Yasmin Selena Butt's Blog, page 4

When Yasmin Selena went to the Olympics

Because dammit, she did and she loved it!

And that you’ll be relieved to hear is the only time you’ll hear me referring to myself in the third person, I am always a bit spooked when people do that or like their own Facebook posts. What is that all about? You wrote the post doesn’t the ‘like’ go without saying?!

The Olympics has been amazing for London. I know it’s not been perfect, but when a mind-bogglingly huge event is being planned how can it possibly be? Yes, there was the faff with the tickets, yes the Olympic lanes cheesed off drivers, yes they could have handled the way they marshalled folks away from the markets more thoughtfully, yes you should have been able to take your picnic into Hyde park and watch it on the big screen, yes the Olympic logo was shit – a five year old could do better, yes that bloke should have been able to stick 5 bagels on his café window without some doofus telling him to take them down due to some sponsorship contravention.  None of those things were cool and I wish they’d been handled better.

Our logo or Lisa Simpson…

But bloody hell, did London get it right or what? How amazing were the parts that went right?

And the thing is, I’ve always believed in the Olympics.  I am a great romantic about the whole thing.  I have vague memories of Moscow in 1980 and Sebastian Coe, Steve Ovett, Daley Thompson and Alan Wells, but my memories of Los Angeles in 1984 are emblazoned on my memory in vivid technicolour. I was obsessed, I watched the morning coverage right through to the night highlights until I fell asleep. It changed me completely. I took up athletics and dance, I ran everywhere and I was actually very, very good. Unfortunately those dreams were knocked dead by my dad and the ramifications for me were heart-breaking.

But it is pointless to dwell on that. Except for this fact, if I was that inspired and I was eleven years old back then, think about how cool it is for the kids of 2012, who have Jessica Ennis, Victoria Pembleton, Tom Daley, Chris Hoy, Mo Farah (surely Sports Personality of the Year?) and Gemma Gibbons out there telling them they can be anyone they want to be?

Gemma Gibbons made me cry

That they can strive for excellence and make their dreams come true. These are true role models. Not dodgy footballers stuck in seedy vice cheating on their wives, or WAGs, or reality stars. Olympians are people who’ve grafted and bust a gut to reach for something, for themselves, for their country.  It is good to have a dream, to have something galvanised in you. To have a work ethic.

Despite what happened to me, I carried on being a fan and I even worked on our bid to win the games! I worked on the Marketing to get volunteers on board for Newham Council back in 2004.

That made me happy. When we actually won the bid I was working for United Biscuits, I remember a TV being wheeled out from Meeting Room 2, and we were all crowded round it waiting for the IOC decision, and the cheers that went out were deafening when we got the nod.

I immediately signed up for London 2012 updates. When the ticket ballot opened, I applied for six events including the Opening and Closing ceremony and I put in a wildcard. I put in the Greco-Roman wrestling. I thought how mad and surreal would it be to go to something like that?

And guess what?

Tadah!!

I got my wild card! I got a confirmation that I’d won a £20 ticket to watch men in leotards or giant babygros as I cheekily called them, man it out, in a circle. And frankly, I was delighted.

What I didn’t know back then, was that the Olympics was going to coincide with the most frenetic period of literary activity in my writing life!!! That I would be finalising my debut novel, Gunshot Glitter for publication; trying to get my head around formatting it and what epublishing vendor options to pursue.

**Update: last night I completed my first FULL draft format and it is so far, looking good. It will be out on Amazon for Kindle worldwide soon. I will update you all on release date in the next blog, I promise! **

But I was stoked nonetheless that I was actually going to get to go to the Olympics.

That I, Yasmin Selena Butt, had a guaranteed seat for my sweet hiney to sit on in the ExCel arena to watch some fellas thrash it out from all around the world. So when the day came, I was so excited I woke at 5am and my event wasn’t on until 1pm! My ticket had arrived months earlier by Special Delivery in a giant envelope and the inclusion of a Zone 1-9 Travelcard was a genuinely, lovely surprise. I had no idea we had a Zone 9 in London! London had been warned about the security precautions employed and the possibility of traveling like sardines on public transport during the duration of the Olympic Games, and it put a lot of people off going in. But can I just say, that I made the most effortless journey to Excel. I got seats on my bus, train, tube and DLR. And the staff all the way were fantastic. They’d really got into the spirit.

