Former first minister Nicola Sturgeon has said it is now her dream to write a novel after stepping down from the role in March.
Ms Sturgeon appeared at an event with comedian Janey Godley as part of the Aye Write book festival at the Royal Concert Hall in Glasgow on Friday, where she revealed it was “now” her dream to write a novel.
She told audience members: “I’m so jealous that you (Janey Godley) have written a novel.
“It’s my dream now to write a novel, but I’ll never do it.”
The event was held to discuss Godley’s novel Nothing Left Unsaid, which is set in Shettleston and flashes back to the summer of 1976.
Jokingly, Godley told her: “You’ll have a lot of material.”
To which Ms Sturgeon said: “Most of it is probably actionable!”
The former SNP leader, who stood down in March after eight years in office, dropped further hints that a memoir may be under way of her time in office.
She also acknowledged she had had a “tough time” over the last few weeks while the police investigation into the SNP’s finances intensified.
She said: “I’m no stranger to stress in my life.
“There have been days in the last few weeks perhaps where I thought I was having a tough time.”
Ms Sturgeon said it was a rarity to hear “authentic working class female voices” in many walks of life and said she remembered women who joined “menages” – which are self-managed saving schemes and soup pots, which feature in Godley’s novel.
Recently diagnosed with ovarian cancer, Godley went viral on social media for her comical voiceovers of Ms Sturgeon’s Covid briefings.
The pair discussed how the voiceovers came about where Godley revealed she had always done them.
She reconsidered doing them during the Covid pandemic because of the impact the virus had on people, but it was her daughter Ashley Storrie who encouraged her to keep doing them.
She said: “We were doing these for the sake of it, when I did the first one I went: I can’t, people have died. This isn’t the right thing to do.
“But when they took off, people were saying to me they were really funny.”
Ms Sturgeon said: “There were two things you used to say in them and it was that: ‘my feet were killing me’.
“My feet usually were killing me, and that I was starving and I usually was starving.”
Among the most popular were those of Ms Sturgeon which often ended with a now infamous phrase: “Frank! Get the door!”
Godley revealed that Frank was based on a man who read “cowboy books” in the pub she used to work in.
Why are you making commenting on The National only available to subscribers?
We know there are thousands of National readers who want to debate, argue and go back and forth in the comments section of our stories. We’ve got the most informed readers in Scotland, asking each other the big questions about the future of our country.
Unfortunately, though, these important debates are being spoiled by a vocal minority of trolls who aren’t really interested in the issues, try to derail the conversations, register under fake names, and post vile abuse.
So that’s why we’ve decided to make the ability to comment only available to our paying subscribers. That way, all the trolls who post abuse on our website will have to pay if they want to join the debate – and risk a permanent ban from the account that they subscribe with.
The conversation will go back to what it should be about – people who care passionately about the issues, but disagree constructively on what we should do about them. Let’s get that debate started!
Callum Baird, Editor of The National
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here