For someone like me whose life inspiration has been Prodigal Daughter and who’s read ‘Kane and Abel’ at least 10 times, Jeffrey Archer is probably third in line to God. I was visiting my mom in Delhi this May and generally chatting and catching up with a friend on the net when she said, “Btw, Tulip, Archer’s coming tomorrow for a book signing session. Would you like to meet him?” Would I what??? Of course I would love to meet him…I could give her my best dress to meet him!
Like two teenage fans we gaped at him as he walked in and realized everyone else was doing the same. He was funny and inspirational at the same time. I am repeating here his words about his second book and first best seller, ‘Kane and Abel’: ‘After I wrote Kane and Abel, my publishers wanted to publicize it in the USA. After trying hard for a number of days, they came to me and said, “Jeffrey, you are very lucky. You have got a spot in the Today Show. It’s at 7 am, and you have 3 minutes, and you are following Billy Carter’s brother and Mickey Mouse.” Then he goes on: “and then it’s time for the show. Billy Carter’s brother goes up and speaks about the beer that he’s promoting and he takes 3 minutes and 35 seconds. Next goes Mickey Mouse and I have learnt one thing from Mickey and that is –if it’s your last question, just keep on talking! I am finally left with just 1 minute and 20 seconds with me. My publishers told me repeatedly to just keep saying ‘Kane and Abel’ as many times as I am able to. I step on to the stage and the host says, ‘Jeff! So you have come here from Britain…’ and then I say, Yes! What a plane is the Concorde! You get up in Britain, you get down here. What power, what speed, and so on and so forth and then I hear him say, ‘Jeff, I was really happy to have you here on our show’. Not once was Kane and Abel mentioned!”
Archer’s blog (jeffreyarchers@blogspot.com) is his favourite means of writing at the moment. However, when he’s writing his books, he still uses a black felt tipped pen! And as he writes just for about two hours a day (6am to 8am), he completes a book in about two years.
When I asked him which one of his books is his favourite, he said he was most sentimental about ‘Not a Penny More, Not a Penny Less’ but he considers his latest ‘Prisoner of Birth’ to be his most well written. We walked up to get his signature (we were of course the first two in the queue), and after the deed was done, we realized we did not take a picture. What a crime…We went and stood in the queue again and asked a security man to take a picture. We thanked him and Lord Archer and as we walked down, looked at the camera and realized the guy did not know how to take a picture and there was just a black spot on it. We broke into the queue (with smiles to everyone) and walked up on the podium for the third time and my friend took a picture of me. Finally, we had a picture! Thank you Jeffrey Archer and thank you, the Head of Security for not holding us back…We are, after all, the biggest fans of Archer!
Like two teenage fans we gaped at him as he walked in and realized everyone else was doing the same. He was funny and inspirational at the same time. I am repeating here his words about his second book and first best seller, ‘Kane and Abel’: ‘After I wrote Kane and Abel, my publishers wanted to publicize it in the USA. After trying hard for a number of days, they came to me and said, “Jeffrey, you are very lucky. You have got a spot in the Today Show. It’s at 7 am, and you have 3 minutes, and you are following Billy Carter’s brother and Mickey Mouse.” Then he goes on: “and then it’s time for the show. Billy Carter’s brother goes up and speaks about the beer that he’s promoting and he takes 3 minutes and 35 seconds. Next goes Mickey Mouse and I have learnt one thing from Mickey and that is –if it’s your last question, just keep on talking! I am finally left with just 1 minute and 20 seconds with me. My publishers told me repeatedly to just keep saying ‘Kane and Abel’ as many times as I am able to. I step on to the stage and the host says, ‘Jeff! So you have come here from Britain…’ and then I say, Yes! What a plane is the Concorde! You get up in Britain, you get down here. What power, what speed, and so on and so forth and then I hear him say, ‘Jeff, I was really happy to have you here on our show’. Not once was Kane and Abel mentioned!”
Archer’s blog (jeffreyarchers@blogspot.com) is his favourite means of writing at the moment. However, when he’s writing his books, he still uses a black felt tipped pen! And as he writes just for about two hours a day (6am to 8am), he completes a book in about two years.
When I asked him which one of his books is his favourite, he said he was most sentimental about ‘Not a Penny More, Not a Penny Less’ but he considers his latest ‘Prisoner of Birth’ to be his most well written. We walked up to get his signature (we were of course the first two in the queue), and after the deed was done, we realized we did not take a picture. What a crime…We went and stood in the queue again and asked a security man to take a picture. We thanked him and Lord Archer and as we walked down, looked at the camera and realized the guy did not know how to take a picture and there was just a black spot on it. We broke into the queue (with smiles to everyone) and walked up on the podium for the third time and my friend took a picture of me. Finally, we had a picture! Thank you Jeffrey Archer and thank you, the Head of Security for not holding us back…We are, after all, the biggest fans of Archer!
