

Can Tommin and Eve’s love survive over two centuries and help them defeat Lorcan and his magic, or is there no hope of breaking the Leprechaun’s curse?

To be released June 20, 2017. 

Available now for pre-order on Amazon. Click here: The Gold-Son

Over 100,000 Mermaids and One Pesky Leprechaun

Old Year, New Year

Hi!

It's been a while, and it's all the Leprechaun's fault. Since the end of October, I've been doing a lot of work on The Gold-Son (young adult novel containing Leprechauns, to be released June 21, 2017). Editing, reworking, adding, polishing, yelling at the computer--all that fun stuff--consumed much of my time and energy (and helped me fail at NaNoWriMo for the first time in eight years!). But along the way, I learned so much and I grew as a writer, and I'm grateful for the experience. I'm pleased with how the book has turned out, and I can't wait to share it with you. Also, the cover (created by fantastic artist M.S. Corley, who did The Mermaid's Sister's cover) is breathtakingly gorgeous!

In mermaid news...The Mermaid's Sister passed the 100,000 copy mark in sales back in October. Thanks, readers! I'm awed and thrilled that the book has done well and continues to do well. It's a dream come true for certain! 

Wishing you a very happy 2017!

Beir bua agus beannacht,*

 Carrie 

*Take victory and blessings, as the Irish say.  

Touring the Realm

Head on over to the Faith and Fantasy Alliance/Realm Makers blog to read a fun "Into the Mind of the Author"post by yours truly!

Click here: Into the Mind of Carrie Anne Noble

Reviews: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

The Perils of Reading Reviews of Your Novel

The day The Mermaid's Sister went live on Amazon was one of the weirdest days of my life. A mixture of excitement, fulfillment, and terror consumed me as the reviews began to appear. First, the five stars (yay!) Then some fours and a few threes (okay, everyone is entitled to his/her own taste and opinion)...and eventually, the dreaded one star. (If I remember properly, the reason the reviewer gave was that he didn't like Young Adult novels. Still shaking my head over that one.) I admit I kept reading reviews for a while--maybe a week or two--before I realized it was messing with my head. How could I have written someone's new favorite book that also was the most cliché piece of trash ever? How could a simple story draw such personal, hateful attacks from some and inspire others to joy?

You just can't wrap your mind around that. And you shouldn't try.

To quote a grammatically revolting cliché (because apparently I rock at clichés!), "Haters gonna hate, lovers gonna love." And if you did your best (and had fabulous editors--God bless 'em!), it doesn't matter.

Writers bleed ink!

Okay. it does matter somewhat. Reviews sell books--but even bad reviews sometimes get people interested enough to read your book. Anyway, what I'm saying is, everyone gets bad reviews. Go check some of your favorite authors' Amazon pages, and you'll see it's true.

So, what to do?

You can either go cold turkey and quit reading all reviews, or you can get yourself a "stalker." My husband is mine. He reads me the very special reviews, and the ones so bad that they're actually kind of funny--and he doesn't mention the rest, thereby providing the right amount of encouragement and a few laughs. Maybe I'll post some examples here on the blog in the future. :)

One last suggestion: If you're asked to review others' work, it's sometimes best to just say no. Personally, I don't want to be the one to crush someone's dreams when they maybe just need more practice, to join a critique group, or to hire an editor--especially if the writer is a friend.

Putting your writing out there is a scary, daunting thing. I hope you'll be brave enough to do it, and to keep doing it, no matter how many "stars" you get.

P.S. Here's a great video on the topic of handling critics: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8-JXOnFOXQk
Thanks to author Jeff Wheeler for pointing me to it!

Ink bottle image courtesy of The Graphics Fairy.