LibraryThing Author:
Joanna O'Neill
Joanna O'Neill is a LibraryThing Author, an author who lists their personal library on LibraryThing.
Random books from JoannaON's library
For the Good of the Horse by Mary Wanless
The Woman in White (Oxford World's Classics) by Wilkie Collins
The Loved One - Evelyn Waugh by Evelyn Waugh
Finn Family Moomintroll (Moomintrolls) by Tove Jansson
Three Men in a Boat (Collector's Library) by Jerome K. Jerome
Summerhays' Encyclopaedia For Horsemen by R. S. Summerhays, Compiler
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Friends: infiniteletters, katylit, Lil_Shepherd, MDLady, MerryMary, theoldman
LibraryThing authors: Joanna O'Neill (JoannaON)
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Member: JoannaON
CollectionsYour library (452)
ReviewsNone
TagsNone
Cloudsauthor cloud
GroupsRead YA Lit, The Green Dragon, What Are You Reading Now?
Favorite authorsFannie Flagg, Laurie Graham, Nicholas Stuart Gray, K.M. Peyton (Shared favorites)
About meI was born in 1955. I'm married to one engineer and mother to two more, one part way through a doctorate (zapping cancer cells) and one soon to graduate.
I was a full time mother in so far as getting paid for anything goes, but as soon as the younger one started school I shot off to college one day a week and studied stitched textiles. This led to exhibiting, speaking, contributing to magazines and quilt judging.
And I was horse-mad from the age of seven, although I've never had my own. I groomed, taught, exercised polo ponies, jumped sidesaddle, and even had a brief taste of in-hand pair driving. Then in 2006 I discovered Kelly Marks' Intelligent Horsemanship organisation (google "intelligent horsemanship") and now hold the MRPCH and am collecting case studies prior to (I hope) become one of Kelly's recommended associates.
And the writing... After decades of destroying the fiction I wrote, I belatedly realised that constructing a novel is like painting a picture - you don't start at the top left and paint your way down to the bottom right, but you underpaint first, then block in major shapes and add layers of detail, adjusting as you go. Now here I am with my first novel published and out there, and to my slight surprise being enjoyed by an unexpectedly wide range of ages.
The problem is that promoting that is interfering with writing the second novel, but I guess that's a nice problem to have.
About my libraryNot complete, of course. For a start, my sister and I split our childhood collection many years ago, and anyway I don't have the space to keep everything. Some years ago an Oxfam van took away several boxes of books I knew (ha!) I'd never read again, and do I regret some of them? Of course I do. Oh well. Not as bad as the Stilton pots.
From our first Christmas together, I bought my husband a nice ceramic pot of Stilton every year. I had cloudy notions of displaying a vast collection when I was eighty. Then one day I started drawing them together and realised there were several missing. That blew that idea out of the water, so I selected the best three and wrapped the rest up in newspaper and took them to the Oxfam shop.
The next day I suddenly "saw" one acting as a receptacle of brown coins. Oh! Then there was the one with the parslay pot in it, and another full of paperclips in the study. Well! (I still buy him a Christmas pot, but the sparkle has gone out of it now.)
Ah, having looked at some other profiles I see it is acceptable to add virtual books - books borrowed or lost. I'll expand from memory, then.
I was pretty ruthless with the star rating. It was hard to be consistent, so I walloped through acting on impulse. In any case, the ratings represent how I feel about the books rather than my objective assessment of them.
Homepagehttp://www.joanna-oneill.com
Real nameJoanna O'Neill
LocationBerkshire, England
Account typepublic, lifetime
Connection NewsConnection News
URLs
http://www.librarything.com/profile/JoannaON (profile)
http://www.librarything.com/catalog/JoannaON (library)
Common KnowledgeSeries (63), Awards (147), Characters (1737), Places (263)
Member sinceOct 16, 2009
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posted by HannaRose at 9:34 pm (EST) on Nov 2, 2009
I agree, talking about books is probably the BEST way to market them. I would say that only about 20% of the books I've read are because of good marketing. If the synopsis appeals to me (and I have the money) I'll buy it, but I mostly borrow books or get them at garage sales or secondhand stores-which means that the marketing team that I'm sure worked very hard to get the book to young readers like myself get zero/zilch/zippo for their efforts. Aww, poor, poor marketing department!
