Linton Farquhar and Trixie Bloom
interview transcript

Let’s be serious!

 

 

[intro]

Linton – So, I’m here in Andalucía, Spain, with Trixie Bloom, the author of Facebook Blues, a new novel that mixes technology with romantic comedy. Hi, Trixie. Great to finally catch up with you. You’re so infamous; you’re not an easy woman to pin down!

Trixie – What, literally?

Linton – I’m not sure!

Trixie – Hello.

Linton – Hello! Well, I just wanted to find out, really, if you could tell me a bit about what it is that makes Facebook Blues special?

Trixie – I would say, that I was extremely lucky, about what makes this book stand out. I didn’t try to come up with a gimmick, it wasn’t like I sat there and thought; Oh, okay, I need to sell this book, how am I gonna do it, in a different way?… It literally came to me, and as I was writing the book it just evolved, it unfurled. (I like that word, I don’t know why!) The music became part of the story, and I thought; Wow, this would be really cool, actually to incorporate, intertwine if you like, the music content and the reading content. I mean, I know the book industry is suffering. Nowadays, it’s a world of technology, people have their smartphones, their iPhones, their gadgets that they can do everything on. They read eBooks, I mean, I read stuff on my phone, and it’s really nice to create something, I think, that’s new. I mean, there has been children’s books before with music in, and you can open a card and hear a recording of somebody singing Happy birthday to you, but this is actually incorporated into the story, it’s a part of the story, it’s embedded as a QR code in the paperback, (which I had no idea what that was in the beginning) and as a Web link in the eBook. It makes the reader feel like they’re actually part of the story. Let me explain slightly. There is a poem in the story, which becomes the song, and is actually sung by the fantastic Frankie Bubbles, who really couldn’t have been better to sing the song, thank you, Frankie. And I just thought; Wow, imagine if the reader, just for once, could actually listen to the song, exactly at the same time as the characters listen to it in the story. So the reader’s also listening to a song created purely for the book, and I thought that would make the reader really feel part of the story. It’s literature integrated with technology, you can, again as I said, scan the QR code in the book, so the song can play on the phone, I mean it blows my mind that you can do that nowadays, but you can. Or you can quickly type in a web address from the book, into your phone, or onto your computer, into a device, and listen to the song. Again my mind’s just boggling to the expansiveness of it all. But it’s just great, it’s that combination of the old style, mixed in with the new that I found really, really exciting, I just loved it, and it made it really complete for me.

 Probably, what does make the book different is that it is something that I don’t think has ever been done before, I don’t really know, obviously, songs have been written for films, or there are songs that are in the films, applicable to films that you’re watching, and I know that a playlist in a book has been done before, but has an original song ever been intertwined into the book? And with technology helping you to become a part of it? I don’t know, I mean I love to find out, really has it been done before? I love to gain knowledge from reading, and I like technology, I’m a bit of a technophobe, maybe, but hey, we’ve got to roll with it really, haven’t we? So it’s just, it is exciting, and It’d be very interesting to find out how the readers feel about it when they discover it.

 

 

Linton – Nice. Okay, So, what is actually the story behind Facebook Blues then? What is the plot?

Trixie – The story is, well basically what happens when you chase your past, go looking for things that you are yearning for, or missing. Basically it came from an idea of, how many people have looked up their ex’es on Facebook? Probably everybody, or nearly everybody. I think very few people haven’t. I don’t know why, but everybody does it, for different reasons. I personally, if I was really honest, just want to see how well they’re doing, or have they aged well? Are they rich? Very shallow but that’s probably what I’m thinking first. But there are certain ex’es I suppose, that are very close to you, very specific ex’es. And basically, I was looking up one of my ex’es that got me thinking. I basically saw everything about his entire life, I mean everything. It was literally like the story, as if you were camping out in their own back garden. I knew where he lived, I knew how many kids he had, I knew a lot of his information, where he worked. And then the idea just basically stemmed from that, I started to have dreams about what would happen if you actually went to where they lived, but they didn’t know, obviously, you were just turning up on their doorstep, literally; ‘Oh, Hi!’ after twenty years, and; ‘How’re you doing?’ kind of thing. And the characters have definitely evolved as I’ve written the book. I couldn’t tell you now, lay it out, I couldn’t lay it out word for word what the synopsis is going to be for the next two, cause it is a trilogy. I have ideas in my head, and it just evolves as I go along, and the characters have definitely evolved as I’ve written the book, cause I don’t know until I finish writing, they just come out of nowhere and evolve, and I think; Great, that’s definitely a keeper, that character, characters I would say, like Lauren, and Nick, they were definitely, they were the main characters I kept dreaming about them, mostly, and then the other characters developed after. And it just came all stemming from that.