The other thing that was nice was embarking on the journey with fellow ticket holders, there was a buzz in the air. But the coolest thing of all was sharing the tube journey with athletes, officials and venue staff clad in uniforms and national regalia. I loved that. I couldn’t stop smiling and staring at them the whole time. I knew I’d never see anything like that again. And if I do, I’ll probably be too senile to twig what’s going on. And there was this lass on the train sat next to me with the best nails. She’d painted flags and Olympic rings all over them. Proper cool. I told her so and she was delighted.

Volunteering her nails : )

I live in a cosmopolitan city. London is one of the nicest melting-pots for cultural diversity in the whole world. I love my capital. I was lucky enough to live in the Maldives twice, but I tell you flying over the London Eye coming home made me melt both times.

So seeing my city play host to the most special, meaningful sports event of my life and witnessing it being done so well made me intensely proud. I took snaps at the DLR station of the signage because I know it won’t always look that way. And the Olympic volunteers, in one word. Amazing. Just amazing, bear in mind I’d gone on Day 10 of the Olympics, you’d think the volunteers might be a bit tired, a tiny bit jaded even, but no, they were buzzing like a kid on SunnyDelight and they too were a melting pot of diversity. So pro-active and engaging. London often gets accused of being a bit of a cold city, if you are an outsider, with the whole British stiff upper lip reserved thing unless we’re drunk off our tits and then we’re obnoxious hooligans. But the volunteers not only knocked that stereotype on its head, they kicked it and sent it flying.

Olympic lovelies

The route to ExCel was exciting, because besides the Greco-Roman wrestling, Irish darling Katie Taylor was boxing that day and the Irish fans were out in full force dressed up in the most spectacular fashion.

Katie Taylor fans

And I’ve never seen so many people from foreign countries in one place with their nationalities printed on their backs, crayoned on their faces, flags brandished so proudly. It was aces. People from Finland, Ireland, Kazakstan, Ukraine, Sweden, Poland, Bulgaria, Georgia, Iran, Egypt, USA and it was lovely. And men, women, families all getting into the spirit of things. Just good vibes all round.

Security checks were thorough and with it being Great Britain it had to rain a bit during that, but there were even volunteers every step of the way to keep people cheery through the wet. One girl was taking a photo for some girls and I spotted her Olympic nails and asked if I could take a photo, as soon as I did that a whole heap of people who’d been too shy to ask flocked over and asked if they could do the same. It was so funny! She was chuffed to blushed.

ExCel was rigged out really nicely inside. Yes, the food was pricy ( £3.50 Baked potato with butter), but your clever, impoverished writer here had enjoyed two fine peanut butter and home-made jam (thanks Steve) sandwiches before going in. I had a good wander, talked to people and had my photo taken next to some signs that touched me and more importantly, draped over the cardboard cut out of one of the Greco-Roman Wrestling blokes. Come on it had to be done! And before you think I’d just gone to ogle, I’ll have you know, I actually spent the morning swotting up on all the rules on Wikipedia so I’d know what the hell was going on!!

Entering the auditorium was pretty breath-taking. I paused to take this shot.

It was strange and trippy to see something I’d only ever seen on TV, but from the inside – to see the crowd, the camera crew, the speakers, the screens. It was vivid and day-glo in a full-on, knock you for six way. I was really pleased with my view. There were three weights I was watching 60k, 85kg and the big boys at 120kg. The Goliaths were right on the other side of the arena, and it was weird as the bouts were ALL going on simultaneously, sometimes I would be struggling to decide who to focus on when there were so much high-drama going on.

Basically in Greco-Roman wrestling all your attack points have to be above the waist and if your opponent gets you on your back and your shoulders are pinned down to the floor for a few seconds you’re done for. So there were men on their bellies staying down with super-human determination, resisting with all their might. If their opponent couldn’t turn them over they lost points.

The most vociferous support came from Georgia for Lakshii, it was deafening, the Iranians closely followed in second place. The men were cheered like heroes. This big Egyptian bloke, Karam Ebrahim, in the 85kg band got booed when he lost his bout badly, but the bout ended after a time out so he won it on a technicality, he didn’t care at all! Look at him, he should be in the movies.

