Paul Kimmage has given his reasons for deciding to pull out of ghost-writing Brian O'Driscoll's autobiography, explaining they decided to part company after a disagreement over a potential O'Driscoll interview with this weekend's papers.
Kimmage, who works for the Sunday Independent, said 'It's a big Sunday for Brian and it would have been a big Sunday for me as a newspaper writer.'
He was speaking at 'The Sunday Independent goes Off The Page' event last night.
He went on to explain:
'I called him up and I said, 'Listen, Brian, if you're not doing interviews, that's fine, but if you are doing interviews, it would really help me if you gave it to the 'Sunday Independent' because they have been extremely generous to me in allowing me the time I need to do this [write his autobiography].
'Brian felt that was a concession he couldn't make, he was going to talk to someone else. I felt he was being unreasonable and he felt I was being unreasonable, and that's where we parted.'
As the Independent reveals today, Kimmage had just finished a 20,000-word draft of BOD's autobiography and last night he said that their parting company feels similar to a break-up:
'I am enduring a lot of pain – it is similar to the break-up of a loving relationship, which is what I had with Brian. A break-up is sad and it's never easy and it's never fun. I've a deep hole in myself now, which is going to take a while to fill.'
Read: Paul Kimmage Quits As Brian O'Driscoll's Ghostwriter
O'Driscoll has said 'I have enjoyed working with Paul over the last few years and it is unfortunate that we cannot complete this project together.'
The autobiography will now be written by Alan English of the Limerick Leader.
hat-tip: Alan Lynch