 

 

Linton – Wicked!  So, when did you first actually start writing?

Trixie – I actually started writing about four and a half years ago. Facebook Blues is my first ever novel, but I’ve never actually had a story in my head before. Maybe I’ve had short stories, fleetingly, but never a full novel. I mean, I wouldn’t even have classed myself as a writer.

   People have said to me; ‘Oh, I didn’t know you could write,’ and I’ve said; ‘Well neither did I!’ I would’ve never thought that I’d have had the patience to sit down and write, especially with a pen and paper, the old fashioned way, because I’m not the most patient person in the world. But it just had to come out, I was chomping at the bit, and my pen was overtaken. There was no choice, I was getting up in the middle of the night, it was insane. It had to come out, and the only way to release it was to sit down and start writing it, but I kind of opened a gateway, and It’s definitely got my creative juices flowing now, and the other two books have formed extremely quickly again, along with various short stories, definitely more involved, more creative than before, and possibly of a completely different nature, I’m just scribbling a lot at the moment. It’s nothing concrete yet, until I actually get the other two books published. I’ve got a lot of work ahead of me before I can start considering other writing projects, maybe short articles, but my mind is finally open, now, and it’s just filling, it’s just writing. I mean I really like reading Catherine Cookson, and she didn’t start writing I believe, until she was 46? And the woman was just amazing. How many books did she write? It was phenomenal, to be honest. You know, at 46, you suddenly get the muse, where did that come from? How did it begin for her? It’s very interesting. It’s kind of like that for me, it just came to me at this particular age. I don’t know if age has anything to do with it, but my mind has definitely changed, on a natural chemical level and that’s been a catalyst for my writing, I’m sure.

 

Linton – That’s great, well okay then, dish the dirt. Are there any potential prickly points of contention?

Trixie – Hmmm, yes, good question. Hopefully I’ve created a lot of points of contention within the book, it has a lot of issues which I hope challenge, make people think, make people talk. It’s not just your giggly hair-flick, girly, sassy walk, high-heels kind of thing. Its romantic comedy with a slight twist, it’s quite light, but I have added some definite, definite, mind-twisters in there. I mean, the age gap; I think that will be the biggest one. It always seems to be okay when it’s the man that’s older than the girl, but if it’s the other way round, ooh, people seem to have a little bit of trouble with that, and also with Lauren’s dizziness at her age. Well, I’ve met many women in their late 30’s, and early 40’s that are completely giggly and silly, and don’t seem to have evolved past their teenage years, and yeah, they can still be acting like that, and I have known many people like that. All these characters are a mish-mash of a lot of different people I’ve met over my life. Luckily, I’ve been enriched by these people. So, It’s definitely, hopefully, not just your run of the mill, average comedic romance. I mean, for example, also, facebook stalking, definitely one of the major contentions, you know, online stalking, the fact that people can easily do this, The fact that you can go and just look at everybody’s information and find out everything about them and their entire lives, I mean it’s quite scary, and it definitely alerted me to my own privacy vulnerabilities, who’s watching me? It’s action provoking, I mean a lot of people wouldn’t just get up and do what they want, or follow their dreams, or just suddenly think; Yeah, bollocks to this, I’m off… that kind of thing. I’m going to go and follow my heart, and a lot of people wouldn’t like that either. There are issues. Drugs. Drugs are addressed in a recreational human way and are enjoyed rather than abused, apart from alcohol, which leads to all kinds of pickles. Relationships without the classic 2.4 kids model, and there’s some other things as well, which I’m not going to mention at the moment, because they are a major part of the sequels, and it would just give too much away. The drugs that are mentioned in the book, will definitely also be the point of contention, for the very fact that they are not singled out as being bad for you, ooh, don’t do it, in fact it’s the opposite, even to the point of euphoria, and people’s lives running quite normally, even though they do drugs, and everybody’s very happy, no scathingness against them, in fact the point of contention against them is – Alcohol, which personally I find I abhor, I just don’t like it at all, I don’t like what it does to people. Half a glass of wine maybe at dinner but people can’t seem to get a grip on it and I’m not judging people or being snobby, it’s just my view, it’s just not good for me, it does nothing for my brain, it just let’s it soak in a pickling jar, sitting there rotting. I also think the rebellious side of me, which is huge, has fought against the literary rules, and I’ve done some styles that I wanted to do, and broken some rules. I think as long as its readable, then you want the general public to know writers are human, seems that everybody’s in these bubbles now of perfectness, and we don’t all live in a perfect punctuated world, and this is something I wanted to get across, that I struggle, definitely with literacy and grammar, definitely.

