I'm Aliya Whiteley. I was the MNW pin-up in July 2006 with a comedy about the world of work, Three Things About Me, and I will be stapled through the middle again in February 2008 with my comic crime journey, Light Reading.
I already keep a blog with a fellow writer, Neil Ayres, but I thought this would be a better place to talk occasionally about my current writing projects and the world of publishing. Right now I'm starting the marketing preparations for Light Reading. I've got a small trailer up on my website at present (http://www.aliyawhiteley.com/) and am working on a longer one, plus a video of a reading, to make up a promotional DVD.
Just to keep the memory of Three Things About Me alive for a little longer, I'll finish with the game that gave me the title of that book. So, here's three things about me. One is a lie. See if you can guess which.
1. The last famous person I saw was Anneka Rice. She was buying Doritos in Tescos in Battersea. Yes, she was wearing a tracksuit.
2. I once forgot about some sunflower seeds I was toasting under the grill and consequently set fire to my flat.
3. I was going to be called Rachel, but the day before she had me my mother had a strange dream in which my Aunt appeared and told her that Lo! I should be called Aliya instead.
8 comments:
Maybe this reflects my suspicious mind, but I think the lie is that all of the statements are true -- a kind of meta-lie... There's a paradox at the heart of that idea which is making my head hurt, so I'll stop now and go and toast some sunflower seeds...
... oh, and if Number 3 isn't true it damn well should be!
Hi Aliya
I'd have to say number two. I've never seen sunflower seeds combust. Never tried combusting sunflower seeds, actually... Just can't seem to envisage an inferno following a little-bitty toasting!
Now if it was a stir-fry inferno (which I was almost guilty of - almost, but I was saved by my own stupidity) then I could understand it...
Hi Aliya...
Was your Aunt a Frank Herbert fan?
Tim, I'm just not that sneaky as to pull the old 'none of them is true' type bluff, although obviously you are! Will watch out for your sly nature from now on...
The sunflower seed blaze is absolutely true, as is number three - the dream - although my mother has never read a Frank Herbert novel and has no idea why the name Aliya should have popped into her head.
So - number one is the lie. Anneka Rice is the last but one famous person I've come across. The last famous person I saw was three weeks ago, when Meera Syal crossed my path at London Zoo.
I'll be careful re stir-fry infernos from now on.
Sad to say, I have no idea who Anneka Rice or Meera Syal are (hangs head).
Maybe I have to rethink my definition of 'famous'.
Yes, "sly nature" is me... in my defence, all my stories have some kind of mystery element, so I'm only cultivating a useful professional skill...honest
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