Amanda Cassidy, journalist and author of three novels, the most recent being The Perfect Place, talks to us about family, home, writing and more …
Amanda Cassidy’s debut novel, Breaking, was shortlisted for the CWA Dagger Awards and her most recent novel, The Perfect Place, has just been published by Canelo Crime.
ON HOME Home is a tiny little cottage in Dublin with roses over the door. This is where the madness unfolds with two dogs, three kids and two of us working from home for the most part. We’re lucky in that we are up a lane away from the main road, so we’re tucked away and it feels quite peaceful.
ON FAMILY I’m from a large family of five siblings. We grew up in Maynooth over my dad’s pub in the village. From an early age we would fall asleep with the sounds of voices murmuring beneath us in the pub. Some of my earliest memories are of being in the pub listening to very inappropriate stories from the auld lads; they were such captivating storytellers. All my siblings live within ten minutes of each other now and we see each other probably too much. We’re really close.
ON ROOTS We moved up to Dublin after I made my First Communion. I’ve been in Dublin so long I shouldn’t say I’m from Kildare, but I think I was shaped by my time in Maynooth. Maynooth University and its beautiful grounds was our playground.
ON WRITING I took a very meandering path to get where I wanted to be. I was a very shy child but I loved reading out my essays in class because I was really proud of what I had written. I just couldn’t articulate that I was a storyteller. I did an internship at Sky News Ireland and got the bug for writing news and then I went to Newstalk radio station, which is where I learned to build stories. Once I started having children, I couldn’t do night shifts and early morning shifts so that’s when I started writing as a journalist. During Covid I thought, if I don’t write this book now, I’ll never do it.
ON MY DESK I write in a little shed in the garden that the kids used to use for gaming. The dogs sleep at my feet. It’s draughty, but I have a little heater and a blanket and a nice view of a birch tree. It’s just a little place where I can form ideas and get them down on paper without having someone tap me on the shoulder. On my desk there are lots of notebooks which I go back to for ideas I’ve had, notes on a character I’ve seen or overheard in a café, and some quotes, including that quote from Roosevelt about daring greatly. It’s probably a cliche but it does motivate me if I get a bad review or if I have self-doubt. It’s important to remind myself that at least I’m trying.
ON BUSINESS I’ve always had a really strong work ethic. I’ve learned a lot about branding over the years and I think it’s really important for a writer. Yes, writing is creative but at the end of the day writers are also entrepreneurs and one-person businesses. We have to push forward and network. It is hard to find that balance between being an introvert and having to shout on social media about the work you’re doing.
ON SUCCESS Success has always meant being able to call myself a writer and write books people want to read. To move people with your words is so powerful. That for me is success. I just wish it paid more. Then it would be perfect.
The Perfect Place (Canelo Crime, €14.99) by Amanda Cassidy is out now.
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