It's been a while since I got on here, but I have good reason.
A new arrival joined my family earlier this year in April!
So I have been on the go slow, and enjoying the cocoon that is the early months of motherhood.

But, as Backstreet once sang, oh my God - I'm back again.
Yes, along with voluminous shell pants and cold weather crop tops, I have returned to the world - perhaps with a similar level of reticence towards it as I would have towards the shell pant/crop top combo on a chilly October morning.

Luckily, I rarely have to venture out from my cabin in such attire thanks to a nifty home studio that has fared me well for local and international spots over the past couple of years. During my down time I made a few improvements to the sound and switched over to Ableton Live Lite, and I am very pleased with the results. I hope you are too.

At the moment, you may have heard me on the airwaves speaking sultrily about the good work of my friends over at Mazda, a gig I've been very happy to be doing for many years now. With thanks to Radiyo for the production on this latest digital radio campaign.

You might also have heard me speaking very very fast for Snapfish. Hopefully I have inspired you to get the countless photos of your sandwiches and loved ones (in that order) off your phone and onto your kitchen fridges, or cushion covers.

And, not to brag, but my mechanical engineering skills are quite something. Just check out this video I did for Visser & Smit Hanab.

Thanks for sharing this special moment with me as I relaunch myself back into the booth full-time. Not to sound too forward or anything, but, you know, call me.

Toodles!

It's been quite a while since I blogged on my website and there are a number of reasons why...

In the last six months I've been engaged, married, been growing a baby, and have been very busy with long and time-consuming voice and writing projects that have made me forget entirely about this wee website of mine.

But now, it's the Gregorian new year of 2022, 6 days after the Spring festival of Imbolc (when the shoots of the new year are really beginning), and the Year of the Tiger is now also underway, so there's just enough 'new' to get me going with some of my missed commitments of recent times.

One of the time-consuming projects I was delighted to be a part of is the above video - an audiobook for author Signe Knutson and Audible called Make Money Magic: 13 Easy Charms.

This was a delight to produce for many reasons  - I got to stretch my accent wings as a neutral British narrator for this one, and learn a lot of practical and magical money tips to increase my cash flow along the way... always a welcome gift as a self-employed woman!

Signe is releasing snippets of the book over on her channel, Money Magic. So, if you're in the market for a bit of a magical money boost (and in this economy, who isn't?) head over there and get the juices flowing.

You can hear more of my narration work on Audible here ( a new book is coming to my roster very soon!)

And you can hear some of my recent work on my Youtube channel, which I update as often as possible with work as it is released in the public domain, here.

Thanks for listening. If you like what you hear you can book me here.

Usually I'm the one doing the interviewing these days, when I'm podcasting with Film Network Ireland, but for a change I let Mark L'estrange interview me for his Author's Tuesday series of podcasts. Mark is a prolific podcaster, with two, sometimes three, episodes released a week, including tips from NLP specialist, Orlando Zucchetto.

Here, we chat about my writing, my new novelette coming soon from Open Pen London, and my work as a voice-over artist.

Happy listening!

WILDFIRE was nominated for 5 #IFTA awards this year (6 including Cathy Brady's Rising Star nomination!) and came home with 2 at the ceremony on July 4th - Best Director for Cathy and Best Actress - Film for the late, great Nika McGuigan, which was presented to her family. It was a beautiful tribute to the labour of love that is Wildfire, as well as an important honouring of the life & work of Nika McGuigan, who as well as being a magnificently talented actress, was also my friend. I know she's raising a glass of champagne - or perhaps a tequila-on-the-rocks - to us all now from her place among the stars. Cheers to you, Niks!

WILDFIRE had its first public screening in London's BFI on the summer solstice a fortnight ago, and I was lucky enough to be there to see it shown for the first time as it was meant to be seen - on the big screen.

I wanted to capture the magic of cinema again after so long being cooped up and confined to experiencing film through our laptops, so I brought my Zoom along to London and recorded the experience, in all its plush red velvet and surround-sound glory, live. I also managed to grab Cathy Brady and one of the film's co-leads, the IFTA nominated Nora-Jane Noone, afterwards for a chat. We talked about the long, challenging, and, at times, heartbreaking journey of this film from rehearsal room to screen, the magic of cinema, and what's coming next for the talented pair. Listen here!