But Ebrahim lost in the final to Russia’s Alan Khugaev who beat him with a nasty cut above his eye.

The maddest thing was the height disparity between these two men from the Ukraine team ( I think)

The little one was seriously bossy

And the way after each round they cooled down their men by desperately waving their towels up and down to fan them. They were all doing it. Someone came on to wipe down the mat and whenever there was a challenge on a score, the team would chuck in an oblong box across the matt to demand a review.

It was all over in three hours and went surprisingly fast. And though there wasn’t a Brit to cheer for, I threw myself into the drama of it all. I saw grown men cry when they walking out, their Olympic dreams shattered, and victors walking out to cheers with their chests pushed out like kings.

It was a bit of a privilege to be a fly on the wall interloper at an event I’d never normally have gone to. Would I go again? Maybe, maybe not. But it was an experience and if it was on TV I’d probably watch it because it means something more to me now.

But the thing that is gorgeous about the Olympics is the unity and sharing it with other crazed fans or national supporters. When I was on my way to Wokingham to see my friends Pete, Sally and their beautiful Brady bunch, I shared my DLR carriage with some Irish fans who were looking mystified at a London tube map. I beckoned them over and asked them if they needed help. They had to get to Paddington for the Heathrow Express. I asked them who they’d been to see and they were all shiny-eyed and proud and said Katie Taylor, the boxer. There were about six of them and I said ‘follow me’, I escorted them to Baker St and told them they needed the Bakerloo line. They’d never been to London, but they loved it, said it had been so much nicer than they expected.

I really want people who came to our Olympics to go home and tell their friends and families that. That it was so much nicer than they expected. London bathed in positivity and compliments for two whole weeks. I know the Olympics is over and that gorgeous cauldron was extinguished last night. But hold onto that feeling, that glow. We all need it right now.

It happened, it was wonderful, hold onto it. And the tweets flying about when events were on, meant many of us shared it on social media too. That was a first and rather lovely when people were sweet. It showed me it wasn’t just me and my friends who were excited, the whole world was too. I got to share it with Twitter friends like Juan who woke up crazy early in the USA so he could watch the BBC coverage in real time.

And there is the Paralympics too, to come. You can still buy tickets for the event. So get in! I picked up my ticket for the Athletics final and I am telling you now, I am excited, big-time. By the time I’m sitting in that Olympic stadium in September, cheering my heart out, Gunshot Glitter will be out and I have no idea what my world will look like or how I’ll feel. But remember one thing, like the Olympic motto says … it’s the taking part that counts.

What was your favourite part or moment about the Olympic Games? Did you get to go too?  I had a dozen moments which made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up, but my personal fave moment was a very emotional Gemma Gibbons winning her silver in the Judo and looking up to the heavens to thank her mum and tell her she loved her. I promptly burst into tears.

Yasmin Selena xx

Filed under: News, What do you think?

Gunshot Glitter: A REAL Update and Psychologies Magazine

Photo by Keith Pitcher. Hello you!

I’ve been meaning to pen a proper update on Gunshot Glitter for ages.

I think in a way, I’ve avoided it a little through nerves and excitement.

The two are quite a heady combination!

Gunshot Glitter has been a LONG time coming and I am so grateful for the interest and support I’ve had on Twitter, Facebook, email and of course my beloved blog. Thank you : )

It is almost ready for your eyes and ears.

Ears –  because I’ve recorded a reading of the opening chapter.  I really enjoyed doing that.  My friend named the recording ‘SexyVoice,’ which tickled me, I guess you’ll get to decide that part for yourselves!

If it goes down well maybe I’ll try and get a gig as a talking dictionary next?  You’ll get to check out my rather lovely bedroom wallpaper, which believe it or not is also called ‘Yasmin’! It was gifted to me.  Quite tough lining the pattern up though. The recording will be on You Tube and I would love you to share it far and wide. The You Tube trolls scare me a bit, so I am tempted to disable comments, but please do comment on the post and send links to any souls you think might dig it or enjoy watching a woman with pouty lips talking at them : )  She will love you longtime if you do.

So where am I at?

