Sunday 31 May 2009

Britain's Got Talent - but not where I was

Whilst the whole world was glued to the Britain's Got Talent final last night I was unfortunately the celebrity judge at Whitwell Bottom's very own version of the competition. Myself, the parish clerk and the vicar sat through round after endless round of home-grown (lack of) talent in the hope of finding someone good enough to be branded mediocre.

Instead of listening to the dreamy, saxy tones of Julian Smith or watching Diversity and Flawless strut their stuff, we were treated to Wilf And His Performing Ferrets, the local ballet school's interpretation of Swan Lake performed in wellington boots and endless renditions of Let Me Entertain You (but no one did).

The piano playing of Kylie Marshall won the night - not because of her perfect recital of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star (because it wasn't) but because she's the 7 year old daughter of the local builder and repairs are needed on the village hall.

I looked stunning in my new red dress, very similar to the one Amanda Holden wore on BGT. However, Whitwell Bottom's village hall is incredibly draughty (one of many problems they want the builder to fix) so I had more goose pimples than a plucked chicken by the end of the night.

It would have been all right if I'd had a Simon Cowell on the panel with me but the vicar is to charisma what Cornish pasties are to low-calorie snacks. And the parish clerk was more Piers Plowman than Piers Morgan as he was a farmer and had just been muck-spreading by the smell of him.

Still, nights like these are the price one pays for being in the spotlight and I hate to say no to my public. Whilst an actress's life might look all glamour I can tell you that sometimes, you can't beat a night on the sofa with a glass of wine!

Lots of love, Aurora xxx

Thursday 21 May 2009

Twittering on

I've finally joined the Twitter Generation and registered as Bookslimited/ Laura Essendine. If anyone out there would like to give me a tweet, I'd love to hear from you, particularly if you're a writer too or if you have comments on The Accidental Guru.

I've also opened a profile on The Red Room and hope to be uploading work there too for critique and to connect with other writers.

I became a follower of The Red Room on Twitter and was delighted to see myself billed as the 900th follower which got me a couple of mentions and a link to my Red Room page.

If anyone else would like to connect, I'd love to hear from you. And keep your comments on The Accidental Guru coming. They're so helpful.

Laura xx

Saturday 16 May 2009

Worshop success

On Saturday I did my first full day workshop for women of a certain age. To say it was a success would be an understatement. We held it in a posh hotel in Nottingham, took over two conference rooms and could have sold twice the amount of tickets. I hate to sound big-headed but they loved me.

My lectures went down a storm, particularly the one inspired by Aurora - Allure is a state of mind and not a state of undress. She gave me lots of ideas for this one but you know what she's like. I had to tone it down a bit otherwise the censor would have closed me down! They gave me a standing ovation at the end. I tell you, I nearly cried.

Who would have thought six months ago that I'd have been here doing this. How much has changed in so short a time. Hopefully, Laura will be telling you our whole story soon.

Chat again in the very near future.

Judi xxx
(motivational guru for the menopause generation - it's official!!!)

The first chapter of THE ACCIDENTAL GURU is available for free on www.lulu.com or email Laura and she'll send you a copy. If you want more, two chapters can be found for free on www.authonomy.com. We'd all love to hear what you think.