New Irish books magazine!

Exciting news, exciting news- what looks like a legit, interesting online books quarterly. I do hope they keep up what they started, and who knows, I might do a little parkbenching in there, too. Wouldn't that be nice. They probably don't pay, but neither do some other very reliable books sites. Have a look at the sharp-looking Dublin Review of Books. Good work, folks. You have the Irish blogging community paying attention, anyway, which is certainly a great start. But where, I ask myself, is 36, College Green? Are these trinnerskids? And if not, how'd they get such a jammy office? Hmmm...


At any rate, serious-minded criticism in an accessible format, highly recommended by yours truly.

Obviously, another winner, for similar reasons and bearing a similar title, is the more tangible Dublin Review. A lot of care goes into it, and it shows- it's respected and enjoyed by people who know their stuff, but interests the youngins like myself. Going strong for some years now, it contains all sorts of literary gorgeousness, criticism, short fiction, long essays, autobiographical stories, dabblings of new travel writers and esteemed authors. Worth its weight in gold, and well produced. Simple words, with a *gasp* design concept? Well laid out, simple, consistently entertaining reading, and one of those things you're proud to say you read. Your challenge for the week? Use the words munken cream at the next possible opportunity.

Freelance aspirations

So in a recent e-ponder at my understandably none-too-impressed mother, I wondered exactly how much freelance reviewing and writing one would have to get before giving up the day job. This is, of course, a very naive train of thought, but Hell, that's what blogs are for.

I have found that freelancers spend so much time having to promote themselves and their abilities that they become unreliable narrators of how they spend their time, or alternately, they've been doing it for so long that they started in a time when things were very different. I would love to know more about the harsh realities of freelance features journalism and how one makes the leap. If you've already got a national broadsheet and a few major literary outlets under your belt, what's next? How do you up the ante from £40 or £60 pieces without ending up making coffee in a newsroom somewhere? Need it necessarily be a one-way ticket to the poorhouse and 60-hour weeks alone on your laptop? Will you always be faced with people asking if you never wanted a 'real career'? Will you cease to care? Ponder ponder.