Whilst trawling Youtube, I came across an old character of mine, the vibrant adventuress Amelie in Lux Vide's animated series 'The Extraordinary Adventures of Jules Verne.' 

I had a great time voicing this cartoon, with all its exploration across the earth and under the sea - lots of efforts, grunts, and generally fun foley was required.

It makes me want to do another animation ASAP!

Enjoy the clips, and if it's being shown somewhere near you, I hope you're loving watching it as much as we did making it.

Happy adventuring...

Yesterday, as Facebook likes to do sometimes, it showed me a memory. Most of the time when this happens I'd scroll past barely heeding it, let it draw a small chuckle as I briefly return to that time/space/messy night for a flickering moment, only to move on again swiftly to the next item on the agenda.

But this one made me pause. I was taken out of the torrential rain and blustering of an unseasonably cold May(vember) in my home studio of County Wicklow, Ireland, and brought straight back to a hot, sweaty and bustling London city, into a studio - Maple Street Creative - with a host of other artists all boxed into a small space with not a shred of social distancing in sight...

I was there after responding to a social media call out from VO East Africa, who had been looking for willing voice artists to contribute their time and talents pro bono to raising awareness of the drought-induced famine in East Africa at the time for the World Food Programme. A host of creatives turned up - not just actors and voice-overs, but writers and producers, too. They came from all over to various studios - we were just the London crew. Some joined in remotely. Of course, if it was to happen again today, it would be entirely remote. There would be no squeezing into a small studio in a heatwave, sharing air-conditioned air and booth space that hadn't been meticulously sanitised.

In that one 'memory' I realised just how vastly things have changed. Not just for me personally - I no longer live in London nor go on the actors' casting circuit these days - but globally. For everyone. It made me wonder - just how much has life changed for each individual in that photo, brought together on one day in May almost a decade ago? I can't recall most of their names, though I am still friends with a few of them on social media. Of the few I still see updates from, I know Nii Ayikwei Parkes is still a successful author, Mike Cooper still a successful voice-over (and a goat herd!) somewhere across the Atlantic. I don't know where Joseph, who organised it all, is these days - I don't see him often around Twitter. 

It made me miss London fiercely - even the suffocating tube on hot days. Though I highly doubt the sight of a packed and sweaty tube carriage is something that even exists at the moment. And it makes me miss the random creative unions that a life with spontaneity and freedom of movement allows. I'm sure a time will soon come when things like this can happen again. In person, live and direct. Where travel can again be spur of the moment and freeing, instead of anxiety-inducing. It will soon come. And I am more than ready for it.

Things have changed for many of us, but sadly for the people of East Africa, they are still the same. On and off since the drought of 2011, they have been dealing with food crisis after food crisis. To learn more and to help, go here.

I spent a lovely hour chatting to the award-winning Irish actress and writer/director, Eva Birthistle, for this FNI Wrapchat.

We spoke about the rise of the female actor/auteur, forging new career paths and her lovely London kitchen.

Have a listen above or on any of these podcast locations here. 

#WeAreFNI

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I spent a lovely hour chatting all thing uplifting in visual storytelling with cinematographer and director, Cathy Dunne. Cathy's moving and nostalgic short, 'Imprints' is currently showing at the DIFF, and well worth a watch. She was also responsible for the wonderful Through the Pane series that brought a lot of light in during the darkness of early lockdown in 2020.

We discuss the concepts of distance and closeness, the importance of family, and the obligation of the artist to their audience. Have a listen!
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More on FNI and all their wonderful resources for creatives in the film and television industry, here.

It's months into the third lockdown in a year, and the rain outside my dimly lit studio window is torrential. It's also a Friday, but without the prospect of any sort of recognisable weekend. Such concepts don't really count these days.

Which is why I think that this audiobook I voiced for Audible, Susanne O'Leary's 'A Holiday to Remember' is the perfect antidote to our collective pandemic malaise.

Following two women whose unexpected lottery win sees them sighing over cerulean waters as they skirt the European coastline in their snazzy red convertible, this - at times hilariously far-fetched - romp of hedonistic pleasure and luxury could not be more perfect for the inevitable dullness so many of us are experiencing in captivity.

Give it a listen - it might just be the virtual shot of Vitamin D you need to keep you going until spring arrives in earnest.

Here's a short snippet (below) of the first chapter via my soundcloud.

You can buy the full audiobook here.