Two writers in one house?! by Sheena Wilkinson

This week I played a part in a book launch, standing onstage, telling the audience -- and it was a packed house -- about this wonderful book they should all buy and would certainly enjoy. No, it wasn't my own book this time. This book, Punters on Tour: Around Ireland in 26 Racecourses is by my husband, Seamus Hynds. So now we are two writers in one house! 

the latest literary power couple? (photo: Raphael Mason)

Will we suddenly become like Kingsley Amis and Elizabeth Jane Howard? Leonard and Virginia Woolf? Ted Hughes and Sylvia Plath? I don't think there's any danger of that -- Seamus has always said it would be 'one and done', whereas I can't imagine ever stopping writing. 

this is what it's all about 

Back in 2016, when we were just pals, Seamus, a massive fan of horse racing, told me of his plans to visit every racecourse in Ireland and write a book about it. Now when you’re a writer, as many readers of this blog are, people are always telling you about the book they’re going to write. Most of the time you never hear another word about it. But Seamus is a man of his word and, by the start of 2019, after a major life event (being widowed) he tentatively shared a few chapters with me, knowing that, as a very honest person and a professional writer, I would give him helpful feedback. 

the finished book -- cover design by Emma Pass 

What he didn't know was that by then, I'd started to fall for him, so I was terribly nervous reading those first chapters. I knew I'd find it hard to be in love with someone whose writing wasn't good! The fact that we've now been married for almost five years should tell you all you need to know about the quality of the book.

I'd been through the self-publishing route last year myself with Miss McVey Takes Charge https://awfullybigblogadventure.blogspot.com/2025/03/awfully-big-adventures-in-self.html, but unlike me, Seamus always planned to self-publish, and it was refreshing for me to see someone so focussed on simply writing the best book he could, without worrying about the market. Luckily, being married to me, he had an editor on tap, though we also engaged someone else for a line edit. My friend, the writer Emma Pass, designed a fantastic cover. 

some of the audience at the launch (photo: Raphael Mason)

The launch was fantastic, with about a hundred people from all aspects of Seamus's life packing out the Seamus Heaney Home Place, one of Northern Ireland's best literary venues. Seamus, first as a supportive old friend and latterly as a partner, has been to all my book launches, so it was fantastic to be at his -- actually I MC'd it: it would have been even more surreal to have been simply in the audience! 

I'm proud of all my own books, but it's been lovely to be a kind of midwife for this one. Every day Seamus is getting messages from people who are enjoying it, whether racing fans or not -- there's a lot in the book about grief, recovery and friendship -- and it's wonderful to see him experiencing that connection with readers, which, as we all know, whether we write fiction or non-fiction, for adults or children, is what it's all about. 

It's my turn to publish the next book, though!