The BBC radio interview of the Mensa group last night was great fun. I managed to turn the conversation around to my book so many times that they were taking the pee out of me. 'Oh, Josie, have you written a book?' 'What was that about your book, Josie?' 'Did someone say someone had written a book?' etc. But as I said, you've got to grab every opportunity you can and shake it till all the bits fall out.
The programme is going to be 30 mins long and is part of a series about groups, Mensa being one of the groups. So it's not all about me, and I tried (and failed miserably) not to dominate the conversation. I expect they'll only keep one mention of my book but I did my usual thing of linking everything to everything else and was on top form for entertainment value. Plus I recorded it all myself anyway so after the BBC do their programme I'll do a podcast of all the bits they miss out!
There was one spectacular moment where I said I was going to start a new social network site, a cross between MySpace and FaceBook and call it MyFace and invite everyone to come and sit on it. Then Adam (who makes sport of contradicting everything I say, even down to arguing the slightest grammatical construction, such is the fun I have at Mensa meetings) said that it shouldn't be MyFace but MyBook, 'Because it's all about your book, isn't it Josie?' And Gareth, the presenter, thought this was hilarious, saying, 'Imagine having such a big brain and being in Mensa and thinking that you were going to join two words together but choosing the wrong two words!' So this is where my true genius (fnar) shines through, in that I recovered from that one by explaining that actually it should be MyFace, because in fact to be a successful author these days is more about having the right face, not about writing talent. I cited Katie Price as a perfect example (her awful book that someone wrote for her outsold all the literary prize winners in 2007 put together). It's all about image. But then again, as we continued our circuitous debate, it depends on what you judge as 'success' – sales or literary merit? Hopefully I'll have both.
I tend to be a motormouth at the best of times, but J2O and a potential audience of millions is bound to send me a bit crazy. Hopefully they'll edit it so everyone gets an equal shout. The drinks last night were on the BBC (that's where your licence fee went, down our throats to get us talking, not that we need it). I mentioned to Alys about them buying beer and how I should have gone on the bus instead of driving so I could partake. She said it was a good job I hadn't because if I'd been hyper *and* drunk then I'd have been more than obnoxious. Oh well, she can always be relied on to stop my head getting too big. Actually, Kensall Library and the free wine comes back to me vaguely, and I think it probably was a good thing to stick to J2O.
On the way out, I nonchalantly handed Gareth my card. 'I know it's showbiz,' I said, 'but in case you ever want a highly intelligent, articulate, fabulous star...' or something like that.
Josie and the LOLcats
To explain the title of this blog, I've got into LOLcats recently. I've seen these pictures of funny cats with ungrammatical captions but never realised that they were called LOLcats. Actually I thought a LOLcat was a cat smiley, like this >^..^< But now I know about these fabulous web decorations I'll be indulging, so bear with me please as I go through a second childhood. Oh hang it, I never grew out of my first. According to Wikipedia, it all started with a picture of a cat asking for food with the caption I CAN HAS CHEEZBURGER and now that's a site for people to upload their own LOLcats and rate their faves. So here are some homebaked LOLcats using my own little darlings as models.
Blogging for National Newspaper
This is still in discussion and I'm still hoping it will come off. It's looking good as they like my offering but depends on whether it fits their 'house style'. Will keep you updated.
Novel – Progress
As can quite probably be seen from all of the above, the fact that I haven't posted a MySpace glob in a while is not because I don't have a life, but because I have too much of a life at the moment and am FAR TOO BUSY LIVING IT. I won't prolong this post by repeating what I've said elsewhere about my novel Silence which is due out in July this year. But I can give you a link to my latest update on the Legend Press authors' group blog.
Kthxbai.