I am notoriously terrible at keeping secrets. When I was a kid, people would always be loathe to share their gossip with me as they knew that I’d inevitably tell everyone. Which is why I’ve been finding it incredibly bloody hard not to blab the most exciting piece of news I’ve had all year. Namely that I am going to be writing a book.
Yes, that’s right. A book. A real life book that’s going to be sold in shops, and on Amazon, and which has my name on the cover and everything. Its preliminary title is ‘Eat Y’self Fitter – The politics of what’s on your plate,’ it’s going to be published on Zero Books, and I’m aiming for it to be an examination of food in the UK in the 21st century. Touching on everything from food education to the ascent of the celebrity chef and ‘cupcake culture’, it should (hopefully) take a witty and informed look at how we buy, cook and consume our food, with each chapter being accompanied by an original recipe made out of affordable, seasonable ingredients.
Ever since I signed the contract, my mood keeps deviating between massive excitement and huge, crippling, (almost overwhelming) fear. Basically, I intend to spend the next few months locked indoors, necking whisky out of the bottle, and cooking like a demon whilst Mr. Cay shouts words of encouragement at me. I will probably be putting calls out on Twitter desperately asking for people to take baked goods off my hands before I start leaving them on people’s doorsteps a la Bill Drummond, so if you’re going to be in the Liverpool or Manchester area in the near future and fancy a massive slab of cake, drop me a line.
So yes. A book. It would be an understatement to say that this has made what has, occasionally, been a bit of a shitty year OK again. I would be doing cartwheels, but I’ve been full of a cold and besides, the last time I did a cartwheel, I ended up doing my back in. All I’ll say for now is that it’s my birthday on Tuesday, and quite frankly, this is the best present I could have asked for. Now all I have to do is write the thing. Lets go.
Knife and Fork image used courtesy of Flickr user Horia Varlan under a Creative Commons license
Congratulations, very exciting news and an exceptional birthday present. x
That’s brilliant – I loved your piece about supermarkets and I expect more of the same – well done!
Yay! X 1000
An amazing book on your favorite topic:food.!!
Hope it does well.
http://fluidwords.wordpress.com/
There is no one else I would rather read on this because it’ll be funny, informative and not the same ‘lifestyle section’ cliches about the subject most people would go for because you’re too good a writer for that. I can’t wait.
Plus you can look forward to the launch party at the end of it all where everyone lavishes you with praise and tries to bask in your reflected glory…
Congratulations!
Awesome news!
You’ve reminded me to give Alex a kick to actually write HIS book, which he’s had a contract with Zero with for about a year. (something to do with prog & politics, perhaps relevant to Mr Cay’s interests?) Silly boy x
Awww, thank you everyone! You’re all very sweet. Now all I have to do is research and write the thing, and figure out how to write a book and hold a full time job without losing my mind. Place your bets now as to how long it’s going to be before I burst into horrible stress-based tears (thankfully I have a good copy editor/cheerleader in the form of Mr. Cay!)
Only just saw this! Massive congratulations. I hope you’ve been indulging in lots of good whisky as a result.