26 April 2015

I've always been fascinated by history...  History reveals who we were:  we must learn from it if we are ever to improve.  On Monday a Frenchman called Robert Maloubier died aged 92.  Most have never heard of him, and yet he was awarded France's highest honour, the Legion d'Honneur.  He was one of the last surviving French agents from Winston Churchill's Special Operations Executive (SOE) during WWII. For the allies, he was a hero, carrying out special missions targetting German soldiers in occupied France. But in real life, things aren't always like James Bond movies. On one occasion, after being shot several times, he managed to escape a German guard by knocking him to the ground and throwing a motorbike at him!  Like Maloubier, rapid, intelligent and lateral thinking is sometimes required if we are to live our lives unscathed.  Unlike leaders of the past, e.g. Vichy leader Philippe Petain, those who are elected to the top position must be selected for their mental agility above all else, because you never know what's round the corner. Note from the world's biggest worrier: learn from history and be prepared...

16th February 2014

I was watching 'The Voice' on BBC last night.  It occurred to me, as a writer, that it's no longer enough to be able to 'perform' as well as those in the past - now you need to be different or extraordinary to have a chance of being noticed in today's world of myriad attractions. So, I've been reformatting some of my writing.  For youngsters I've written 3 of a series of 7 novels. The original (i.e. an attempt to be 'extraordinary') concept here is that each covers  a personality deficit of the girl which matches the voted-on motto of one of the 7 modern wonders of the world, the finale of each novel proving that each person can overcome their weaknesses in a highly-critical world.
For adults I've been reformatting Vichyssoise which I hope would appeal ultimately to the French. It covers an in-depth study of the mindset of the Vichy government. Admittedly it's a risk, and I may well be heckled, but hopefully falls into the 'extraordinary'. Previews can be read on the re-formatted buttons on the right - currently available on Lulu.com and soon via globalreach and Amazon worldwide.
Would Sir Tom Jones, Kylie Minogue or Will.i.am 'turn around' for it?  On verra......