Linton – Soft drugs, drugs generally –

Trixie – people are walking round –

Linton – Drugs, generally, in Spain, are in the culture. You know, everyone here is walking around off their chops, pretty much all the time, everyone! It’s part of the culture to, you know, whatever – wine, weed, er…

Trixie – Cheese…

Linton – Cheese. Everything.

Trixie – Fermented cheese has got alcohol in, surely?

Linton – But it’s true, they’re off their head, and no-one cares, you know, the Guardia are driving by, you know, the police, and it’s not a problem, everyone’s off their head in the street, in the bars and whatever, and it’s fine, it’s cool. It’s not violent, it’s not an aggressive sort of culture, but everyone is off their heads, and it’s nothing to be ashamed of, here, basically. That’s a good thing. “Rack ’em up, Paco, we’ve got a big night ahead of us!” Yeah, anyway, tell me, is Facebook Blues actually based on truth? On true events perhaps?

Trixie – It is definitely not based on truth, I could never imagine myself doing that, yeah, I can be very spontaneous, but not in that kind of way, where I’d want to rush off, I’m definitely a firm believer in moving forward, facing the future, embracing it, why would you want to chase the past? The past is the past for a good reason. And it’s just delusional, isn’t it, to look through rose-coloured glasses, you know, to think that something that wasn’t good for you then, might be good for you now? I mean, what would change in all that time? You’ve just got to keep moving forward, I would never do that, which is why I do not identify with the main character, hardly at all. There are many tiny threads of me, nuances of me, I think it would probably be normal, especially when you first start writing, maybe fine threads of you do come out in certain of your characters because you have just started writing, or for some it never happens, I don’t know, I’ve never written a book before, so I wouldn’t know. Probably, comedic-wise, I would say definitely I’m coming through because that’s my kind of comedy. I like to think of myself as being not quite so accident prone, and air-headed as my protagonist, although a lot of people, a lot of my friends would probably disagree with you on that, because I do give a very good impression of being quite dizzy myself,

Linton – Yeah, you do!

Trixie – as I have just proven, but I would hope at this age, I’ve definitely conquered a lot of my fears, I suppose, I’m on that level now, there’s no way I would just down tools go rushing off into the sunset, you know, without any rhyme or reason, you know, on a whim, and I think things, as I say, should stay in the past, I mean there is a reason it should stay there.

Linton – Marvellous, that’s marvellous, thank you.

Trixie – Oh dear!

Linton – So, you are funny, you have an infamous reputation as a comedian. You must have known you were going to write a comedy?