I don't think I have read those books. I have heard them mentioned though. Have you read a book, I believe it's called something along the lines of "One of Those Awful Books Where the Mother Dies"? I'm not exactly sure why, but I was reminded of that book whilst reading your comment.
From what I have read of Invisible, I like it. It reminds me quite a bit of a book called "The Secret of Lost Things" (which I highly recommend), the author of which I cannot recall for the life of me. Honestly, I could go and get the book from my room and check the author's name, but that would require me passing my warm, comfy bed, and in the caffiene-deprived state I'm in, with way too many emails to read, that would not be wise, as I would probably not wake for several days.
My sister, who happens to be a year older, would definately like your book (and Deedre' is a harsh critic, trust me). I'll recommend it to her, but it could be months before she gets close to reading it- she's got stacks of books that "HAVE TO BE READ YESTERDAY!!!" to loosely quote her. I think Invisible is well written, and definately worth the agony of downloading it, really getting into it, and then realizing with dismay and frustration that the book you just started and really liked has only provided the prologue and first chapter, which means I have to get off my butt, order it from Barnes and Noble, wait (FOREVER! they are so slooooow, urgh!), and then somehow con my mother into loaning me money to buy it. Was that a long sentence? Like I mentioned, I'm way to caffiene-deprived to be replying to emails or comments. I swear, when I'm tired my emails are worse than drunk dialers phone calls.
Anyway! I'm off to bed (finally). Have an awesome day. (Oh! And I forgot to mention in the last comment that I think all the work you do with horses is pretty cool.)
Peace!
HannaRose
posted by HannaRose at 6:52 am (EST) on Nov 2, 2009
Thanks for the nice comment! I've visited your website (very nice by the way) and have saved A World Invisible to my computer so I can read it. No worries-eBook's are all fine, I've read a few on the comnputer before. Although I must admit I am a bit slow to acknowledge their real worth: in my mind, books on the computer are just not the same as books on paper. Haha, some child of the technological revolution I am! Either way, on screen or paper, I get to read the book, which is all that matters :)
Thanks a ton!
Hanna
posted by HannaRose at 7:11 pm (EST) on Nov 1, 2009
posted by Lil_Shepherd at 12:52 pm (EST) on Nov 1, 2009
Hi! My name is HannaRose. I saw that you were putting up several copies of your book, "A World Invisible" in the MemberGiveaways section. I requested it, and wanted to let you know that I would really appriciate a copy to read and review! The book sounds right up my alley. While I read about 70% YA, I find that lately I've been enjoying books that are a bit of a cross between YA and Adult novels-like what Invisible sounds like. I wouldn't usually be so forward in contacting an author asking for a copy of their book, but it sounds really good and my library card is locked (I left an expensive book on an airplane last summer and can't pay to replace it and unlock my card, oops!). Anyway, thanks for reading this rambling comment, haha.
Peace!
HannaRose
posted by HannaRose at 2:18 am (EST) on Oct 31, 2009
To me there are different levels of YA lit. Well, there should be. Some 12 year olds are reading the Lord of the Rings and some can't get past the first page of Twilight. And If you look at the Twilight craze....it has nothing at all to do with their ages; It's the characters themselves. Edward is supposedly a senior in high school yet there are 10 and 11 year olds reading those books.
The only thing that would seem non YA about 'A World Invisible' is the setting. Dealing with museums and art is a little over the head of most kids. Again though, some kids that are at that level are going to love it.
Cathy
posted by MDLady at 11:31 am (EST) on Oct 29, 2009
posted by JeanLittleLibrary at 11:41 am (EST) on Oct 21, 2009
I've been rec-ing it to people who like psychic treasurehunty type of stuff. :)
(I'm fully willing to spread the word if authors aren't spammy and their books deserve it.)
Random: Have you not read The Sword and the Crown yet, or should it just be a virtual book in your library?
posted by infiniteletters at 9:02 am (EST) on Oct 21, 2009
dreams that need completion, by pure love that needs expressing,
then we truly live life.
- Greg Anderson
Children love to be alone, because alone is where they know
themselves, and where they dream
- Roger Rosenblatt
posted by theoldman at 6:20 am (EST) on Oct 21, 2009