Cathy Kelly has a life lesson or two to share.
Here she shares with VIP Magazine the lessons she has learned over the decades…
What I learned in my twenties
In my twenties, I was sure I was doing it all wrong, while outwardly probably looking as if I had it all right! I’d been working in journalism since turning twenty and was hired as a news reporter along with the now wildly famous crime journalist, Paul Williams. Paul and I were called the Dempsey and Makepeace of the newspaper after an ITV cop show. Paul was brilliant at news and I was hopeless. What I loved was writing about the people behind the hard news stories. It took until my thirties to understand that this wasn’t a failing – it was just that my skills were wasted as a news reporter. This lesson took a long time to really learn!
In my thirties
My darling children were born in my late thirties and even though people often imagine writers being most proud of their books, I’m prouder of Dylan and Murray than of any book. In this decade, I learned how to move away from being an employee. This was hastened, to be fair, by my being fired from the newspaper! So I became a full-time writer in my early thirties and have never looked back. I was in hospital after having my children when my paperback novel of the time, Best of Friends, went to Number One on the Sunday Times Bestseller List, which was thrilling, but really, the babies were my biggest joy.
In my forties
‘How do you juggle it all?’ That’s the question you get asked most often as a career woman with kids and I tried to be honest. ‘Chaotically and with child minding help’ was often the reply. You can’t leave two small children to go on tour in Australia or South Africa without having a beloved childminder installed in the house. I only ever went away for work and even then, it was like organising a gig in Croke Park. I learned to work until I picked the kids up from school, and then sit with them doing homework. I learned how wonderful life with children is.
In my fifties
I learned that ‘may you live in interesting times’, really is a Chinese curse! In my fifties, I had many interesting times. I split from my husband, fell in love again with the angelic PJ, got breast cancer, got divorced and moved house. I think this is breaking all the mirrors at once. The thing about cancer is that it rips you apart and when you put yourself back together, you understand what and who matters.
