Lisa Jewell

Describe your typical writing day?

I take my eldest daughter to school, go to the gym, go to Waitrose, come home, leave my youngest daughter downstairs with her babysitter and then head up to my study at the top of the house where I then spend somewhere between one hour, and occasionally four hours, faffing about on the internet, replying to e-mails, ordering clothes and posting in chat rooms. I have an early lunch at my desk and then at some point I will pull myself together and write some words. In the early months of writing a book this can be anywhere between one and five hundred words a day. In the last few weeks of writing a book I have been known to write as many as eight thousand. At 3.15 I turn off my computer and head off to school again to collect my eldest then spend the rest of the day being a mother.

What inspires you?

Life, people, London, peoples’ stories. Everyone has a story and I always manage to wheedle them out.

Did you have much literary experience before writing your first book?

Unless you mean reading, then no, none. I read a lot as a child and even wrote some poetry and began a novel before I was ten, but until I was twenty-seven I had not written a word. I took evening classes in creative writing to celebrate getting out of a suffocating marriage but even then didn’t think it would lead to a career as a writer. I was a PA at the time. It was only after reading High Fidelity that I thought I’d like to write a book of my own, but it still took a lot of encouragement and persuasion – and even some bribery! – from those close to me to get me to do it.

How much planning do you do before embarking on a new book?

None, at all. I start out with two main characters and a premise and an idea of how I’d like the book to ‘feel’. And then I just jump straight in and get on with it. You could call it organic. Or you could call it really, really stupid.

Best thing about being a writer?

The best thing about being a writer is being able to tell people that I’m a writer, particularly really pretentious, up-themselves people. I also love the fact that I get to work from home, especially now that I have children; it is brilliant being able to fit my work around my kids and not have to miss out on anything. I love being my own boss and not having to answer to anyone about how I’ve spent my days. And I love the solitude and peace of five hours a day alone at my desk, in such stark contrast to the rest of my day when I am surrounded by small people asking me annoying questions. But the best thing of all is being published. Holding your book in your hands. Knowing that you did it and that nobody can take it away from you.

Is there a book, written by another author that you wished you’d written? Why?

No, not at all. If I’ve enjoyed a book it’s because of it being exactly the way it was and if I’d written it instead then it would be completely different and probably not so good and I wouldn’t love it any more. Or am I taking too literal an approach to answering this question?

Who would you have play you in a film of your life?

Er, er, er, er, Kate Winslet? If only because me and my sisters have always joked that she is like the fourth Jewell girl. But God, that would be a boring film.

Which of your characters is most like you?

Jem from Ralph’s Party. She is so like me that I had to make everything about her physical appearance totally different so that I wouldn’t get us muddled up.

Who would you invite to a fantasy dinner?

I don’t like meeting heroes (I went to a soft play centre with Clare Grogan a few years back with our kids: now that was weirdly mundane after years of obsessive hero worship as a teenager) so would probably stick to a few close friends and family.

What are your top five writing tips for aspiring writers?

1)It’s neither as easy nor as much fun as you think it might be.

2)Just do it.

3)Keep going until you finish.

4)Self edit along the way. Cutting things and changing things is what makes a great novel. Nobody everpublished a great first draft.

5)Don’t be too precious and namby-pamby about it. Steel yourself for criticism and rejection.

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