Born in 1990 in the smallest county in Ireland, Louth, I was a surprise baby coming almost 21 years after my only sibling, my sister Sharon. But I was always very much loved despite the surprise. And in return I love my parents and sister very much. A lot of people say siblings with a big age difference can’t be close but me and my sister are incredibly close. As a family, me, mum, dad and Shar lived in a small town in Meath called Oldcastle with our dog who was like part of the family Cookie. In 2008, we lost my father after he died suddenly from heart trouble. It was a really terrible time. He was the kindest man you could meet: encouraging to me and my sister, a wonderful caring husband to my mum and someone who also told me and my sister that nothing or no one was above or below us. In 2010, Cookie also passed away. Some people think you don’t feel pain over the death of pets but it was awful. He’d been with us 12 years and he felt like a little brother to me.
By 2011, me, my mum and sister had moved to Bray, Wicklow. It was very new and very wonderful. I’m not really a small-town kind of person. I think that’s maybe because I lived in it for so long. Maybe if it was the opposite way around I wouldn’t be a city person. Although I don’t know if I’d have been a writer or not if I grew up in a city. There’s less to do in a small town and that, combined with my introverted personality, was probably why I read and wrote a lot. It was a way to express myself. Like a creative outlet. A way to get out there my thoughts that I couldn’t in everyday life. And I also just loved creating characters as well. But now I love writing and reading so much that wherever I am I still do both.
When I was 22, I started a fashion course in Sallynoggin College of Further Education. I was always more interested in the writing/journalism side of the fashion world, but in general it was a new experience learning about other sides of the industry, like design and styling, but I can’t see myself going into work in those areas. At 25, I went to the Dun Laoghaire Institute of Art, Design and Technology for the year, where I was learning about English Literature, Culture and Media. It’s more what I’m into but fees and the bus got far too expensive, so I had to make the difficult decision to drop out. I would like to get a BA in the area I’m interested in some day, but it might take time. For two and a half years I volunteered in the Irish Cancer Society Shop in Bray and it was a wonderful experience to get to do something to help people. Me and my mum also recently collected money for another amazing charity called Barnardos. I hope to do more voluntary work in the future. Over time, I’ve also done some online courses and some courses by post. I’m very interested in the world and learning about new topics and it helps with my writing too as a lovely bonus.
Personally, in the last few years, I’ve found out a lot of things about myself that I didn’t know before like that I was pansexual and an Atheist. Before that, I thought I was straight and Catholic. So yeah, there’s been a lot of self-discovery indeed. And I’ve realised change is not frightening, in fact it’s pretty amazing. Outside of writing and reading I love music especially rock and pop music and next to that musical theatre music and get to as many shows and concerts as I can but it can be quite expensive so not all the time! My mum, my sister and I also love a bit of gambling. We like heading into our local bookies and having a bit of a flutter. Me and my mum also love getting a few scratch cards. We’re trying to get our fortune. Hasn’t happened yet. Well, might never but one can dream! Also I love dogs, films, TV and am passionate about equality.
I write because I love it. It feels more like a need than a want. And getting the opportunity to do that is a wonderful blessing every single day. I’ve had my blog since August 2013 on WordPress which I’m very proud of especially considering it took me ages to figure out how to set it up! I’m not the most technologically savvy sometimes but I get there in the end! Currently I also have 12 books up on Amazon and writing my 13th book.
Thank you so much everybody for reading! 🙂
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Chris The Story Reading Ape's Blog 
Lisa, it’s a pleasure to meet you here on The wonderful Story Reading Ape’s blog! I agree, pets are part of the family and it’s hard when we have to say goodbye to them. Your dad sounds like a great person, did he encourage your writing?
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Sorry for taking so long to get back to you Jacquie. Had a flu and haven’t been on here as much. Yes, he was very encouraging. I think he wanted me to be a dentist’s secretary for when he’d go for dental appointments but really he didn’t care. He just wanted me to be happy in whatever I loved. He was always very supportive and made sure me and my sister knew we could achieve anything we set our minds to. 🙂
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Interesting post, Lisa. I hope someday to get to Ireland and tour it top to bottom. I have a screenplay about Saint Patrick that I wrote part of and then got stuck – it’s in the queue for future work as well.
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That sounds really interesting. Good luck with it. 🙂
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Reblogged this on Author Don Massenzio and commented:
Meet guest author Lisa Reynolds from this post on The Story Reading Ape Blog.
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Thanks for reblogging, Don 😃
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My pleasure.
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Thank you for the reblog. 🙂
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My pleasure.
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