Busy days for Rory's Stories

Just like the book, Rory O’Connor has a lot to cram in. Winning silverware with Donaghamore/Ashbourne, writing and performing sketches, there is also the matter of arranging his wedding to fiancée Emma next Friday. He did find some time to talk to FERGAL LYNCH about the many chapters ahead.

These are busy days indeed for Rory O’Connor – exciting times.

A few weeks ago he was part of the Donaghmore/Ashbourne side that retained the Feis Cup, he was also involved in the latter stages of the Intermediate Football Championship with his club, all the while writing and preparing to launch his new book.
Oh and did we mention the small matter of his wedding to Emma next Friday – he doesn’t do things by half does Rory.
When you mention the name Rory O’Connor, it will only ring a bell for the most loyal and passionate Meath supporter outside of Donaghmore/Ashbourne. However say the name Rory’s Stories and everyone with the slightest passing interest in GAA in the country will know who we are talking about.
The last two years have been a whirlwind for O’Connor and next Tuesday 7th November he will officially launch his first book ‘Rory’s Stories Guide to the GAA’ at a special function in Donaghmore/Ashbourne GAA clubhouse which is expected to be attended by the great and the good of Gaelic Games.
Just a couple of years ago O’Connor began writing a blog taking a humorous look at the light-hearted side of the GAA and, drawing on his own experiences as a former Meath footballer and excellent club player, he offered an alternative view to life in the GAA.
That blog led to a series of comedy sketches and since then the Rory’s Stories phenomenon has exploded and O’Connor has featured on RTE TV and Radio as well as guesting on numerous podcasts with his own unique take on life in the GAA.
The Rory’s Stories stage show is also one of the funniest nights out you can hope for, but now the Rory’s Stories journey has gone full circle and O’Connor is back doing what he loves best – writing.
“It was tough going from doing the videos to writing this book. I love writing and that is actually where the Rory’s Stories came from, I used to write a blog, so that is where it originally started,” O’Connor told the Meath Chronicle.
“I enjoy writing and I really love it, but regarding the book it took a while to get going, I just had to develop a routine during the summer and stick to it.
“So I used to get up at 4.30am, go for a walk or a jog around Ashbourne for 20 minutes and then spend from 5am to 7am writing and I felt that was a great help.
“I got a lot of advice off people who were writers and poets, they told me that the mind is at its best early in the morning, so I took that tactic.
“I didn’t look at my phone, I didn’t look at TV, absolutely nothing, I just sat down and started to write with a clear mind.
“The night before I’d come up with a few topics like January or the club dinner dance and then I’d just concentrate on them the next morning. I found that it just flowed out of the mind then. It was definitely a tactic that worked for me and going forward I’d certainly have more ambitions to write more books.
“At least I know that strategy works for me. You could sit down in the evening and try to horse it out, but you’d get an absolute blank, so the mornings are definitely the best.
“It was tough though. There were times when I was struggling and I doubted myself if I was able to do it on a certain day, but I suppose those things are normal.
“I was very lacksadaisy for the first few months and the publishers were all very nice telling me not to worry, but then all of a sudden they were onto me telling me to get the finger out because at the end of the day it was my reputation and their reputation that was at stake, so that lit a fire under me and forced me to concentrate a bit more.
“That was around June. I was heading off on my own stag party to Liverpool and I got an email off Gills Publishers on the Thursday, so that was all I needed. Then coming back after a couple of nights on the beer, I had to deal with the fear and then cope with writing the book.
“Once I came back from Liverpool I went hammer and tongs at it.
“So I just took a month away from football and I found that doing the bit of exercise early in the morning was just getting the mind going as well. Getting out of bed was 4.30am wasn’t ideal if I was to be going training then until 9.30 that night.
“So I took the whole month of July off and I got the whole thing written.”
There is no doubting O’Connor’s work ethic, but as he hinted himself when you do something you love for a living, then you never work a day in your life and that is certainly the position O’Connor finds himself in.
Even the early morning rises and the pressures of having to produce a book ready for the Christmas market didn’t knock O’Connor out of his stride and he still found time throughout the whole writing process to produce many more hilarious Rory’s Stories sketches and stage shows.
“The process of the book didn’t really interfere with what I was doing with the videos because I was writing between 5am and 7am, so then my little one would get out of bed around 7am and we’d have breakfast then she’d head off to the minders so I still had my day to get the sketches going,” said O’Connor.
“I still found myself going to bed at 8pm or 8.30pm just to have the head right for the next day, but it was all worth it. Now that I have the book in my hand I’m delighted.”
Off the back of the hugely success Rory’s Stories sketches and now a book that is sure to be a popular stocking filler for Christmas, where does the future lie for O’Connor?
Typical of the man, he has his finger in plenty of pies and knows what’s trending. O’Connor believes the future of entertainment lies in people’s mobile devices and that is where he is aiming for next.
“The whole ‘Rory’s Stories Guide to...’ is what I have a vision of doing. The niche that I am after opening up with the GAA has opened doors and hopefully this book goes well and then next year I can sit down and have a think about the plan.
“I’d love to get into working more in TV doing a bit of presenting, but I think we are going more and more away from TV at the minute and that social media is the way forward.
“I’d imagine that we might do a Rory’s Stories Show live on Facebook, a bit like Joe.ie are doing, a proper half-hour show where we will chat with people and do a few sketches, just generally have the craic.
“I do think the 18, 19, 20-year-olds have no interest in TV, it is all about their phones and the internet, so that could be the possibility, doing a show online further down the line.
“At the moment all the focus is on the book. It is the truth and it is GAA. It is not that I just put the Rory’s Stories name to something, this is a funny, true reflection of the GAA. It is a GAA family book, anyone from 10 to 80 can read it and enjoy it and totally relate to it.
“You’ll be reading about the corner-backs and the cocky corner-forwards and there’ll be so many names running through your head and you’ll think you’ll know everyone in the book,” concluded O’Connor before returning to complete the wedding preparations.