Cill Rialaig Residency
It seems whenever we at Tyler's publicity team blink, he's sneaking out the back door of his house or office, ducking his domestic and/or administrative duties, and withdrawing to some remote location in pursuit of his so-called 'muse'. Like all (okay, most) writers he is flaky, superstitious, prone to bouts of over-confidence followed by sudden dips of depression, and feels the need to nurture his muse in order to maintain his artistic intuition. We get that. We understand it. We support it. But for this last retreat, did he really have to apply for a residency in such a remote location, without Wifi or mobile access? It made it impossible to keep tabs on him, which we suppose was the point. Small wonder, considering he was living in a stone cottage in a pre-famine fishing village, clustered on the cliffs overlooking the Irish coast; he did think to take a photo, so you can see the admittedly beautiful, semi-mystical site below...
And yes, we grant that being awarded a prestigious Cill Rialaig Residency was a real boost for Tyler, and seemed to put a little pep in his artistic step, but such was the extent of his hermitry, and immersion in the craft, we began to worry he was getting delusions of grandeur, and might adopt a new monk-like devotion, and like so many tourists since the filming of The Force Awakens, start playing at being Luke Skywalker on nearby Skellig Michael. But Tyler did come home eventually, with a bundle of new work, so it seems the retreat was productive. That's all great - but he'd also racked up a bundle of what we at his team call 'obs', or obligations: not just to us but to his put-upon family. Time to clean some dishes, Skywalker, and change a few nappies.