{"id":27437,"date":"2012-09-20T11:12:14","date_gmt":"2012-09-20T01:12:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.booktopia.com.au\/?p=27437"},"modified":"2016-03-01T09:46:32","modified_gmt":"2016-02-29T23:46:32","slug":"nellie-bennett-author-of-only-in-spain-in-search-of-my-hearts-desire-answers-ten-terrifying-questions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/2012\/09\/20\/nellie-bennett-author-of-only-in-spain-in-search-of-my-hearts-desire-answers-ten-terrifying-questions\/","title":{"rendered":"Nellie Bennett, author of Only in Spain: In Search of My Heart’s Desire, answers Ten Terrifying Questions"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>The Booktopia Book Guru asks<\/strong><\/p>\n

Nellie Bennett<\/h1>\n

author of Only in Spain: In Search of My Heart’s Desire<\/em><\/a><\/strong><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Ten Terrifying Questions<\/h2>\n

————————-<\/p>\n

1. To begin with why don\u2019t you tell us a little bit about yourself – where were you born? Raised? Schooled?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I was born and raised in Sydney, Australia, and I went to a hippy school, a public school and a private school.<\/p>\n

2. What did you want to be when you were twelve, eighteen and thirty? And why?<\/strong><\/p>\n

When I was twelve I wanted to become a spy.<\/p>\n

At eighteen I wanted my life to be a Hollywood musical.<\/p>\n

And when I\u2019m thirty I hope to be dancing tango in the streets of Buenos Aires.<\/p>\n

3. What strongly held belief did you have at eighteen that you do not have now?\"\"<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

When I was eighteen I believed that it was my moral obligation to be a size six forever. But after five years living in Spain I\u2019ve learnt that size is just a number. 14, 16, 24, fabulous is as fabulous does.<\/p>\n

4. What were three big events \u2013 in the family circle or on the world stage or in your reading life, for example \u2013 you can now say, had a great effect on you and influenced you in your career path?<\/strong><\/p>\n

The day I took my first flamenco class. One strum of that guitar and I was in love. Then the day I decided to runaway with the gypsies and dance flamenco in Spain. And I\u2019m about ready for that third one…<\/p>\n

5. Considering the innumerable electronic media avenues open to you – blogs, online newspapers, TV, radio, etc \u2013 why have you chosen to write a book? aren\u2019t they obsolete?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Because I\u2019m old school. I use a fountain pen. Can someone please explain Twitter to me?<\/p>\n

6. Please tell us about your book\u2026 Only in Spain: In Search of My Heart’s Desire<\/em><\/a><\/strong><\/em><\/strong>
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/strong>It\u2019s the story of how I fell in love with flamenco one hot summer day in a Sydney dance studio, and travelled to Spain to learn to dance. In Spain I discovered a crazy wonderful world where everything is upside-down: wine is cheaper than water, the garbage collectors look like Enrique Iglesias, and people live to the rhythms of flamenco.<\/p>\n

(BBGuru:<\/strong> publisher’s blurb > A sparky, witty and thoroughly enjoyable memoir of a girl who fell in love with flamenco dance and with Spain.<\/p>\n

A foot-stamping, full-on firecracker of a travel memoir, crackling with energy, dance, gypsies, love, food and the occasional donkey.<\/p>\n

Nellie Bennett fell in love with flamenco one hot summer day in a Sydney dance studio. Longing to get closer to the authentic experience, she packed her suede dance shoes and a set of castanets and travelled to the other side of the world, to Seville, to learn flamenco.<\/p>\n

What she didn’t realise is that flamenco is not a dance, it’s a way of life.<\/p>\n

In Spain, she fell in love three times – the first time with a smokey-eyed flamenco dance teacher, the second time, with a wild and tempestuous gypsy; and the third with a tall, dark handsome Basque chef – not realising that, all along, it’s really Spain she’s fallen in love with.<\/p>\n

A witty, passionate story of romance and discovery. Read an extract<\/a>)<\/strong><\/p>\n

Click here to buy Only in Spain: In Search of My Heart’s Desire<\/em> from Booktopia,
\nAustralia’s No.1 Online Book Shop<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

7. If your work could change one thing in this world \u2013 what would it be?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I\u2019d like to see more people dance. What I love about Spain is that everyone dances, young and old. They dance because they have so much joy \u2013 and they have so much joy because they dance!<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Diana Vreeland<\/p><\/div>\n

8. Whom do you most admire and why?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Diana Vreeland. Because when everyone was saying, \u2018Why should I?\u2019 she asked, \u2018Why don\u2019t you?\u2019<\/p>\n

9. Many people set themselves very ambitious goals. What are yours?<\/strong><\/p>\n

To live without goals.<\/p>\n

But if I have to have one… a Kelly bag.<\/p>\n

10. What advice do you give aspiring writers?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Live.<\/p>\n

Nellie, thank you for playing.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Click here to buy Only in Spain: In Search of My Heart’s Desire<\/em> from Booktopia, Australia’s No.1 Online Book Shop<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Booktopia Book Guru asks Nellie Bennett author of Only in Spain: In Search of My Heart’s Desire Ten Terrifying Questions ————————- 1. To begin with why don\u2019t you tell us a little bit about yourself – where were you born? Raised? Schooled? I was born and raised in Sydney, Australia, and I went to a hippy school, a public school and a private school. 2. What did you want to be when you were twelve, eighteen and thirty? And why? When I was twelve I wanted to become a spy. At eighteen I wanted my life to be a Hollywood musical. And when I\u2019m thirty I hope to be dancing tango in the streets of Buenos Aires. 3. What strongly held belief did you have at eighteen that you do not have now? When I was eighteen I believed that it was my moral obligation to be a size six forever. But after five years living in Spain I\u2019ve learnt that size is just a number. 14, 16, 24, fabulous is as fabulous does. 4. What were three big events \u2013 in the family circle or on the world stage or in your reading life, for example \u2013 you…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":""},"categories":[4,84],"tags":[3905,4077,5184],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27437"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27437"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27437\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":57100,"href":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27437\/revisions\/57100"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27437"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27437"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27437"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}