I am currently about to launch into the formatting of Gunshot Glitter for ePublication, BUT there will definitely be PRINT copies of my beautiful behemoth too.  If you are a fan of the instant gratification of an e-read, the novel should be launching in mid-August. Go for it, download a sample and read it and buy it if you like it.

It will be available to read on Kindle, iPad, Kobo and other reading platforms. You will be able to buy it from Smashwords, Amazon and Barnes and Noble and hopefully more outlets if none of those tickle your fancy.  If I am missing one you use, do let me know.

There will also be a website coming up later this year, yes! This will be where you’ll be able to buy the print version of Gunshot Glitter from. The cover will knock you for six, you will get to see that on the day the eBook launches!  I personally cannot wait to see Celene Petrulak’s amazing work in colour, printed on the cover, and laid across the palm of my hand on. I strongly suspect I’ll fall asleep holding my novel.

The behemoth is a work of love, toil and super-human effort. There is no publisher involved, I wanted to retain creative control of the whole process. There is only me and you.  As you can appreciate that’s a bit scary for me.

So why did I do this?

Well, I wanted you to read a great, original story. I didn’t want to compromise on that. I wanted it to have a great cover that I approved of. I think those are valuable things worth fighting for, in a publishing climate which is increasingly risk adverse.  I wanted to get my novel out sooner rather than later too.

But I didn’t want to compromise on standards, so  it has also been proofed professionally twice over by Jill Blair, proofed another four times in addition to my own efforts, beta read by two great writers,  it has received valuable editorial feedback from a best-selling writer I respect hugely and I’ve honestly done the best I can to deliver a great, debut novel.  I really hope you like it.  I hope my next one is even better!

How you can help me

If you’d like to support me or if you like Gunshot Glitter once you’ve read it, please recommend it to friends, book readers, that cool person you met at a party.  Mention it in a blog. Tweet about it.  Share the URL on Facebook and Google+. Subscribe to my blog. Share my blogposts with bright sparks who love to read. Leave comments. I will always reply to comments as I love engaging with readers. Contact me if you’d like to run a feature on myself or the novel – I can talk for England. Review it on Amazon and Goodreads. Leave a rating on Kobo. Trust me you can make a massive difference.

Do it if you like it or if you have something to say about it that others might find interesting.

What exactly is Gunshot Glitter about?

Good question!  It is a hard to summarise, but if I gave it to you in a sentence,  I would say this:

It is the story of an incinerated boy who never quite goes away

There are three key connected narratives that run throughout the novel, three  -fighting for your empathy and understanding, all on a collision course.  It was tough isolating the one, but Celine Silver wins out. How can she not? It’s her actions that set off domino effect, chain of events that literally ripple through the story.

 But as a wee teaser of what is to come this is the product description you’ll find online to support the novel, read this:

“Your name is Celine Silver. But no one has called you that in eight years.

You’re a classically trained musician and an Honours graduate.

You come from a nice, middle-class family.

You kill people for money.

And no one knows you anymore.

Fate throws the man you abandoned right back into your path – the man who knew you before you got blood on your hands, before you changed your name.

And he’s demanding answers. 

But is there a way back to the path of normal?

What price do you have to pay when you realise you no longer want to be monster? 

And who are the real monsters and victims anyway?”

I guarantee it is a little bit different.  It’s a story that turns the crime genre on its head.

And in other news, I am featured in this month’s ‘Psychologies’ magazine.

I am delighted about this, it’s my favourite magazine and I possess every copy since running off with the Lucy Liu issue many years ago.  I stumbled across it while working for a rival publisher; I was properly smitten.  In fact, I called up our subs department to ask why it wasn’t on our list.  I didn’t know it wasn’t one of ours! My Marketing colleagues were gesticulating wildly at me on hearing my conversation before I realised that!!

I enjoy tweeting comments to the wonderful, very hands on, editor, Louise Chunn, and their Twitter team and was most flattered when I was approached, and asked, if I wanted to feature in their prestigious, themed-based Dossier.  I immediately said yes, Rebecca Alexander and I held a telephone interview and I talked about the very surprising themes that emerged from a questionnaire I’d completed about resolutions. The results helped me touch base with where I was at. We also talked about Gunshot Glitter and how I was going to focus solely on my novel.

