Tag Archives: veronica henry

Top 10 – Gerhard Richter

They say that wine matures with age and without doubt the later paintings of Gerhard Richter are his finest. His ability to travel through art history and create and respond to his own history is remarkable. To learn skills and then have the confidence to morph them into another methodology is a difficult thing to do. The paintings Cage (1) – (6) 2006 are without doubt in my top 10 list.

  • Confidence trick from the blog of Veronica Henry
    At the weekend, I went to the Gerhard Richter exhibition at Tate Modern. I was blown away, not only by the richness and variation of his work, but also his methodology: sometimes planned and ordered, sometimes random – sometimes both. It made me think long and hard about the way I write, and it occurred to me that the one quality all his work had, however it was generated, was confidence. Here is a man who knows what he is capable of and who is not afraid to experiment and take risks, but at the same time is very definite about what he has to say. Whatever image he ends up with, his voice is always loud and clear. It made me realise that confidence is the most important item in the writer’s toolbox. With confidence, you can write what you like and how you like, instead of slavishly following a formula. Confidence, of course, comes with experience, but the danger there is that one becomes complacent instead of pushing the boundaries. Something that Richter was clearly never afraid to do. And that is when genius emerges: when talent and confidence and craft combine with risk.

No time for Art, I’m chasing rabbits

I spent the majority of the day yesterday chasing rabbits. The inevitable thing happened – somebody left the cage door open. They had tremendous fun – I swear they were laughing at me.I was at the end of my tether and was getting ready to shoot the critters and put them in the pot – thankfully for all concerned, I managed to out fox the crafty creatures and they are now back in captivity.

I want some boots….maybe rabbit skin boots

Sometimes a little bit of nostalgia does nobody any harm – sadly I remember this when it was released in 1966. I have even got the 45rpm single of it and if my memory is correct the ‘B’ side is ‘The City Never Sleeps At Night’.

Nancy Sinatra was encouraged by Lee Hazlewood to sing the song as if she were a sixteen-year-old girl giving the brush-off to a forty-year-old man. Sinatra’s recording of the song was made with the help of notable Los Angeles session musicians known as the Wrecking Crew. This session included Hal Blaine on drums, Al Casey, Tommy Tedesco, Billy Strange and Mike Deasy on guitars, Ollie Mitchell, Roy Caton and Lew McCreary on horns, Carol Kaye on electric bass, and Chuck Berghofer on double bass.


The text below is lifted from Veronica Henry

I’ve spent about a million pounds in Clarks on children’s shoes in the past, but never actually bought a pair for myself. But as I rushed in the other day for a tube of trainer whitener, I spotted these. As a committed boot girl the moment autumn arrives I am clomping around, and these will go with absolutely everything. And the best thing of all? *whispers* – they are incredibly comfortable.


The domestic rabbit, is any of the several varieties of European rabbit that have been domesticated. Male rabbits are called bucks; females are called does. An older term for an adult rabbit is coney.

Chasing rabbits

I spent the majority of the day yesterday chasing rabbits. The inevitable thing happened – somebody left the cage door open. They had tremendous fun – I swear they were laughing at me.

I was at the end of my tether and was getting ready to shoot the critters and put them in the pot – thankfully for all concerned, I managed to out fox the crafty creatures and they are now back in captivity.

I want some boots….maybe rabbit skin boots

Sometimes a little bit of nostalgia does nobody any harm – sadly I remember this when it was released in 1966. I have even got the 45rpm single of it and if my memory is correct the ‘B’ side is ‘The City Never Sleeps At Night’.

Nancy Sinatra was encouraged by Lee Hazlewood to sing the song as if she were a sixteen-year-old girl giving the brush-off to a forty-year-old man. Sinatra’s recording of the song was made with the help of notable Los Angeles session musicians known as the Wrecking Crew. This session included Hal Blaine on drums, Al Casey, Tommy Tedesco, Billy Strange and Mike Deasy on guitars, Ollie Mitchell, Roy Caton and Lew McCreary on horns, Carol Kaye on electric bass, and Chuck Berghofer on double bass.


The text below is lifted from Veronica Henry

I’ve spent about a million pounds in Clarks on children’s shoes in the past, but never actually bought a pair for myself. But as I rushed in the other day for a tube of trainer whitener, I spotted these. As a committed boot girl the moment autumn arrives I am clomping around, and these will go with absolutely everything. And the best thing of all? *whispers* – they are incredibly comfortable.


Veronica Henry, Judi Spiers, Delilah

Go” is the debut single recorded by British Singer Delilah.

Today I’m off to Exeter to talk to the lovely Judi Spiers at Radio Devon about my new book, Marriage and Other Games, which comes out on 21 October.  I bumped into her at Appledore Festival on Saturday, where we were both appering.  No doubt we will touch on the subject of chick lit while we are there, and whether it is dead.  Absolutely not!  There are still legions of people out there buying uplifting, heartwarming, life-affirming fiction, which provides a much deserved escape during these tough times.  And books still provide remarkably good value for money.  So go on – stick one in your trolley!

While I’m there I get to choose a piece of music.  I’m totally in love with this song at the moment, Go by Delilah.  It is inspired by one of my old favourites, Ain’t Nobody by Chaka Khan, which takes me right back to the eighties.  But the spare way it’s produced, and her stunning voice, send shivers down my spine.  Gorgeous.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cxNe9jWNuEU&w=560&h=315]

The song was released as a single on 6 September 2011 as a digital download in the United Kingdom from her upcoming debut album. Delilah featured on Chase & Status‘s hit “Time” earlier this year, which reached number 21 on the UK Singles Chart. Like ‘Time’, ‘Go’ utilizes some light drum and bass, though only towards the end of the track.

The song features lyrics and melodies from the 1983 Chaka Khan hit, “Ain’t Nobody“(“The next thing I felt was you / Holding me close / What am I gonna do? / I let myself go”). In an interview with Pyromag in September 2011, Delilah mentioned that Chaka Khan has heard the track and thought it was “genius”

Let’s destroy an industry

#chicklitisnotdead

La Belle et La Bête

via veronica_henry: As the figures prove. Women’s commercial fiction still huge despite downturn.

The beauty of the Internet, art (including  the book industry) is that we can all lose ourselves in fantasy and dream worlds – surely this is a tonic not a crime?

Interesting reading in the UK press about the demise of ‘Women’s Commercial Fiction’ – why does the UK (press) always criticize successful industries and people? The publishing industry still generates massive tax revenues for the government (either directly or indirectly). Is this a smart move in times of crippling recession?

Besides, sales maybe down in the traditional printed book but there a new platforms to be exploited – with the advent of digital information systems and the Internet, the scope of publishing has expanded to include electronic resources, such as the electronic versions of books (eBooks) and periodicals, as well as micropublishing, websites, blogs,

Leave the arts alone! – after all we have little funding!

Get real! We are all taking a hit on sales, houses, pay packets etc. and any profit is a bonus for the National Debt.