I love Jamie O. I love Nigella. Now I love Sophie.
When I stumbled upon Sophie Dahl's "Miss Dahl's Voluptuous Delights" in my local bookshop I have to be honest it was the cover that caught my attention, pretty, pink and wellies.
Until that moment, I didn't actually know Sophie Dahl was a writer. I bought the book, a combination of a cook book and a memoir and now it's currently my favourite cook book.
The thing is, I love the whole celebrity chef thing, I love Jamie O for all his cliche cheekiness, but have to admire him for his balls and determination. I love Nigella for her curves and indulgence and a wee bit of me has a think bubble above my head when I watch her BBC Christmas specials sighing, "oh I wish that was me." In truth, I love all those books that have super stylish photographs of the writer looking cool in their garden digging up radish, stirring a soup, cooking at the Aga and illustrations of fruit and veg (think "Relish", "Etiquette for Girls" and "Jamie at Home") and Ok it may not be cool for everyone, but it's certainly ticking my box.
So I've taken the idea of recipes, stylish pictures and illustrations, and incorporated it into the personality of the main character in my second novel. At first I was a bit worried she would be perceived as geeky, even dull; using the idea of an artist creating a cook's journal on the side in a piece of erotic literature may not sound arousing, but it actually slotted in very nicely; her sexy, boyish 30 something counterpart certainly thought so anyway...
I think it's the idea of selling a lifestyle, something I am afraid I am susceptable to, and something I know is blatantly reflected in my writing, but something I know we all like to indulge in at some time, whether we lose ourselves in being a rock star, a glomorous actor or a celebrity chef, we all at some point buy into what we see or read - sometimes this is healthy, other times not so, it pays to have a sense of reality but not so much it becomes negative, a reason I can absolutely not stand watching soaps on TV.
I love that I create a world for myself and for those who enjoy my work, a lifestyle many of us, especially us girls, aspire too, or at least fantasise about sometimes - an Aga, a successful creative career, growing veg in the garden, a log fire, a sassy gown for the party, the attentions of an elegant and oh so beautiful man (or woman) and a head splitting orgasm. I like that I can write and sell sex and an Aga on the same page and still be as effective as a cliche erotic fiction setting.
Right, so I started with Sophie and ended up with sex and an Aga, so goodness knows how that happened, but if I've managed to get anything across in this rather rambled post, it's that it's OK to entwine sex with a bit of monogamy, a bit of humour, and a bit of Cath Kidston - stand back, the unconventional housewife has landed.
I think you know what I'm saying.
x

Years back, I remember being a shy and not very confident 16 year old, being asked by my A Level English lecturer what kind of books I read. OK, it wasn't very extensive at the time, and perhaps I did need to broaden my horizons a little, and who knows, maybe she's the reason I now eat books like they're on the verge of extinction - but I doubt it.