The team sent over a Lindsey- a lovely make-up artist who arrived with a trolley of tartware and Laura – a funky Hackney based-photographer, to do my hair and make-up and take snaps of me around my home. My foster cat, Raffles, even came out to see what the fuss was about. Laura told me she lived near the actor Michael Fassbender, cue instant envy! The photo you see is taken outside the Castle next to Joan’s beautiful roses. The whole thing was really positive experience and I am glad I got to take part. They were lovely to work with.

The issue is on sale now and features Emily Mortimer on the front, I recommend it to everyone who enjoys a good intelligent read on a massive variety of topics encompassing the mind, body, soul, culture, life, beauty, health. I am always amazed at the resonance and congruence of the topics featured in relation to my own life.

Though it has a female bias, it is a unisex read and features columns by David Baddiel and Jo Fairley.  The guest writers and contributors are always interesting too.  I once asked Louise why all the cover stars were women and she told me there were so many wonderful, talented  women to celebrate she wanted to focus on them first. Good answer!

September issue

I cannot praise the magazine enough.  So to be featured as a reader, to contribute to that, was very, very cool for me.

So wish me luck, I should be formatting Gunshot Glitter this weekend and fingers crossed you will be reading it as an eBook or a printed volume…very, very soon.  x

Visit Psychologies HERE and follow them on Twitter too

Filed under: Gunshot Glitter, News

Jill Blair: The Lady in Shining Armour With a Red Pen

I mean it : )

Hello you ; )

Who are the unsung heroes and heroines of the publishing process?  The answer to that question is – there are many. From long suffering spouses/partners, who witness their beloved vanish for hours each day, to friends who buck us up when we are in the midst of a panicked writer meltdown, howling  ‘ I’M NEVER GOING TO BE GOOD ENOUGH!!!’

But today, I am going to focus on the godsend that is the professional proofreader.  My proofreader to be exact.  If you work with words in your profession, good practice dictates that if it’s going to fall on the public’s gaze, you should get two sets of eyes to check your work over before it goes out.  You can be the most amazing writer in the world and still make mistakes. I’ll have made mistakes in this post despite my best intentions.

When I completed Gunshot Glitter, I proofed it to within an inch of its life, but I knew it would still be riddled with errors. Not just typos but omissions and my personal nemeses of getting -  brought/bought, then/than and  off/of mixed up.  Not forgetting unintentionally missing words, word repetition and erroneous punctuation either! I remember in my first draft of Gunshot Glitter, I used the adverb ‘tremulously’ to death!  I loved it for the delicacy and fragility it suggested. My emotional scenes were riddled with it!

Luckily, I noticed the latter, but when you write, you can be so caught up in what you’re creating you don’t notice you’ve used the same strong adjective or verb twice in one paragraph. You develop word-blindness, every writer does.  Proofreaders are a fresh pair of intelligent eyes who can basically save your novel from looking like an amateurish mess.  Essential, if you are self-publishing as I am.

But note, you should have two proofreaders if you can afford it or manage it. Proofreaders are human too and the hope is that what one overlooks the other will spot.  Even then, I’m sure the eagle-eyed among you will spot errors in all the swish books published out there, and those are books that on average have been edited and proofed seven times before hitting the shelves.  I was told that tidbit at the London Book Fair in 2011.

My proofreader is a professionally-trained Scottish lassie called Jill Blair.  And guess who I have to thank for coming across her? Radox!  Yes, Radox, purveyors of charming bath salts and bath confections.  Back in 2010, they were running a two-part competition to name a new shower gel and also wanted a Facebook fan to judge the entrants.  I ended up winning the latter. But on scanning the entries on their Facebook wall came across a cheeky post from a lady announcing she’d set herself up as a proofreader.  I wish I could remember the exact way she’d wrangled that in on the post, where people were  shouting out ‘ Carribean Crush!’ ‘Island Dream!’  and ‘Calypso Carnival!’ and the suchlike, but I can’t.

Island Indulgence was the winner : )

But I can tell you, I noticed her and I contacted her.  I was still working on Gunshot Glitter and she was newly-qualified and looking for material to sink her teeth into, to practise her new found powers on, so we were perfect for one another.

