Strictly Love (31 page)
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.
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In
Strictly Love
, what does Emily do for a living? Is she:
A) A lawyer
B) A doctor
C) An accountant
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TUESDAY, 12 FEBRUARY 2008
Dance like no one's looking
Today I was given a mission by my editor.
In order to properly research my latest book I have agreed to undergo dancing lessons.
Given that I have two left feet and no sense of rhythm, this could be highly amusing.
On the other hand I do love to dance …
So tonight I am going to attend my first ballroom dancing lesson.
At the heart of my latest book are these four lines, which are
attributed to everyone from Mark Twain to a Chinese proverb.
I don't care where they're from.
I just love them.
Love like you've never been hurt
Dance like no one's looking
Work like you don't have to
Live like Heaven on Earth
I sincerely hope no one is looking too much tonight …
FRIDAY, 15 FEBRUARY 2008
First Steps …
Well I survived my first dance lesson.
What am I talking about 'survived’?
I had an absolute blast.
I did feel quite nervous as I walked through the doors of the studio. Was I too old for all this? Too awkward? And when I saw
the calibre of the sexy young couple strutting their stuff on the dance floor, too amateur by half?
However, I needn't have worried, as my dance teacher, Izobela was not only delightful, but instantly put me at ease.
On discovering that I wanted to get the feel for several dances (I have worked out rumba standing on my own in front of a computer screen, and tried to waltz with a nine-year-old following a DVD, but it isn't quite the same) she kindly showed me the basic steps of rumba, tango and social foxtrot.
In rumba apparently the thing to do is to keep the top half of your body straight and tall, but the bottom half should be lithe and lissom, so you can perfect your snake hip-type movement. Like most things in life, if you relax it's easier. To start with nerves were making me stiff as a post and I was so worried about not getting the basic steps – back, side close, forward side close, trying to keep your feet in between your partner's WITHOUT tripping up takes some doing, I can tell you.
After mastering a simple routine, Izobela then took me on to the tango. Here I felt like a complete prat, I have to say. It was, however, very funny learning how to stretch myself right back with my head flung back, before coming forward again and doing this funny rocking thing (which if I did with my husband I wouldn't be able to cope without falling into fits of giggles), before doing that wonderful side-stepping bit which the tango is famous for and then ending it in a spin.
Finally I moved onto the social foxtrot. This apparently is a good one to use when you're in a crowded room. When proper competitive dancers do it, they should, so Izobela told me, simply glide around the room (and she demonstrated this brilliantly with her next pupil), but it's common for beginners to fumble and for the men not to lead properly. Again. I haven't had such fun in a while.
And however hopeless I am, I do love to dance …
WEDNESDAY, 27 FEBRUARY 2008
Invisible
On Monday it was my husband's birthday. I had intended to buy him and me a dancing lesson, but Izobela was away last week and rather inefficiently I hadn't got round to booking one with her before she went.
My husband, like a lot of men I suspect, mostly stands on the side drinking a pint when I hit the dance floor. This is not because he is too embarrassed to show off his dad dancing, but because he needs several pints to give him the confidence to go up and strut his funky stuff. I have been very keen to get him dancing ever since I went to salsa lessons a few years ago, but time, inclination and not enough beer has prevented him from taking me up on the offer.
As it was his birthday, we went out for dinner with several friends on Saturday night to a tapas bar. We eventually staggered home at just gone midnight, opening a bottle of wine, and listening to my husband's new Alison Moyet CD.
At that point, enough red wine and good cheer had been consumed for him to suddenly realise that Alison Moyet just begged to be danced with. I was trying really really hard to remember Izobela's strictures about ¾ time and whether it is back step, side, close, forward, and spin, while trying to impress on my husband the importance of him following me into dancing heaven without falling over.
I am pleased to report, we didn't fall over, I did feel like I'd got the hang of snake hips (in vino muchos exagiteras, me thinks) and it was ever so much fun.
But just as well you can't see me dancing from here …
STRICTLY LOVEJulia Williams has always made up stories in her head, and until recently she thought everyone else did too. She grew up in London, one of eight children, including a twin sister. She was a children's editor at Scholastic for several years before going freelance after the birth of her second child. It was then she decided to try her hand at writing. The result, her debut novel
Pastures New
, was a bestseller and has sold across Europe.As research for
Strictly Love
, Julia learned to ballroom dance. See the results of her labour at www.strictlycomedancing-not.blogspot.com and visit www.juliawilliamsauthor.com and www.AuthorTracker.co.uk for further information on her.Visit www.AuthorTracker.com for exclusive information on your favorite HarperCollins author.
For Maxine Hitchcock, Keshini Naidoo, Sammia Rafique, Caroline Ridding and all the Avon crew, I don't think thanks will ever cover it properly, but I'll say it again anyway!
For Dot Lumley, thanks as ever for all your help.
My friends in the RNA, especially those on the Friends and Writers e-group, continue to be a source of strength, and have been joined now by a new bunch of writing e-buddies. Thanks are also due to the Bloggers with Book Deals who make my online life such fun.
I nearly came a cropper several times over legal points, so I would like to say a very grateful and heartfelt thank you to: Indira Hann (again!), Paula Moffatt and James Wilson for putting me right. Any mistakes are entirely my own.
I'd also like to thank Danuta Kean for introducing me to the fabulous word “zedlebrity” and my lovely sister Lucy Moffatt for the last-minute Spanish lessons.
Thanks are due to David Gard for giving me useful insights into the murky world of advertising.
I'd also like to thank Michael Ware for sharing his thoughts on being a single dad, which were immensely useful.
Sarah Iles and Jackie O'Neill shared their hilarious experiences of mothering boys with me over cups of tea at the tennis club. You'll both be glad to know that the pond dipping made the final cut.
I had a steep learning curve on the dancing aspects of the book, and I was hugely helped in this by Dot Lumley, who set me on my path and was an invaluable source of information, Anita Maciejewski, who generously shared her dancing experiences and Izabela Hannah, who is a fabulous dance teacher.
And a special thanks goes to the incomparable Marie Philips, whose hilarious blogging about
Strictly Come Dancing
, kept me up to speed when I didn't have time to watch.And finally … without my husband's help on all matters dental, this book could never have been written.
For Dave – I owe it all to you.
By the same author
:
Pastures New
CopyrightThis novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author's imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.
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A Paperback Original 2008
First published in Great Britain by HarperCollins
Publishers
2008Copyright © Julia Williams 2008
Julia Williams asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
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