Laurie Graham
Laurie Graham
Laurie Graham, CMis a Canadian downhill skier who represented Canada at the 1980, 1984 and 1988 Winter Olympics. She won six World Cup victories and three National Downhill titles in her eleven years on the National Ski Team. She was the first North American woman to win a World Cup Super Giant Slalom skiing. She was the first North American to win on home soil at Mont-Tremblant, Quebec. In addition, Graham posted 34 top 10 FIS World Cup Downhill results...
NationalityEnglish
ProfessionJournalist
Date of Birth25 November 1947
conversation fragments future hear mean store
I have a magpie mind, by which I mean I see and hear little things - photos, fragments of conversation - and store them away for future use.
frightened suspect
I hate to think I ever make my husband frightened or unhappy, but I suspect I do.
ate children food incorrect junk occasional played
In the Seventies, my children played in the street, read politically incorrect stories, ate home-cooked food and occasional junk and, yes, were sometimes smacked.
feels novels
As well as writing novels and doing short-order journalism, I am also the full-time carer of my husband, who has Alzheimer's. Each day feels like a race that must be run.
certainly feature life lone normal widows
Not so very long ago, certainly well into the Thirties, a lady companion was a normal feature of life for widows or lone spinsters.
preferred until voices
My preferred style is to write in first person, so I always have to play around with possible narrator voices until I find something that works.
behaviour conversation home knock models normal paid shift
Even professional, paid carers aren't always models of saintly behaviour - and they know they can knock off at the end of their shift to go home, take an uninterrupted shower, and have a normal conversation with someone.
affection certainly kept low
I know my parents loved me - they certainly did everything they could for me - but displays of affection were kept on a distinctly low flame.
perspective subjects
I'm married to an American, so I guess that has changed my perspective on the subjects I can write about.
feminine guarded husbands neither
I've always jealously guarded my feminine mystique. I've been married twice, and neither of my husbands has ever seen me put my face on.
covered curtain drew legs
It was the Victorians who covered the piano legs and drew a heavy curtain over what a lady got up to in her boudoir.
books characters happened hear steps telling work written
I have an idea for a story, and if the idea is going to work, then one of the characters steps forward, and I hear her voice telling the story. This is what has happened with all the books I've written in the first person.
companion finishes list overall wash
The word 'carer' makes me think of someone with a nylon overall and a long list of 'clients' to wash before she finishes her shift. A companion was something unique. A kind of live-in friend.
challenged change climate organisms
There would have been climate change and the organisms were challenged by a new environment,