A low calorie look at life, writing and cake.

Saturday 8 February 2014


Today my good friend Lynda Renham is holding a Chocoholic Fun Day to celebrate her fabulous and funny new book ‘Confessions of a Chocoholic.’ and perhaps you've popped onto my blog to enter the competition to win a copy of my book Younger, Thinner, Blonder? The competition question is at the bottom of this post...



Having been lashed to my computer since before Christmas writing my next book I can certainly relate to the ‘chocoholic' bit of today's event!

With a tight deadline for this summer, and a plan to lose two stone, I welcomed 2014 by slaving over my third book, ‘Love, Lies and Lemon Cake,’ while gnawing my way through celery. But by January 2nd I discovered an abandoned box of festive chocolates under the coffee table. 

Now I have to confess to a certain chocolate snobbery and there are  certain centres that don’t quite step up to the plate for me. Orange creams have always been the last to leave my chocolate box and can be left to linger for days while I enjoy the more delicious chocolate covered cherry liqueurs and thickly smothered nuts. But I have to tell you, leftover orange creams take on a different meaning in the cold light of January away from their more exotic chocolate sisters. My January joy at discovering those rejected orange filled chocolate baubles was equal to a Hotel Chocolat praline in December. Chocolate is relative - and in my post-Christmas pre-Diet-book-writing binge those orange bad boys were goooood.

It’s now my third week on the diet, my ninth on the book and all orange chocolates have been hoovered up by moi. Despite eating only low fat cereal bars sprinkled with a nasty chocolate substitute – I have lost only 3 pounds, which is hardly surprising as I’ve done no exercise. I haven’t even walked to Costa Coffee or flexed my fork arm for lunch with the girls, as I banned all contact with the outside world to finish ‘Love, Lies and Lemon Cake,’ in time for it's release -for my lovely readers to enjoy on beaches and summer balconies around the world.
 
 
 
 
So when Lynda Renham asked if I’d like to write something on my blog and offer a signed book for her ‘Chocoholic Fun Day,’ I was delighted. Having been in self-imposed solitary confinement, I was also a little scared at the thought of human contact – albeit online. As always though, the thought of chocolate pulled me through... and guess what? I checked under the coffee table this morning and found the remnants of a tub of Christmas Quality Street! Having eaten cereal bars for the past three weeks I felt like I’d won the chocolate lottery. It isn’t Hotel Chocolat, but as I said, chocolate is relative...


 
COMPETITION

If you’d like to win a signed copy of my latest book ‘Younger, Thinner, Blonder please answer the question below – the answer’s in this post.
 
Having put on more than a stone writing ‘Fat Girls and Fairy Cakes’ I truly believed writing a book called, ‘Younger, Thinner, Blonder’ would mean I would actually achieve a younger, thinner blonder look. However, ‘thinner’ never happened and ‘younger’ never would, so I’ve bleached my hair and I’m back with ‘cake’.
 
So what is the title of the book I am currently writing, due out this summer?
Answers please to chocolate@renham.co.uk