I am delighted that CLARE PEDRICK is joining me on my blog today. Clare's book - Chickens Eat Pasta - was published by Troubador Publishing on 28 July 2015.
So Clare, what inspired you to
write your book Chickens Eat Pasta?
Well the story behind the book is quite an unusual one. It’s
the tale of how I got on a plane to Italy when I was still in my mid-twenties,
and for some unfathomable reason – and I still can’t really explain why -
bought an old ruin outside a tiny hill village in what was then, and in many
respects still is, one of the most remote parts of rural Umbria. People have often
asked me how I ended up living here, and what brought me here in the first
place. And whenever I recount the story, it has always met with a very positive
response, not least because there’s a strong love interest in the tale. So
writing this book has always been in the back of my mind.
How much did you plan
your book before you started writing?
I actually started writing this book a number of years ago.
But finishing it and knocking it into the kind of shape that would satisfy me
and my reading public was quite another matter. I did plan it, at the beginning,
but then it got put on hold while I had children and got on with my career as a
journalist, and by the time I fished it out again, other events had taken over,
and the way I saw the book developing had also changed in many ways. In the end, I wrote five versions, so
although the core remained what I had planned at the outset, the way I actually
presented the story was quite different
– and I think much better.
Chickens Eat Pasta is
a memoir of your decision to buy an old house in a remote village in Umbria,
Italy. Do you have any plans to write another book? If so, which genre would
you choose?
To be honest, writing this book while carrying on with all
my other work and family commitments has been so demanding that I can’t really
get to grips with the idea of writing another one just yet. But working with
words is something that I have always done, and producing a book has been
immensely satisfying. So I may well write another book at some stage. I love
the travelogue style of Bruce Chatwin, H.V. Morton and Eric Newby, to name but
a few, so that’s a genre that will always draw me in. But I would also like to
try my hand at writing fiction, and I have a few ideas milling around in my
head.
Do you have any
strange writing habits?
As a journalist, I’m quiet disciplined about my writing, and
having been brought up having to get stories out quickly in a noisy newsroom, I
don’t have any real need for perfect conditions, such as complete silence, or
soothing music. I write better in the mornings, but I can also write in the
evenings, preferably with a glass of good Umbrian white wine at my side!
Describe your writing
style in 10 words or less?
Yikes! Well I would like to think that it is fluid and
evocative, with plenty of description and dialogue.
Looking back, what
advice would you give your younger self?
I suppose I could wish that I had been less impetuous. But
of course, if I’d followed that advice, then none of what became my adventure
buying up the old ruin in Italy and all that it led to would ever have
happened! I would probably have had an easier life if that had been the case.
But I firmly believe that the smoothest path isn’t always the happiest one.
How has your life
changed since becoming a published author?
It’s certainly become a busier one. I naively thought that
writing the book would be the difficult part, and that the hard graft would
finish there. How wrong I was! Because as any author knows, especially an indie
one, there is a great deal of work to be done in actually getting the book out
to the readers. Having said that, I’m not complaining, as this journey has
connected me with a whole new community of other authors and book bloggers, who
are incredibly supportive, and many of them are doing some extremely
interesting things. I’ve also derived a great deal of pleasure from hearing
feedback about my book, most of which, I’m glad to say, has been extremely
encouraging, and its release has put me back in touch with people with whom I’d
lost contact, including many who have been to my house in Umbria, and are
familiar with some of the places and characters in the story.
I often ask authors –
‘If you were writing a book about your life, what would the title be’ – but
you’ve already done that! So my question is: Why did you choose this title?
That’s an easy one. The title – Chickens Eat Pasta – refers
to a video that I saw of chickens eating spaghetti in a tiny mediaeval hill
village in rural Umbria. It was a rainy November morning in England, and the
video just intrigued me. That’s really what sparked this whole adventure off in
the first place. When I arrived in that village just a few days afterwards, I
saw that it was true. Chickens really did eat pasta in that part of Italy. And
to my utter amazement, so did dogs. The village shop had huge sacks of special
pasta for dogs. I don’t know why, but it caught my imagination.
What advice do you
have for aspiring writers?
I think a great many people would love to write a book, but
they are put off because they don’t think they’re good enough, or they’re
worried that they won’t find a publisher. I suspect that there are many
fascinating untold stories out there, and of course self-publishing has
drastically shifted the goalposts. So I would say, if you think you have a book
inside you, be it a children’s story or a novel or a memoir, go ahead and write
it. Because if you don’t, you’ll always wish that you had.
And lastly, why
should people read Chickens Eat Pasta?
People tell me that Chickens Eat Pasta is quite an inspiring
story, of how following your intuition can lead to happiness, and in this case
love. Although it’s a fairly easy read, I think it’s one that carries you along
and stirs a wide range of emotions. I’ve heard some readers tell me that they
were alternately crying and laughing as they turned the pages. And of course
it’s also a form of vicarious travelling, as the story is set in an
extraordinarily beautiful part of Italy, which is still very much untouched and
untamed, and it conjures up a way of life that is so different from that
experienced by most people. So if nothing else, I think the book is a pretty
good holiday read, though I hope it’s a bit more than that. It’s also quite a
compelling love story, with the house and with the man I met there. But it’s
not a sugar-coated tale. That’s not the way it was at all, so the book is quite
an honest portrait of all the challenges along the way, and I think that has
struck a chord with quite a few readers.
About Clare Pedrick
Clare Pedrick is a British journalist who studied Italian at Cambridge University
before becoming a reporter. She went on to work as the Rome correspondent for
the Washington Post and as European Editor of an international features
agency. She still lives in Italy with her husband, whom she met in the village
where she bought her house
Follow Clare on Twitter -
@ClarePedrick
Chickens Eat Pasta
Published by Troubador Publishing (28 July 2015)
Synopsis:
Clare
Pedrick was just 26 years old when she decided to buy a beautiful old ruin in
Umbria on a whim after spotting a newspaper advert one rainy Sunday morning.
She was entirely alone when she embarked on her adventure, which eventually led
to a love affair with a man who is now her husband.
Unlike some
other recent bestsellers, this is not simply an account of a foreigner’s move
to Italy, but a love story written from the unusual perspective of both within
and outside of the story. As events unfold, the strong storyline carries with
it a rich portrayal of Italian life from the inside, with a supporting cast of
memorable characters. Along the way, the book explores and captures the warmth
and colour of Italy, as well as some of the cultural differences – between
England and Italy, but also between regional Italian lifestyles and behaviour.
It is a story with a happy ending. The author and her husband are still
married, with three children, who love the old house on the hill (now much
restored) almost as much as she does.
