Lisa Jewell: Diary December 2007

Diary

December 2007

A Room of my Own

Well, we're only six days into December, but I do feel as though if I were to close my eyes, count to five and open them again it would be Christmas day. And then if I were to do it again, it would be 2020 and Amelie would be leaving home. And then once more and I'd be 104 years old. In other words, time is flying by at a terrifying rate of knots and I DON'T LIKE IT! Stop! Slow Down! Evie is coming up to seven months old yet I only gave birth to her about thirty seconds ago and my 40 th birthday is galloping towards me like a big herd of angry buffalo. As is my deadline.

*gulp*

I am working really hard, I really, really am, but I still have such a long way to go. I was reading about Julie Myserson's study in the Guardian on Sunday (more about studies later!) and she said:

“Once I start writing, I'm inside my own head and nothing else exists and it makes no difference at all what's in front of me. When I write I go somewhere else entirely.'

I actually felt a bit like crying when I read this as that is exactly how I would LOVE to feel. But sadly, the only places I go to when I'm writing are ebay and facebook. And I am absolutely NOT inside my own head. I am outside it looking in and wondering if I'll find any words in there today. I am the world's most easily distracted author and generally speaking will be happy doing anything other than writing. But, I am getting there, and it will be FINE, it really will.

So yes, here I am, in my new study at the top of the house. How much do you love my wallpaper? It's great up here (though sadly my gorgeous new working environment has not inspired to me to write any faster). My paperwork is still in boxes and half my clothes are still in a wardrobe at the bottom of the house but I have decided that Being Very Organised and Having a Big Sort Out will have to wait until this book is finished. For now, I have everything I need up here and will just have to turn a blind eye to the clutter and piles that seem to follow me everywhere I go.

In other news, the God of Primary School Places must have been reading my last diary entry, as ten days after Amelie started at her posh new school we got a call from the state primary school over the road offering us a place for Amelie. It is a five minute walk from here, it is very small and very friendly and it is FREE! Hurrah! Amelie now wears a sweatshirt and trousers to school, instead of a grey pinafore and woollen blazer, and has friends from all different walks of life, not just ones with big houses in Hampstead. She is very happy there (check her out dancing with her boyfriend at the Christmas Disco last week!) and we are all delighted.


Amelie stood in front of this boy and sobbed until he finally agreed to dance with her. An interesting pulling technique, I'm sure you'll agree	Gorgeous Evie enjoying a ride on the Mummymobile

Amelie gets into Evie's cot every morning for a cuddle. Evie always seems slightly bemused by this.	Bonfire night at the Biros

Evie continues to make my heart sing with joy and delight. She is coming up for seven months old now and can a) sit up, b) clap and c) blow raspberries. Another genius in the making, clearly. What she can't do however is sleep through the night. I finally got her out of my bed and into her own cot when she was four months old, which was a resounding success, but have been waiting patiently for that magic moment when I wake up, look at the clock and realise that, my word, I have slept all night! Evie is such a pig that she cannot contemplate going through an entire night without refreshment and snacks – well, you don't get that fat without making a bit of an effort. Amelie was (as us mothers say) ‘going 7-7' by five months so my expectations were probably artificially high. But I am now resigned to being woken every four hours and will only worry if it's still happening by the time she's a year. And frankly, she is just so goddam adorable that I really don't mind the opportunity to have a little sniff of her in the middle of the night.


I do a good line in baby cheeks. Those are some chops, but Amelie's were bigger.	Evie the Pixie

As ever, my life has been a bit on the quiet side since I last wrote. I have been out after dark only twice since Evie was born, once to play Scrabble at my friend Jenny's house and once to have dinner with my sisters at XO, a very sexy restaurant just up the road from me (there is a severe shortage of sexy restaurants in my locale so hurrah for XO!). I drank Margaritas, overate, saw Chris Martin and went home to find Jascha had the spent the entire evening juggling two crying children. Evie cried for another two hours after I got back and was then sick all over me. It kind of put me off going out again, and I'm now hibernating until spring.

My only other social outing of note was my little sister's wedding party at the end of November. She and Dan got married on the sly while they were on holiday in Miami in August, but they didn't get away without putting on a bash for their friends and family. And what a bash it was. They hired a beautiful room in the famous Crown Moran Hotel in Cricklewood and 130 of us spent a truly magical day drinking and eating and dancing. It really was a day to remember. And memorable also, for the fact that my other sister finally agreed to marry her partner, after sixteen years (and two kids) together, during the celebrations. So as of next May, I will no longer be the only married Jewell girl and we will all be thoroughly decent!


Amelie cutting up the rug at Tanya & Dan's wedding November 2007	Tanya, Dan and joyous Joy

The Beave (as she is known with some affection in our house) looking ravishing in pink velvet	My sister Sacha and our rather handsome cousin, Alex. Yes, girls, he is single

Me and my two beautiful aunties	‘Show me the way to go home, I'm tired and I want to go to bed'

So, that's me for the quarter. One successful house move, one wedding, a new school, half a book written and a baby who still wakes in the night. And I have lost all my baby weight PLUS another five pounds, which is grand.

The next quarter sees me;

spending a quiet Christmas Day at the in-laws
finishing my book
publishing the paperback of 31 Dream Street
maybe, just possibly, hopefully, fingers crossed, taking a little holiday somewhere warm and sunny

Hope you all have the best Christmas ever and a raucous New Year. Thanks once more for all your support over the past year and for being the best readers a girl could ask for. See you in March!

Loads of love,

Lisa xxxx

Couldn't go without just one more little pic of my adorable girl. Here she is in a high chair for the first time, looking good enough to EAT!

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