I recently tweeted about this - apologies to any of my followers for the repetition here. It's just that I have often, in my life, thought about writing a book. I used to want to write a novel, and actually managed to write one in my late teens, though I fear it is just over-emotional crap that should not see the light of day. I have it and several other unfinished pieces of fiction saved somewhere on my hard drive, and every now then I go and look at them wistfully, wishing I had been able to finish something. I also tried to write poetry, but that's better left alone.
Last year, at my mother's wedding reception, we were all a bit tipsy and I got into a conversation my with mother, aunt, and cousin about what a remarkable life my grandmother led and how her story could make a brilliant book - and my mother suggested I could write it. I admitted that I had thought of this before, but I had no idea how to approach it.
My first thought, after the hangover, was to do some background reading on where she grew up, namely India in the 30s and early 40s, at which point she came over to England with her English father and her siblings. But I failed to find any books about India in the 1940s before Partition, so the whole thing stalled (if anyone can recommend anything on that period I'd be very grateful!). I reckon I should also try to read about England at that time, to get more of an idea of what it would be like to move there as a very English, and yet not English, young woman. I know that Anglo-Indians faced prejudice both in India and England.
Anyway, my point is that I think there could be a book in my grandmother's story. And that's only my maternal grandmother - not my father's mother, whose family had to flee Belgium in World War 2. That's a whole other story, and one I know very little about. Perhaps I could just write a book about previous generations not passing on their amazing stories and how annoying this is for their children and grandchildren?
Here are my other possible topics, as mentioned on Twitter:
- anxiety
- dogs I have loved
- divorce
- mothers, both mine and other people's
- sex/lack thereof
- my hair
Any takers?
