I do play the guitar, but I do it for fun. And I am terrible at writing music as well. I have tried and failed, horribly.
I can remember being at Sandringham, for the first time, at Christmas. And I was worried what to give the Queen as her Christmas present. I was thinking, 'Gosh, what should I give her?'. I thought, 'I'll make her something.' Which could have gone horribly wrong. But I decided to make my granny's recipe of chutney.
I know that sounds almost horribly cheesy, but that is what has to happen if you're gonna make a relationship work for a long time: You have to keep learning new things that are interesting about this person or having them catch you off guard and have these little moments of intense appreciation.
Before I left the 'Star' last year to write books full-time, I welcomed catastrophe. It was material. Missed planes, broken pipes, dead lawns, digestive disorders, you name it, if it was something that had gone horribly wrong, it was worth banging out 600 words about.
When I play a solo I'm just expressing that moment. It can go horribly wrong easily enough.
In junior high P.E., I was way too shy to take a shower in front of the other kids. It was a horribly awkward time - body hair, odors... So I'd go from my sweaty shirt back into my regular clothes and have to continue the day.