Trixie – Er, no, I had no idea I was going to write a comedy, I didn’t even know I was going to write a book, so, let alone a comedy. You know, I don’t consider myself hilarious, or ultra-funny, sometimes everybody around me seems to, but that’s normal cause I’m moaning or bitching about something in my own unique style, which is not to everyone’s taste, obviously, but I had no idea I was going to write a comedy, none whatsoever, I mean if people say; ‘Oh, you’re funny, aren’t you?’, you wouldn’t sit there saying; ‘Yeah, I am, I’m really funny,’ Or say to people; ‘Did you know how funny I am? I’m hilarious! Just wait…’ Or people say to you, ‘Oh, you’re funny, aren’t you? Say something funny, make me laugh.’ It’s just, I hate that. You know, I’m not a performing monkey, I don’t class myself as being hilarious. I know I can be witty, but I know I can be annoying, my wit is very unique to me, and doesn’t follow anybody else’s kind of pattern. All the comedians, and comedic series that I’ve seen over the years, (I love comedy, I watch a lot of comedy) I would never, ever say who’s influenced me, cause I’ve watched so many. There’s so many talented comedians and artists out there that are just creating comedy, I love it, I saturate it, I suck it up, that would be my choice of preference over absolutely every genre I could get, it’s comedy. And over the years there’s just been amazing, amazing comedy, and how to pinpoint who, or what’s the most funniest thing, ever, ever, I mean it’s just impossible, how over the thousands and thousands of comedic moments, could you pinpoint one single moment, two minute sketch or recording that made you laugh that much, I mean people say; ‘Oh, I pissed myself’… Well I’ve never pissed myself, or shat myself, I can safely say, you know, you’re at the cinema, and you found something so funny that you soiled yourself, you couldn’t leave, you couldn’t get up, you know?

Linton – No, I never had that.

Trixie – I don’t think I’ve ever known anyone like that either. I’ve never been round my friend’s house, and urinated on their sofa through laughing so much, I mean, you wouldn’t get asked back, would you? Or doing a poo. It would be virtually impossible to do that, how could you? And to choose from thousands of moments. I’ve been influenced by fantastic, fantastic people, and that has definitely influenced my writing, I would say. To pick somebody, or a moment would just very, very difficult, very difficult.

Linton – Fair enough.

Trixie – [Burps like a man] Listen to that!

Linton – Oh, that was good. That was pretty good. It was… [Laughing/Coughing]

Trixie – It’s that pork wine we drank last night!

Linton – Yeah, special of Andalucía, Pork wine, oh yeah!

Trixie – I’m not going to order that again

Linton – They get the pigs, and they kill ’em,

Trixie – They just hang them over your glass

Linton – Hang them over your glass, and mix it with the grape juice, its ‘kin lovely. It’s stunning. Ooer, you haven’t had nothing till you’ve had pork wine, I tell ya.

Trixie – I might have a little one.

Linton – Go on, you have one. Go on.

Trixie – Ask me the goddamn question!

Linton – Okay then, I’ll ask you the question. Well, the question that’s on everyone’s lips; What made you want to become an Indie Author, and self-publish?

Trixie – Okay, again, to be totally honest, I didn’t know what an indie author was up until 2 years ago when I started looking into the literary world. The whole thing was completely new to me. I mean brand-new. I thought probably it would be best to go to a publisher, as I didn’t know where to start, what to do, so I started looking into agents, and sent off some enquiry emails, which I had to Google to see the current format, that they like you to send, basically introducing the story, what your books about, that kind of thing. So, the more I looked, the more I became appalled that even if your enquiry had old fashioned grammar and punctuation, because maybe you’d, say, gone to school 50 years ago, because, you know, language changes and grammar changes, they wouldn’t even entertain you, they wouldn’t even look at your story, so being slightly dyslexic myself, I found this incredibly frustrating. How can you possibly even present yourself if they won’t even look under the surface, so I began to talk to my partner, who knows a lot about computers, and we decided to basically publish media ourselves. We know that it’s much harder work, that you have to do all the marketing yourself. Like Marketing, Marketing, bloody Marketing. Basically there’s one word, and it’s Marketing. You know, you can have the best product in the world, and if nobody knows you’re there, well, it doesn’t make a shit of difference, doesn’t matter, so basically it’s the marketing making web presence. So we thought; Yep, let’s do it, we’ll go down that route, were going to self-promote, we’re going to become an indie publisher. And it’s not that I’m trying to rise above it or that I think I’m better, I’m not, I’m just trying to do it in a new and creative manner, trying to apply a unique style for my products , i.e. this is where the comedy sketches come from, that I do on YouTube and my Author blog, and articles, that I’ve just started writing as well, comedic, about subjects, topics. Basically, free video sketches, that kind of thing, which I think is a unique way, quite a good way to publicise your book. If you’re funny in real life, or your sketches are, hopefully it comes across to people that you’re going to be funny in your writing. I think this has been, done before, obviously in different ways. And also, it’s nice to have control of your product. I think if I had have given it to a literary agent, they definitely would have made quite big changes to it, and I am versatile, quite versatile, but there are certain changes I would have adamantly been against, and I’m sure there would have been wranglements over that, so that also appealed to me, that fact that I had that control, and I released the book as I wanted it to be released.

