To celebrate the publication day of her debut novel, Ordinary Saints, we caught up with 2022 Discoveries shortlisted Niamh Ní Mhaoileoin to learn more about her writing process and workspace.
Where do you write?
I’m fortunate enough to have a spare bedroom, which is empty most of the time and doubles as my office. Though I also write a lot in different libraries around Edinburgh, when I need a change of scene or to do some research. I’m so grateful for libraries and librarians, and believe we should all be ready to fight for them. Oh, and in the summer I sometimes do my morning pages in the garden with a coffee, which is heaven.
What do you have on your desk?
Books, notebooks, laptop, loose sheets of paper, Post-its, multivitamins, empty coffee cups, chargers, Strepsils, candles, bits of post, a hairbrush, headphones, my light therapy lamp, a biscuit. I’ve always aspired to minimalism but sadly it’s just not who I am.
Which is the most inspiring object in your workspace?
The desk itself, probably. It’s a beautiful cherry wood writing desk that belonged to my mother. She was incredibly supportive of me as a writer, and it’s very special to have a constant connection with her as I work.
I also stick things to the wall in front of me for inspiration – postcards and scraps of text mostly. While I was working on Ordinary Saints it included a Picasso mother and child, Jacob wrestling the angel by Gaugin, and some of Gaudí’s sketches for the Sagrada Família. Now that I’ve moved on to a new project, I have, among other things, a photograph of two butch lesbians kissing outside the Houses of Parliament.
What does your writing process, from gathering ideas to finished manuscript, look like?
As a debut novelist, I don’t think I fully know yet. For Ordinary Saints I jumped straight in on page one and started writing, without much of a plan or an idea of where I was going. With my new project, I’m taking a different approach and have been doing lots and lots of free writing, by hand, from different perspectives and at different points in the story. I’m trying to give myself the freedom to play, explore, and get to know the characters organically. My approach to research is also quite free-flowing. I read and watch a lot, but I try to let myself be guided by interest and chance, indulging whims, chasing tangents, finding and following desire paths.
That said, I’m very disciplined about my working hours. Because I also work freelance in non-profit communications, I break my week into writing and non-writing days and maintain a consistent eight-to-five schedule across all of them. On writing days I’ll usually manage three to five hours of focused writing in the morning then, when the well is running dry, I switch to editing, reading or research.
What can you see from your window?
I look out over my neighbour’s garden, which luckily for me she maintains beautifully. It’s also populated by a rotating cast of extremely charismatic cats.
Have you ever had a particularly good piece of writing advice?
Annie Lamott’s writing guide, Bird by Bird, is kind of a sacred text to me. In particular, her insistence that publication can’t be your primary goal: it may never happen and even if it does it won’t be the magic bullet you think it’s going to be. Instead, her advice is all about learning to love the writing itself. Right now, I’m having such a great time talking about Ordinary Saints and connecting with readers. But though it’s all so exciting, there’s part of me that can’t wait until I’m back in the quiet of the spare room, working on the next thing.
