Lisa Jewell: Diary September 2006

Diary

September 2006

This is a not-very-good photograph of some of my favourite people in writing, taken on the night of Jenny Colgan’s launch party for her superb novel, West End Girls.

Clockwise from top left:
Andrew Mueller, Victoria Routledge, Chris Manby, Serena Mackesy,
Maddy Wickham, Mil Millington,
Matt Thorne (tall), Louise Wener (not so tall), Kate Harrison, Emlyn Rees, Kirsty Crawford, Ben Hatch, Me, Jenny,
Matt Dunn, Mike Gayle, Josie Lloyd.

Oh, what a lovely summer it's been (apart from August, which stank, but September seems to be making up for it). I've thoroughly enjoyed every minute of it and am so glad that I jacked in the non-fiction book with the Incredibly Tight Deadline. I'd got 100 pages into it by the end of June, and realised a) that I hadn't really found a satisfactory way to tell the story and b) that it was too personal. I might well come back to it at a later stage in my career but for now, it's on the backburner while I plough ahead with book number seven.

Well, ‘plough ahead' probably isn't the most accurate description for the nineteen pages I've written since July. But then, I have been on holiday. And Amelie's childminder's been away a lot. And the weather's been so nice it's been a shame to sit indoors . But summer's over now and the childminder's back and we've got no holidays planned until at least next year so the time for excuses is over.

Book number seven is currently called the Wonderful World of Dave (or Welcome to Dave World) and is about a young girl who falls in love with an older man and slowly realises just how much baggage this charming person comes attached to. A formidable ex-wife, a neurotic ex-girlfriend, a grown up son, two teenage children, an untamed toddler and a senile mother. Everything comes to a head when Dave invites Edie to celebrate his birthday in his house by the sea – with his extended family. It's going to be quite funny. I feel like it's been a while since I wrote a funny book so I'll have to dust off my sense of humour. If I can remember where I put it, that is ….

Book six meanwhile, is all set to go in February. It's still called 31 Dream Street and I'm still not sure I like the title but having failed to think of anything better I can't really complain. (Thanks so much to those of you who came up with such great suggestions, by the way. No luck this time though I'm afraid, but I really appreciate the effort!).

Spain was fantastic. We stayed at the WAG-tastic La Manga resort in Murcia, not because we particularly like places like that, but because it met all our criteria – golf for the boys, childrens' pools for the girls, walking distance of shops and restaurants and a well-run crèche. The crèche was so well-run in fact that I could barely drag Amelie away at the end of the morning. She loved it! And I loved it too because it meant I got to spend the morning on a sun lounger reading, something I haven't done since before she was born. I read five books in a fortnight and got a proper all over tan. Wonderful!


Senorita Amelie	Five minutes before this picture was taken, Jascha drank three tequila slammers. Thirty seconds after it was taken he sat down, saying something about his back …


Amelie's 3 rd birthday. Anna and Amelie tuck into her rapidly melting birthday cake.	Cool English girls at Andale Mexican restaurant at La Manga

I went up to Norfolk last week for a couple of nights with my sister and her kids. We stayed at the Hoste Arms which is the loveliest hotel imaginable and spent our days on the (somewhat blustery) beach and feeding two pence pieces into cascade machines in Hunstanton. My bedroom looked out onto the beautiful Moroccan style outdoor restaurant, so one night my sister and I left the kids watching Finding Nemo while we sat within viewing distance on the other side of the window enjoying a very civilised dinner together!


Oliver and Amelie dissect a hard-boiled egg over breakfast at the Hoste Arms in Norfolk. Yes, that is a baby chick, sort of …	Amelie and Mia audition for the next Mini Boden catalogue


My sister Sacha on a dune on Holkham Beach	Amelie very happy with the general standard of accommodation at the Hoste Arms

Vince and Joy is published in the States on 1st October.

I’m doing a bit of a Noel Edmonds and applying the principles of creative visualisation to the matter. I really, really want it to do well over there, not just for the money (which would be nice) but also for that elusive ‘breaking America’ kudos thing. So maybe I could ask you all to help by visualising the NY Times bestseller list with my name on it, and writing strange things on your hands. Let’s see if the power of communal positive thinking can help shift my little book into the big league!! (well, if Noel Edmonds can do it …)

As usual, I've gabbled on for far longer than I intended (I'm sure my diary entries were a fifth of the size when I first started writing them) so I’ll go now. But before I do – a note to Victoria who posted on my guestbook on 11th August. I quite agree that my Favourite Books selection needs an update and will get on with doing just that forthwith. Watch this space!

Thanks as usual, for all the support, enthusiasm and affection that gets delivered to me daily via my guestbook. I am not worthy …

Love to all of you and have a great autumn,

Lisa xx

Long Hot Summer


Amelie cools down in the wine bucket at my 38 th birthday party in July. (38? 38? What madness is this??)	Amelie, Jascha and Uncle ‘Pilot' Seb, on a flying (ha ha) visit from Malaysia


My little sister’s 32nd Birthday at the Masons Arms on the Harrow Road. Sacha, me and Tanya	Amelie and her small druid friend Wallace at a Pagan festival in Swiss Cottage (well, actually it was a paddling pool)

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