Linton – Good on you.

Trixie – Thank you.

Linton – So I’ve got to ask you the classic literary question – What is your writing process?

Trixie – Yes, it seems to be quite a favourite, that question. And there is no process, I’m sorry to say. My writing process – there is no process. Completely erratic. As I’ve said, I’m a complete newbie to all this, I literally grab the time as the muse comes over me. It could be in the middle of the night when I wake up, in the middle of the afternoon, before I go to sleep. I mean, maybe that will change, when I can calm myself, and take myself to a lovely place on my lovely little piece of land, and just sit and think; Right! This is my writing time, and have that control over it, whereas at the moment it just comes, Yes!, write, write, write. So basically, that is my writing process.

 I mean, the environment, I would say, is more important to the process in a way, maybe, because without the right conditions, how can you even begin the process? Where I live is stunningly beautiful and calm.

Linton – It is beautiful up here.

Trixie – Thank you, it is, it’s really beautiful. I’m up in the mountains, I have no neighbours, It is deep in nature, very tranquil, you can just sit and look, and I’m sure that has inspired my story’s, otherwise there’s no way I could have had the space, I wouldn’t have allowed my brain to have the space in for that story to come into it, because other environments have just been too chaotic. I can literally be anywhere in the mountains, and just sit on a rock and write. I could probably even write on the back of a donkey, going along, because it is that beautiful and calm here.

Maybe different writing processes apply if you live in a city, I don’t know, but personally, I don’t think Facebook Blues would have come out, had it not been for my environment. So I don’t really put too many other conditions on it. I don’t have to say, well, I have to sit at my magic brown desk, with my special pen that I’ve had since I was seven, or I can’t write if the moons not in full phase and my cat hasn’t licked my face, I don’t think. Too many self-imposed conditions can probably stifle you. Again, I’m a newbie to all this, I can only go on what I like really. So, it’s definitely the surroundings, the calmness, and nature. Also, I can’t afford to put too many conditions on my writing process, because I live in a very, very small dwelling, teetering on the side of a mountain, as you can see, with no electricity. Completely off grid,

Linton – It’s true.

Trixie – no drinking water, no running water, a rusty old solar panel – probably 30 years old from when they were first invented, with an old car battery, and away you go, that’s my power. When I started to write we didn’t even have that, so it was pen and paper, the good old fashioned way. Well, pen, pencil, crayon, you know, finger dipped in my own blood to write it down if It had to come out, kind of scenario. So really, it would be difficult for me to say, yeah, I have to have all these things in place for me to be able to write, so, just literally, as long as I can sit down, and I’ve got quiet, and I’ve got something to write with, then, away I go.

   I mean nowadays, I must admit I’ve got a smartphone and I can write on that, which is a revelation for me, I’ve only just got it. It’s like Wow!, technology, I remember staring at it for ages when i first got it. I am way behind. I don’t have a television, I have a windup radio, I don’t really know what’s happening in the outside world much of the time, although I do get filled in by friends, but I do find mainstream news takes over your brain, it muffles my creativity. Yeah, things are tragic out there, and horrible, and there are things happening in the world that we should be aware of, but television would consume me, I’ve got to watch 15 soaps every week, and the reruns at the weekend, and, try and write while worrying about what’s happening, with 30,000 people killed here, there and everywhere, and being blown up, and whose going to maybe start a war? I couldn’t imagine myself writing with all that floating around in my head, all that worry. I do worry, you know, when I see that kind of thing. So it’s definitely my kind of way of living.

