Today on the blog, author Joanne Ryan Curran dishes on her new release, The Cards That Changed My Life.
The Cards That Change My Life
by
JOANNE RYAN CURRAN
‘Joanne Ryan Curran’s writing fizzes and sparkles from the very first page. Fresh, funny, fierce and utterly captivating.’ Caroline Grace-Cassidy
What’s The Cards That Changed My Life about?
The Cards That Changed My Life is a modern-day fairytale for adults with a romance story at its core. Set in a bookshop in Dublin. It’s the perfect holiday read and also makes a great book club pick as it raises plenty of ‘What would you do?’ questions, which can lead to lively discussions. Published June 2024.
It is a story about a 23-year-old, investment banker, Jane, who uses a pack of magical cards to navigate her life in search of love and success. It explores the notion of love and life with new beginnings. It’s about consequences, relationships, loneliness, heartache and romance. A cautionary tale about making wishes come true.
The blurb:
What if a pack of cards could give you whatever you wanted?
Twenty-three-year-old, investment banker, Jane McAlister, longs to be as successful as her famous actress sister, Gillian, and find love. She is in love with her friend, Ben, but he’s unavailable. After she loses out on a promotion to Ben, she visits a second-hand bookshop in Dublin, where she is given a pack of magical cards, from Tara, the kindly bookseller she has known since childhood.
The cards give her a chance to step out of her comfort zone and make her wishes come true. But every wish has a consequence, and once you pick a card there’s no turning back. Do the cards hold all the answers or are they too much to handle?
Who is Joanne Ryan Curran?
Joanne Ryan Curran is a new Irish writer, she’s originally from a small village in Bettystown, Ireland and has also lived in London and Canada. She is an accountant, yet from a young age has always wanted to write a novel. As a child she was an avid reader, and in particular loved Enid Blyton books. She enjoyed making up stories for her niece and nephew when they were young and now in her spare time, she dreams up stories of magic and mystery for her own children and adults too.
Where did Joanne get the inspiration for The Cards That Changed My Life?
During Covid, Joanne noticed a lot of posts online and on social media about the believe and achieve culture, manifesting and card readings. She bought a pack of Tarot cards and one day while she was shuffling the cards, she thought, what if these cards were magic and could really give you whatever you wanted? She imagined a young blonde woman who used a pack of cards to find love and success in her life. This idea combined with the concept of choices and how they can impact your life and others around you formed the basis of the novel.
How did she get her novel published?
Joanne wrote the novel, The Cards That Changed My Life during Covid-19. She spent three years working on it, and was then selected as one of the mentees to work with writer-in-residence, Nicola Cassidy, who conducted a mentorship to help writers get published, during her 2022 residency at An Táin Arts Centre in Ireland. Joanne found the mentorship to be really helpful. After this she independently published her novel. She was spurred on by reading the success of other self-published authors and believed her book was ready to be released into the world. Although it was a lot of work, she feels there are many benefits to self-publishing such as having more control over your work and being able to bring the book to market quicker.
What was her writing process for this book?
She wrote 500 words a day until her first draft was complete. Half way through the book she undertook some writing courses with Curtis Brown Creative. She learnt how to write scenes and plot and plan out the remainder of the book until she reached the end.
She spent 3 years working on the book. It took 12 drafts and many rewrites, edits and proofreads until the novel was ready to be published. She enjoys writing in busy cafés with background noise to listen to.
What’s her advice for anyone who wants to write a book?
Go for it. Just write. The more you write the easier it becomes. It’s like turning on a tap to your subconscious. Write about something you enjoy. Just get the first draft out and afterwards you can shape it the way you want to. Don’t over think it, every writer doubts themselves at some point, but this will pass. Just push through it. Even if you dedicate a small amount of time to it, it all adds up. Don’t give up. Make your book the best it can be and believe in it. Belief is what you need for your novel to be a success.
Links to buy the book are:
Signed author copies can be bought online from: The Cards That Changed My Life | Buythebook.ie
Author Bio
Joanne was born and raised in Ireland, and has lived in Canada, London and Dublin. From a young age, Joanne has had a vivid imagination fuelled by her love of reading Enid Blyton books. She is an accountant and in her spare time dreams up stories full
of magic and mystery. She now lives in County Louth, Ireland. The Cards That Changed My Life is her debut novel.
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