LUCK OF THE IRISH

LUCK OF THE IRISH
Friday, March 8, 2024 by KATE DARROCH

Categories: Friday's Fiction / GUEST AUTHORS

PLEASE WELCOME

KATE DARROCH

FICTION FRIDAY

THE AUTHOR’S JOURNEY

I believe that all journeys are the same journey, the wandering path we follow as we try to find the nature of meaning and our true connection with God through our Christian faith. My journey has been full of storms. But our faith doesn’t promise us an absence of storms, only the strength to walk through each storm (in my own life, sometimes to crawl through) with the aid of the grace sent to us by our Lord. There is only one Truth, but as many paths to it as there are people in the world.

At the moment, I’m trying to find meaning in ill health, and that isn’t the fool’s quest that it sounds. When we see a recurrent pattern in our lives, especially a pattern that requires us to exercise the virtue that comes hardest – in my case patience and tolerance – and resist the vice that has us most strongly in its grip – for me lassitude – we may feel confident that our God is speaking to us through people.

I’ve been ill since my infancy, and seven times I’ve come as close to death as you can come and not hear angels sing. But I’m still breathing, from which I conclusively infer that there is still work that I am intended to do on this earth.

For what are we born, for what do we live, if not to be the hands and feet of our Lord Christ Jesus on earth, and to do the work He sends us? I believe that for me, the work that He sends me right now is creating stories. Tomorrow it might be something else.

I wrote my first “real” story when I was twelve years old, about a schoolboy who had a magic watch that would transport him anywhere/anytime. It was a comedy. And ever since, the goal of my writing has been to make people laugh. But writing is a joy that I seize now and then from amongst many other more time-consuming tasks. My writing journey has been long and winding. My ambition was not to be an author, it was to be a playwright. And despite a lot of effort, that hasn’t happened.

But what has happened is that in the course of learning about self-publishing, I made many author friends. When I learned how children were being treated in the Texas internment camps, I asked my friends to join with me in writing a book of Cozy stories, to help the kids by selling our work and sending the money from sales to a non-profit that battles endlessly to rescue those children.

The result is Luck of the Irish, ten St Patrick’s Day-themed Cozy tales by ten authors. We hope you enjoy them. The book is releasing for St Patrick’s Day, and I have already started recruiting authors for my next anthology in aid of the children, which will be a collection of Country House Cozies, coming out at Thanksgiving.

I am currently writing a thriller in aid of a different non-profit that rescues small children from trafficking. And I’m writing another thriller in aid of Amnesty International. I can do that because I have been blessed with a small but adequate income that lets me write for the benefit of those whom I believe need help, rather than to earn a living. And that is a great joy. Why do I choose to help with writing rather than volunteering my time? Three reasons.

I get ideas for stories, and I believe this is like the parable of the Talents. I don’t want to be the servant who buries his talent in the ground because he believes that his master is a hard man. I believe that my Master is loving and giving, so I write stories whenever I can.

My health is so poor, that I’m not consistently available to do any work, so I probably wouldn’t be a lot of use as a volunteer. But we can always do something to help those less fortunate, and what I can do is write.

No one knows what the future will bring, but books have the potential to live forever. I hope, over time, by writing books I can contribute some joy to the world. By contributing my book royalties, my time will have been spent more usefully, and be of more value to the charities I support than if I had volunteered.

And who knows? Maybe one day I’ll write a play, and perhaps it will be performed.

ABOUT LUCK OF THE IRISH

A Cozy Mystery Anthology

Ten Tales by Cozy Authors

Chosen as the Wishing Shelf Awards Book of the Month, March 2024

Releasing 16th March 2024, currently on Preorder

Ten Tantalising Cozy Mysteries to Enjoy on Saint Patrick's Day!

Sure to make you chuckle, make you go "aawww," and keep you guessing!

Plus the authors' Favorite Saint Patrick's Day Recipes.

HALF-PRICE on PREORDER, only $1.99. Will be $3.99 on release.

Preorder link

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CS57SGWJ

Have fun curling up with these Cozy stories and a delicious drink, knowing that just by enjoying these tales you are doing good in the world too - because 100% of book sales proceeds go to a non-profit helping children living in terrible conditions.

ABOUT KATE DARROCH

Kate Darroch lives on the picturesque Devon coastline, where she combines her passion for cozy sleuths and her experiences of life as it’s lived in many countries to create compelling Travel Cozies.

Màiri Maguire, the sleuth in Kate's debut novel, Death in Paris, earned many international book awards, including the Readers Favorite Gold Medal.

Next, Kate created Huntingdon Hart, a witty, prescient, multi-millionaire, tongue-in-cheek cross between James Bond and Sherlock Holmes, who’s in love with a much older woman.

Kate’s most recent work is the Christian Second Chance for Lasting Love Series, Sweets By the Sea, a saga of Recovery and Redemption.

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