Linton – It’s the only way to live, surely? I think. It seems to me.

Trixie – Yes. We’ve got Freddie the goat, who lives next door, he can be a bit noisy at times, but I don’t think he really disturbs me!

Linton – It is super tranquil around here.

Trixie – Super tranquil, yes.

Linton – Yeah, we’ve got to ask, What were your childhood influences? The first story’s you read?

Ah, that’s easy. That one is easy. My grandmother often read to me when I was a very small child, lots of different story’s, but the one that I predominately remember, and which are still sitting on my shelves in my house are: Enid Blyton – The Folk of the Faraway Tree series. It just transformed me as a 6 year old – all the characters, and the different lands that come to the top of the tree, and the children in the country, I lived in the country with my Grandmother, and I just loved it, I loved every part of it, I mean even as an adult, now, I do like mystical films and TV, sorcery, witches, wizards, that kind of thing, vampires, definitely, as well, also, but that’s worlds apart from Enid Blyton. I do have all the animal ones, Mrs Puddleducks etc., Mrs Pickledick, no! Not Mrs Pickledick! Again, that’s my dyslexia!

Linton – I don’t know that Enid Blyton title.

Trixie – No, again, that’s my dyslexia rearing its little head, coming through.

Linton – That’s more of a Freudian slip, isn’t it?

Trixie – Yes, making me look a complete idiot, if we keep that in!

Linton – Mrs Puddleduck.

Trixie – Yes, Mrs Puddleduck, and I like them immensely, but the folk of the faraway tree is by far my favourite, I’ve read it hundreds of times. At the time it just completely took me away, withdrew me from my childhood situation, and I think even now it’s probably a good book, when you’re not actually sitting on a train going to work, worrying about who’s going to do the washing up, or the shopping this week, it just takes you out of your environment, and you’re a child again. It seems to me it’s a great book, I would say I loved it, I just loved it.

Linton – Okay, so when you’re not flying around in the Faraway tree, what do you do in your spare time?

Trixie – When I’m not writing, I love to be at home. I really do. I have a very tiny piece of land, with a very tiny ….., well, you couldn’t even call it a house, really. I like to spend as much time there as I can. It’s really calming, it probably sounds really crappy and boring but it’s great, I grow vegetables and herbs, and I can just sit and be, and watch shepherds with their sheep, just look down the valley at the far off mountains, or towards morocco, it’s amazing, and basically, when I’m not doing that I just love to go out. I love to go out clubbing; I’m a massive club head, festival head. When I’m in Spain I love to go Fiesta-ing, I love the Spanish people for their fiesta mentality. They’ve got it sewn up. The Spanish believe life is for living, it is for celebrating as well, why bloody work work work? The British mentality and work ethic is quite different. I have to work, but you know, in Spain they love their fiestas, I love my fiestas, so does my partner, so we make an effort to go out a lot, as much as we can, we’ll club, or go out to the middle of a field, as long as there’s a bass bin, we’ll be there. All different types of music, Not so keen on heavy metal, but I can pretty much jump about to anything. I love to dance. Need to dance. For me it’s a spiritual thing, I’m healing myself if I’m really stressed, and it’s exercise, it’s great exercise for me. I go running, working out, all forms of exercise, but dancing is by far the most pleasurable, and exercise doesn’t come naturally to me, whereas dancing does. I love to dance, just go out, you know, shake it all out, and get all that energy out, just release the energy. It just clears my head, you know, life is more than just work, work, work, if I don’t feel like I’m getting out to play, dancing and enjoying myself then what’s the point of it? I mean, shit! That’s when you’re just a battery cell, it’d be like you’re in the matrix, you’re just like doing it for The Man, not for yourself. Just don’t be used, try to have some time for yourself.

