Gillian

My name is Gillian. I am 22 and from Waterford City in the "sunny south east" of Ireland but I now live in grey Dundalk,a town on the border of the North and the Republic which is swiftly turning into a ghost ville. At the moment I'm unemployed. I try to dedicate as much time as possible to writing but I'm easily distracted but maybe my distractions are just inspirations?I graduated from college last year with a degree in English, Media & Cultural Studies (see above;"unemployed"! ;)).Poets I've been influenced by include Wendy Cope, Patrick Kavanagh, Kerouac,Leonard Cohen,some Keats,some Yeats,Dickinson,Emerson,Whitman,T.S. Eliot,Dylan Thomas I also have a soft spot for James Joyce,Clive Barker, Murakami, Poppy Z. Brite. and Flann O'Brien.The three greatest books I've ever read are The Dharma Bums by Kerouac, Veronika Decides To Die by Paulo Coehlo and Nausea by Sartre.But I'm not a total book-worm... music gets me going too especially The Smiths,Morrissey,Mazzy Star, Sonic Youth,Marha Wainwright, Jenny Lewis, Leonard Cohen,The Be Good Tanyas, The Waiting Room...lots and lots!

I'd love to be a more prolific writer but I just don't always have the will or stamina to commit to my pen and paper.I write a lot of dire poems which I think are good for a while before I come to my senses.Sometimes,I make a lot of typos when I type. I hope this didn't sound like a pile of pompous waffle!! [gilliannoellesmith.bebo.com]