music and food to write to

The days of patiently waiting for the muse to arrive are over, or I would never get anything done! In lieu of the muse, the essentials are: my computer, of course (the one luxury I would take onto a desert island); a soundtrack chosen from several ‘writing’ CDs: something dreamy — Liszt or Satie; haunting and beautiful — Madeleine Peyroux or Jane Birkin; or mesmeric — the Gotan Project, chillout or Deva Premal; and my ultimate, the Henry and June soundtrack. I have only five or six CDs which allow me to concentrate on writing at the same time. The music has to have a fairly constant volume (no pounding beats or dramatic sonatas), and be something I can drift in and out of, as opposed to actually listen to. I save Joan Armatrading (her new album is fab), Natasha Atlas and ‘the L word’ compilations for when I’m doing the washing up!

I also need a large thermos of green tea and a generous supply of sugar-free chewing gum or Polo mints from Cool Britannica, the UK import shop. I sometimes feel as though I should be smoking those fancy French cigarettes with the white filter, especially when I’m writing descriptions of Paris, or naughty bits, but seeing as I don’t smoke, I need to do something with my mouth so I don’t grind my teeth to powder in an adrenaline-fueled writing frenzy!

favourite books

Wonderful, fabulous books that I can read over and over again. These are books to aspire to and be inspired by.

Obviously, anything by Colette and Anaïs Nin.

I prefer Colette’s novels to her short stories; I especially love Colette’s later “Claudine” novels, “Retreat from love”, “Julie de Carneillhan”, “The Cat” and “Cheri”.

I prefer Anaïs’s diary and erotica to her novels. I love the “Henry and June” diaries, and the erotic stories in “Delta of Venus” and “Little birds”.

Anything and everything by Sarah Waters. Fantastic historical lesbian stories.

“Theatre” by W Somerset Maugham. Absolutely bloody fantastic, darling, and it makes one want to talk frightfully posh.

“Bel Ami” by Guy de Maupassant. He’s known for his short stories, but this novel is my favourite of his writing: about a handsome, ambitious man and how he works his way up c19th Parisian society women.

“As Francesca” by Martha Baer: wonderfully perverse and erotic in New York.

“Yocandra” by Zoé Valdés: wonderfully perverse and erotic in Cuba.

“Marble Skin” and “Taste of a Man” by Slavenka Draculic: same, à la Croatienne (there’s a theme here).

“Fun Home” and the “Dykes To Watch Out For” comics by Alison Bechdel, who is universally and rightly admired as a genius. The eternal question is: do I have a crush on Mo, or AM I Mo?

“Boudica” by Manda Scott: an engrossing historical saga about the early British tribal queen (who was called Bodacea when I was at school).

“The mists of Avalon” by Marion Zimmer Bradley: an engrossing historical saga about the female side of the King Arthur story: Morgaine and Vivianne.

Patricia Highsmith’s “Tom Ripley” books, Iris Murdoch, Edmund White, Jeanette Winterson, Emma Donoghue, Alan Hollinghurst… but then you probably already know they are marvellous.

Anaïs Nin narrated by Marlene!

A big thank you to Nicola the web goddess! She’s fixed up my blog with a sparkling new template, added great new features, and found the most wonderful, sensuous video as a wonderful treat for everyone who reads this blog! Marlene Dietrich’s husky, sultry voice is an ideal accompaniment to these 1930s style photographs inspired by Anaïs Nin’s erotic writing; if I were to guess which specific story of erotica, I would say Elena from Delta of Venus. (Yes, I am a devotee!) I love this video because it is the visual image of my writing. It is a perfect translation of the atmosphere I am creating in my Colette and Anaïs novel, Nights in Paris.

Un grand merci à Nicola, qui a trouvé ce petit film, vraiment extraordinaire, sur Anaïs Nin. Ultra sensual et vraiment très beau, ce film est exactement l’atmosphere que je suis en train de créer avec mon roman sur Colette et Anaïs, Paris dans la Nuit.

A busy month for writing competitions

Actually, it’s the last two months that have been madly busy: just call me whirling chaos. There’s the Six Pack competition (NZ), the PSA competition (NZ), the Fish one page competition (Ireland), and an application for Creative NZ funding… and the writing of these stories (all different) to be fitted in around an equally busy time at work — no wonder there’s been no time to even think about the leaking roof! It can be quite melodious sitting on the loo, as the rain drips in two places very slightly out of time, so you get a dancing two-step plink-plonk, plink-plonk effect.

Meanwhile, chez Anaïs… I have a beautiful new picture of her on my inspiration board, wearing the transparent, black lace dress made famous in the film “Henry and June”. All that’s missing is the portrait of Colette and Missy, Colette at her desk, pen poised, the desk covered in papers, books and Toby-chien the miniature bulldog, while Missy standing at the window, looking like a serious, protective uncle. I haven’t written much of the Anaïs chapters lately, as I’m concentrating on Colette for the moment, but she’s still there in the background: the story is fermenting, gathering flavour and spices…

What I’ve been reading lately: “Extremely loud and incredibly close” by Jonathan Safran Foer. A friend lent it to me, and to be honest I opened the book a bit resentfully, or rather with bad grace, not expecting to enjoy it. I was mesmerised from the first paragraph, or maybe even the first sentence. I won’t spoil it by saying what it’s about: just read it, it’s brilliant.
I’m also simultaneously rereading Colette “Claudine married” (for research purposes), and comics by Roberta Gregory and Alison Bechdel (purely for fun). Also a fictional biography of Anaïs Nin — I won’t say who it’s by as I think my stories are much better!

Tout ce qu’il me manque pour mon mur d’inspiration, c’est le portrait de Colette et Missy, Colette assise à son bureau, un stylo à la main. Le bureau est un bazar de papiers, de livres, le tout surveillé par Toby-chien et Missy, debout à la fenêtre avec son air d’oncle plutôt sérieux.

J’ai une idée: je pense à traduire, dans chaque poste, un petit extrait de mon roman en français. Qu’est-ce que vous en pensez?