{"id":737,"date":"2017-07-28T15:24:22","date_gmt":"2017-07-28T15:24:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thearmchairkitchen.com\/?p=737"},"modified":"2023-10-29T16:18:30","modified_gmt":"2023-10-29T16:18:30","slug":"todays-thought","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thearmchairkitchen.com\/todays-thought\/","title":{"rendered":"Today’s thought"},"content":{"rendered":"

8th April<\/strong><\/p>\n

Writers \u2018disappear\u2019 for weeks or months while they are creating their latest work. For me this means no lunches with friends, limiting Twitter and Facebook and devoting myself single-mindedly to the task of writing the book.<\/p>\n

A novel is set in an imaginary world. A memoir is different. It\u2019s an immersion in the past. My latest book EPISODES, Two girls, two lives, one time<\/strong>, written with Monika Sears, is no fiction – it\u2019s all true. Before I embarked on this wartime story, I asked Monika\u2019s permission to interweave a harrowing account she had already written about her life in Nazi occupied Poland, with contrasting details of my life growing up with the bombing, blackout and food shortages of 1940s London.<\/p>\n

The book has received good reviews:<\/p>\n

\u201cFantastic. The whole idea is so creative and interesting.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cI sat up all evening reading it. Despite the extreme disparity in circumstances, there is a dramatic tension showing that whatever they are experiencing, young children tend to live in the moment.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cThank you for recapturing memories that would otherwise have been totally lost.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cThe book took me by surprise. Even though the basic facts about the lives of these two girls are made clear in the blurb on the cover, I didn\u2019t expect to be as emotionally caught up in the narrative as I was.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

You can order a copy of EPISODES here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

* * * * * *<\/p>\n

16th January<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

In a past career I used to submit articles to newspapers. I was lucky to have some published in The Times, The Telegraph, the Financial Times and a paper which only exists as a free sheet now, The Evening Standard.<\/p>\n

At that time (nearly thirty years ago) it was hard to catch an editor’s eye; specially if they already had their own cookery columnists. That didn’t stop me thinking up an endless stream of ideas and sending them off. Here is an idea for a book that I found recently, illustrated by my own drawings (which you can see above):<\/p>\n

It was to be called ‘Just another glossy cookbook’ . <\/em>With the designs I sent a note saying:<\/p>\n

“Would you like to discuss it with me? I will happily bombard you with glowing criticisms of my past work, more details of the layout with recipe suggestions and some other articles I have been writing which I hope to have published shortly in Taste Magazine.”<\/p>\n

Since this never made it to print, I must assume that my cheeky request was ignored or refused. <\/p>\n

Now I spend my time writing a blog, which has no need to be submitted to an editor. So those of you who follow it here <\/a>will know that I can choose what to write about and to give my own opinions, without being told ‘Not for us, thank you.’<\/p>\n

*   *   *   *  *<\/p>\n

19th November<\/p>\n

When to keep quiet<\/strong><\/p>\n

These comments are from John Le Carre, famous author of espionage novels (of which he wrote more than 20).<\/p>\n

On his personal life:<\/p>\n

\u201cI hate the telephone. I can\u2019t type. I ply my trade by hand. I live on a Cornish cliff and hate cities. Three days and nights in a city are about my maximum. I don\u2019t see many people. I write and walk and swim and drink.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Advice for other writers:<\/p>\n

\u201cA good writer is an expert on nothing except himself. And on that subject, if he is wise, he holds his tongue\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

  *   *   *   *   * <\/p>\n

30th July<\/p>\n

Win a prize!<\/strong><\/p>\n

Click on Contact Me and subscribe to my email list.  You will then be in a Prize Draw to win one of my novels or cookbooks.<\/p>\n

I look forward to hearing from you<\/p>\n

*   *   *   *   *<\/p>\n