Lunch with Julia and gay fiction writing

Quite a nice day at work today. For a Monday. Managed to look like a professional for most of the time and even get a few emails sorted. The good news is that I won’t have to come in on Friday after all, as the meeting scheduled for then has been postponed till after Christmas. Hurrah. Suits me, sir. And I looked like a young, cool person by taking in my new iPod and dropping it into the conversation every five minutes. Any conversation. At last! - I have a gadget that nobody else in the office has got. The sad thing of course is that any vestiges of coolness I might have been able to snatch at are washed away by the sort of music I actually downloaded onto the damn thing: um, that will be The Seekers, Tony Christie, the Monkees and a bit of Mozart. Ah well, I never was a rock chick. Even when young … Anyone want to know the way to Amarillo?

Lunch with Julia was grand, although Chancellor’s was packed with exam-demob happy students, so we were crushed into a corner on the bar facing the crowds. I had the same food I always have, but h. there’s a comfort in familiarity, you know. Actually, it’s been one wild social whirl this afternoon – I also popped into the Advice Centre’s Christmas do for a mince pie and a coke. Last of the great party animals, eh? In spite of being a social coward, I had a good conversation with the Deputy Dean of Students about writing and novels, and how the h. one does it all. I think I’m more of an organic writer than a high-powered planner to be honest; when I’m at the top of a page, I never know quite what’s going to happen at the end of it. What a contrast to my usual timetabled-to-the-point-of-obsession daily life indeed …

I’ve also been thinking today about why I write gay fiction – it’s a question posed by Clayton on MySpace (http://www.myspace.com) and it’s certainly a good one. I can’t give a logical reason (sorry, Clayton …) but it’s simply where I feel most at home. I don’t actually know what girls think (query: did I miss that lesson at school?...) but the man in my head (ah hello, Michael – I wondered where you’d got to) knows what he thinks all the time, and why, and I feel most fully alive when I’m plugged into him and his concerns. I suppose that, once again, it’s something organic and instinctual. I’ve been asked many a time why I don’t write from the point of view of a straight girl – and I’ve tried to fit in with what people seem to want (believe me, I’ve tried!) – but I’m never really happy with it for myself, although “Pink Champagne and Apple Juice” has been well received in the small circles it’s found itself in. But, hell, even there I gave that novel a strong secondary gay male character to make myself happier. I just don’t feel comfortable doing “straight” as a genre; it’s simply not “me”. I hope that makes some kind of weird sense. And, yes, I do realise (I’ve been told often enough!) that the fact that in my everyday life I’m a straight female makes it almost impossible to sell the books I produce. But, in the end I’m writing for me first and foremost, and for self-expression, and the rest of the game will have to play itself out as it may. Brave words, eh?...

Tonight (back to the mundane here), it’s shopping at Tesco, and a TV slump. Thank goodness for a night in.

Today’s nice things:

1. Lunch with Julia
2. Thinking more deeply about why I write
3. Showing off my iPod!

Anne Brooke
http://www.annebrooke.com
http://www.goldenford.co.uk

Lunch at The Friary

Drove to Aylesford today to have lunch with Pauline at The Friary - it's halfway between our homes and I thought it would be great (especially after the hell of a year we've both had) to have the chance for a girly chat rather than having our husbands in tow as well (when you can't really talk as openly - as they'd probably both be shocked. Men are so sensitive ...). It was good. Very good. Best idea I've had for a long time in fact. We talked - about really deep stuff - for ages. It's so refreshing to be with someone you can be the most honest you're able to be with (if that makes sense) and know they're not going to run away screaming. Anyway, three hours, two lunches, two decaff coffees and one orange juice later and we were done. Must do it again sometime. Thanks, Pauline.

Got home to discover Lord H has bought an I-pod. Welcome to the 21st century! Ye gods, but those things are small. As we both tend to mislay our mobiles and glasses on a regular basis, I don't hold out much hope for its long-term survival in the house. Now all we have to do is work out how to use it. And when. Still, it does mean that I can listen to music while on the exercise bike if I'm not in the mood for a book. And at last I can look like a modern woman.

Tonight, it's the excitement of "Strictly Come Dancing". Will Mark and Karen survive? How many times can I vote for them before the phone explodes? Ah, the tension, the pain of it all. How on earth did we all manage before TV was invented?

Today's nice things:

1. Talking with Pauline
2. Talking with Pauline
3. Talking with Pauline. 'Nuff said.

Anne Brooke
http://www.annebrooke.com
http://www.goldenford.co.uk