Moony McNelly

Moony McNelly

My wife and I have always been travelers. After both of us concluded our teaching careers of 30 plus years, we have tried to fill our retirement with even more extensive travels. We also enjoy hiking, reading, and with some reservation at praising an activity that couples pain with pleasure--writing. Shortly after my wife published her novella for adolescents: Topa and the Path of the Puma, I began working more consistently on the novel that would become Goin' Through the Motions: Last Renderin's from a Quester and Rounder. Although I have written poetry and numerous articles pertaining to Irish and Scottish culture which have appeared in "small" magazines and journals, I quickly discovered that the writing of a novel would be a mammoth undertaking. This proved true for a number of reasons such as those relating to the style and point of view I chose to adopt for the work, but not the least of these tasks was the personal nature of the content that I knew at times would be an intensely emotional experience for me. Having finally completed the work, I have decided that as I plod into my "maturer years," I will attempt to spend far less time at the keyboard and more time with real people and places. Still my desire to "scribble" will continue as long as I can come up with something about which I at least think I know just enough to legitimize my putting it on paper.