Lisa Jewell: Diary December 2004

Diary

December 2004

Hello! As I have done nothing at all since September, I thought I would dedicate this diary entry to replying to some of the queries that have been posted in the forums and guestbook over the last few months. I always mean to do them at the time but I never seem to get round to it and then I feel that it would be rude to reply to some and not to others. So here we are:

Kelly, GB. Is there another book in the pipeline?

Well, it does seem that some visitors to this site only actually get as far as the guestbook, but in case any of you make it to this page, then yes, there is another book in the pipeline. It's called Vince and Joy and it's out on 5 th August 2005. There's more about it in September's diary entry.

Catherine, GB. Has publication of Vince and Joy been delayed ?

Yes, unfortunately it has. Penguin have changed their minds about the cover design (this is the one they're not using) and gone back to the drawing board for a while. This means that I've lost my February ‘slot' (it's all very technical) and have been bumped back to August. Bummer.

Neal, Australia. In A Friend of the Family, Becky should be a Kiwi, not an Aussie, if she pronounces Ned as Nid .

Funny you should mention that, Neal. The girl at Penguin who copy-edited the book for me was Australian and made the very same point. The problem was that I couldn't think of another way of demonstrating her accent, so I left it as it was. I think it's one of those things that only Australians would pick up on, but I take your point and will make sure that my next Australian character doesn't talk funny.

Martin, Sweden. Have you ever been to Sweden?

No. I have been to Denmark and Norway, but never to Sweden. I'm quite sure I'll get there at least once before I die though. Particularly if my Swedish publishers bring me over!

Tom, GB. Are you from the north London area ? Did you go to St Michaels with my sister?

Yes, I certainly am, born and bred and I did indeed go to St Michael's. I spent most of my time avoiding boys from Finchley Catholic High – mainly because I was painfully boy-phobic as a teenager, but also because FCH boys had a tendency to smell. What's your sister's name?

Rach, Australia. Are you ever planning a publicity tour to Australia ?

Sadly not. I spent two weeks in Sydney for my friend Yasmin's publication a few years ago and loved it so much that I now harbour a secret fantasy to do a two-month house swap to Australia. Anyone got a luxury beach front house in Sydney they'd like to swap for a gorgeous three bed flat in Swiss Cottage for a few weeks?!

JSM Wong, Hong Kong. If Delilah in thirtynothing had sex with Dig at around the same time that she was raped by her stepfather, how does she know it wasn't Dig's baby?

Good question. I think I was assuming that she used condoms with Dig. Is that satisfactory?

Elisabetta, Italy. Re; Ralph's Party. Italian women – hairy? – are you sure ?

Elisabetta, you are not the first person to bring me up on this point. I would say in my defence that I have been to Italy at least a fifteen times (I even got married there!) so I wasn't writing from a perspective of pure ignorance. Those comments were based on memories from my childhood. We used to stay with friends on the Ligurian Riviera every summer and me and my sister would sit with our jaws on the sand looking at the proliferation of female body hair on display that we'd never seen at home. Things have obviously changed over the years (as they have the world over) but I do apologise for being insensitive. My defence with any criticism of Ralph's Party is that it was my first book and I never thought anyone else was going to read it!

Emilia, GB. Was Amelie named after the film?

I wanted to call her Amelia, but Jascha had a horrible ex called Amelia which left him with bad connotations. So I suggested Amelie and he liked it and that was that. Obviously, if it hadn't been for the film, I wouldn't have been aware of the name, but she wasn't actually named after the film, no. I didn't even really like the film, to be honest.

Catie, GB. Why does everyone in your books smoke?

Another good question. I don't think all my characters smoke, but a good 50% do. I've never smoked myself – well, not properly anyway – but I've always liked smokers. Don't know why, it's a strange thing. However, given that my mother now has lung cancer after 40 years of smoking, I feel a lot less affection for the habit than I once did, particularly in older people. I just think that if you're still smoking when you hit 30 then you obviously don't like yourself very much. It will be interesting to see how my new attitude to smoking will affect the habits of my future characters.

Anthea, GB. Re: friend of the Family. Shouldn't it be TGI not TFI Friday?