Linton – Good advice. Great philosophy! So what are you working on next? (36.44)

Trixie – I’m at the moment working on the sequel to FBB, it’s a trilogy, actually so I’ve got a bit of a way to go, I’ve actually just started the sequel, and at the moment I’m writing that. I’m also going to do a fun, Trixie bloom workout book, with handy health advice and exercise tips. I am a teacher, I suppose, an all-round teacher of exercise really, and when I’m here, I do give classes at the local gym, for aerobics, circuit training, that kind of thing, I love working out, I love the endorphins, it makes me feel great. It gives me an adrenalin rush. So when I do the exercise book, the exercises will be safe, real exercises, and with comedy in it. The comedy is not in the actual exercises, they have to be done properly and safely, but the tips will be fun, and it’ll be for free, just to promote my comedy. I’ve also been writing articles as well, I love writing quick articles, again, comedic, and I’m thinking about the third book in the Misadventures of a Femme Fatale series. So I’m quite busy at the moment.

 

Linton – She’s like a human dynamo! So, the next two parts in the Misadventures of a Femme Fatale series, that’s what you’re doing next, as well?

   Trixie – Yes. Yes, I haven’t really thought beyond the trilogy at the moment, I can say the next two are definitely comedic, beyond that, I don’t really know what I will write, although I have had some ideas, maybe some spin offs, you know, spinoff story’s from the characters that are in the trilogy, I thought that might be quite fun. I love comedy, as I say, it’s always comedy for me first. I cannot see myself writing something serious, I just don’t know. I don’t know if I have that in me, but again, I’m open to my brain just absorbing stuff and having ideas. I didn’t even know I had the 3 books in me, so who knows what the future holds, there’s definitely lots and lots of stuff, lots of ideas bouncing around, especially with my partner, you know, he’s very good at comedy also. We can do comedic sketches together, and really bounce off each other, and that way, who knows? Some small program even with comedy sketches, my brain is so diverse, and I go off on such massive tangents, but I’m sure maybe some really good stuff will come out of it.

Linton – Excellent. Fabulous. Marvellous. Okay, so the other classic question, what would be your desert island books?

Trixie – Hah! It’s very difficult to scale Five books down, isnt it?

Linton – Five, is it?

 Trixie – Five. Very difficult to answer, like the favourite comedy sketch, favourite moment in your life, happiest moment, what’s the happiest moment in your life? It’s very difficult to scale it down, I’m to pinpoint these kind of questions, these things. But if I had to, if I had to, say what my 5 favourite books would probably be, the ones I’ve read the most, so,

   Number 1, as I have said before, would be the Enid Blyton, Folk of the Faraway Tree series, for reasons I’ve already explained.

   Number 2 would be The Road Less Travelled, by M. Scott Peck. It’s a bit like a bible, to me, really, that, if I need to try and sort my head out a little bit, when my head gets really jumbled, this book is just great. It sorts it all out for me. It answers so many questions in such brilliant layman’s terms, for me anyway, that I can totally get my head round it. I love it.

   Number 3, definitely I would have to say, Jilly coopers riders, read it, re read it, read it again, and read it again. Brilliant characters, a definite page turner, just completely loved the characters, especially the main character, Rupert Campbell black, who didn’t? What a bastard. Great, great book.

   Number 4 would be, Hippopotamus by Stephen Fry. I think this is just so, so funny for me with the sense of humour in it. I have got a twisted sense of humour, warped, and I just read it and laughed my ass off, even now I could just pick it up, read it, and just laugh my ass off, even though I know what’s going to happen. That is a good one, excellent one.

   Probably, one of my oldest, as well, Number 5, John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men. I read this one a long time ago, well, when I was at school and I loved it. It resonated with me for some reason, I don’t know why. actually wrote 10 a4 pages on it, why I loved it, and my teacher at the time said that she felt that I’d obviously enjoyed the book, and I did, I really, really did, it basically touched my heart in a simple way. but in a way, even the Lenny’s of today are always laughed at, always judged, so the book for me is timeless, it’s still poignant nowadays. A very subtle book, but very heartfelt, very sad, very joyous, and just a really lovely book.

Linton – Nice. Okay, thank you. Thank you, Trixie. It’s been really nice.

Trixie – Thankyou as well, I’ve enjoyed it, It’s been funny.

Linton – And lovely weather. Sunshine…

Trixie – Very nice weather. Thank you.

[Outro]

 

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