You feel undervalued when you write the kind of fiction I write.
— Lisa Jewell
Whenever I watch any kind of competition, my immediate reaction when they call out the name of the winner is to look at the loser.
It wasn't until I was 23 and got married to a guy who was really bookish that I got completely hooked on reading and writing again. He had so many paperbacks, I didn't have to buy a book for four and a half years.
I must always, always have a box of Extra chewing gum in my bag because I have developed a terrible cheek-chewing compulsion. It's not only uncomfortable, but I look really weird when I'm doing it, and chewing gum is the only way I can stop myself.
Agents and publishers are always looking for something 'different,' a fresh viewpoint and a new voice, not just re-hashed versions of stuff that's gone before.
I don't really get into a writing routine until March or April, when I'll write a few hundred words a day, often in a cafe in the morning after the school run.
A strange side effect of sudden success is the sense that if you can succeed in one field, then it might well be worth trying to succeed in another.
Sometimes you need to be shaken out of a situation.
When I was a little girl, I was a real, drippy bookworm. But when I went into fashion, I stopped reading.
Every brilliant book I read is an influence and an inspiration. As is every brilliant movie I watch and every brilliant box set.
If you can start and finish a book, then you're already a million miles ahead of all those people who talk about wanting to write a book.
I take the six weeks of the school summer holidays off because I'm pretty sure I'm not going to look back on my life one day and say, 'Damn, I wish I hadn't spent so much time with my children.'
I changed my mind about being a famous pop star when I realised that it meant I'd never be able to get on the Tube again.
I knew I wasn't the sort of person who could do a full-time job and write in the evening and at weekends.
When I travel, I can leave everything at home apart from books. I curate my holiday reading rigorously and would be devastated if I found I'd left one at home.
Writing a book is not easy.
Everyone thinks they've got a book inside them.
For me, the optimum circumstances for writing a book are those of stultifying routine.