Absolutely right Anthea. TFI Friday was a great Friday night quiz show hosted by Chris Evans back in the early 90's when he was famous for being funny, talented and ground-breaking rather than for marrying a teenager and sitting outside pubs. TGI Fridays is a restaurant chain. Bad typo. Well spotted.

Elke, Brazil. Tem outro livro seu traduzido em Português ?

Erm, right, OK. I can't speak Portuguese, but I think this might say, are any of your other books going to be translated into Portuguese? If that's the case, then, no, not in the foreseeable future. If I'm wrong, then I hope I haven't embarrassed myself and, well, at least I tried.

Sarah, GB. I live in Enfield and think it would be a great setting for a story. Any plans for Enfield ?

Weirdly (as this was posted nearly eighteen months ago and I've only just seen it again) the final third of Vince and Joy is set in Enfield. I hope you think I've done it justice!

Emilie, France. I wondered if your books had ever been translated into French?

Again, sadly not. My foreign rights agents have been banging away, trying to get me a French publishing deal for five years now without success. I obviously do not appeal to French publishers. I will try not to take this fact to heart.

Rounders, GB. Is it merely me being an insecure, paranoid northerner, or is it genuinely patronising to have northern dialect (i.e. Lol's) spelled out? Are we the only ones who drop our aitches and do we really say 'were' instead of ‘was'.

I think, Rounders, that because the majority of my characters are Londoners I like to make a feature of the accents of characters from elsewhere. Not all northerners say ‘were' instead of ‘was', but Lol does. Out of respect for your feelings though, I made sure that my northern character in Vince and Joy (he's from Sheffield) doesn't get his weres and wasses mixed up at any point. He does, however, say ‘lass' at least once. Sorry.

Rose. On page 252 Ralph is said to have head butted an amp 'by mistake' at a Clash gig in 1979. In 1979 Ralph would have been about 13. It's possible that he would have been at a Clash gig at that age, but unlikely. Perhaps more glaring is on page 264 where Karl dedicates 'There She Goes' by The Las to Siobhan, saying poignantly that it reminded him of their days at university together. All well and good until you do the math and figure that as Karl and Siobhan had been together 15 years they would have got it together c. 1981. 'There She Goes' came out c. 1990

Oh, Rose, you are a bugger! But you are also, of course, absolutely right. I refer you to my previous comments about Ralph's Party (i.e.; I didn't think anyone apart from my mates was actually going to read it). But yes, someone else should have spotted it, I agree. Although, when it comes to the point about ‘There She Goes' it could be that Karl is reminded of his time lusting after Siobhan at university because of the lyrics rather than because of hearing the song at the time. As for 31 Almanac Road, that is indeed Almeric Road and the number 31 was chosen because it is my lucky number, not as a reference to an actual house.

If anyone else has a question they'd like me to answer or wants to point out any other glaring errors in my books, please go into the discussion forums and leave them there. I'll do my best to answer them immediately this time.

Amelie Corner
She is sixteen months old now and a total dreamboat. Her hair has got incredibly long and I can put it in bunches. She is still not walking (though she took two faltering steps last week, and being the uncool and over-enthusiastic mother that I am, I drove her straight to Clarks and had her fitted for her first pair of shoes) Of course, she hasn't taken a step since, but they're very pretty.

Although she's been very slow in terms of mobility, when it comes to language it's a different story. According to my many books on the subject, an average 16 month old child would have a vocabulary of around 6-10 words. Amelie has over a hundred and is already forming two word sentences. Last week she said ‘the dog says woof'. She is a complete genius. Here are some pictures of her looking adorable:


Amelie with Zolt. Whenever I ask Amelie who she loves, she says Zolt. I do wonder if she really understands the full meaning of the word love.	Amelie with Sam. I reckon you could fit the whole of Sam inside one of Amelie's cheeks.

This is my favourite picture ever of Amelie. I can't believe that she hasn't been stolen yet.

Well, that's more than enough for one entry. I wish you all a fantastically merry Christmas and a joyously raucous New Year and I'll see you back here in a month or two (with, no doubt, pictures of Amelie in reindeer antlers). Love and kisses to all of you,

Lisa xxxx

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