The other thing that was awesome was that she was the first person to ever read the completed, unedited Master version of Gunshot Glitter,  way back before my first Beta reader advised me I should cull it down by 50-80 pages ( I was horrified, but he was right).  And my novel moved her to tears and made her fall in love with a character called Otis Valentine. The relief and pride I felt at knowing I’d pulled it off, I cannot describe it to be honest.   When your debut novel is as morally challenging and as long as mine is, it is a huge gamble.

I see people saying a debut novel should be about 250 pages, well my loves, mine most certainly isn’t!  It’s weird, debut novels have got shorter in the last ten years.  Jill didn’t know me or owe me the gently, gently approach.  She was wholly impartial.  I really valued her feedback.  Since then,  I’ve had Gunshot Glitter read over by three, excellent eagle-eyed friends, Nerissa, Charlotte and Steve, who also pointed out errors and areas that needed tweaking. Massively helpful in shaping the final version.   Thank you, I love you!!

Then earlier this year when I needed a final proof of the draft of all drafts, I was badly let down by someone who’d wanted the job; it really delayed the publication of Gunshot Glitter and this novel is like my life so I was very upset, and Jill Blair came to the rescue, she very kindly offered to do the work again.  So thank you Jill Blair!

I’ve never read an interview with a professional proofreader, have you? And I reckon, to a good 90% of you, they’re a bit of a mystery as actual people, despite the essential work they do for us writers, so I wanted to rectify that. So read this and enjoy!

Jill Blair is really cool and I loved interviewing her. Why not tell me about your proofreading story and how you came across yours or what your own personal Achilles heel is when you write?

Yasmin Selena  x x

P.S.  Gunshot Glitter – the cover is done and it is GORGEOUS. Thank you, Celene Petrulak! The ePub edition of Gunshot Glitter is coming out next month even if it kills me.  Watch this space for a release date.  And I am in the September issue of PSYCHOLOGIES, more on ALL of this very soon : )

Interview with Jill Blair

Jill Blair

YSB: Hi Jill, welcome to Hello You!

Hello! Thanks for having me.

YSB: What made you decide to become a proofreader?

I was made redundant in 2007, and although I was lucky enough to find another job within a few months, I decided I wanted to set up a small home business so I would have something as a backup in case I ever found myself out of work again.  Spelling and grammar errors always leap out of the page at me so I thought I might as well make use of my natural talents.  That, and I like using red pens…

YSB: Sometimes good things come out of tough breaks I think. How did you go about doing it?

I enrolled to study a distance learning course with Maple Academy and undertook their Professional Proofreading and Editing course.  It was very interesting to find out the standard markings used for corrections in the publishing industry.  It was also nice to have it confirmed that proofreading really was something I excelled at. I was a big swot and got between 92% and 100% for all my assessments!

YSB: What exactly does a proofreader do? Is it vastly different to editing?

I’ve often heard the two described as proofreading being a science and editing being an art.  I would have to agree.  There are very firm rules to spelling, punctuation and grammar, but editing leaves a lot of room for individual style.

YSB: Do you have a process? How does it work?

It depends on the type of work I’m proofing really.  If I’m checking a website it’s very different from a novel or corporate training manuals, for example.  Looking at the case of a novel, I like to just start at the beginning and read it as I would read a book.  This was I get to know the characters as any other reader would and any inconsistencies are more obvious.  If there is a certain word that keeps cropping up spelled wrong then I will usually stop and do a Find/Replace on MS Word in order to catch all the instances where it is spelled incorrectly.

YSB: As a writer, I can work with or without music, when you proofread do you need silence to focus?

I am HOPELESS with silence! If it’s too quiet my mind drifts off to thinking about what I need to buy for dinner, or how overgrown my garden is, etc etc! I find that I work best with calm classical music playing fairly quietly in the background.  Nothing with lyrics or I start singing along with it and lose focus again. Easily distracted, it said so on all my school reports!

YSB: Once you did the course was it easy to build your confidence, was there a point where you felt like a bona fide proofreader?

The course helped a lot with my confidence as I was having assessments marked by the tutors and getting really good marks.  To be honest, though, I still doubt myself over every comma.  Commas are the bane of my life.  As much as punctuation has some quite firm rules, commas, especially in a novel, can be the essence of a writer’s style.  Using them where they wouldn’t normally go can slow the pace of a sentence.  Likewise, not using them where you would expect to see them can speed it up.  I have been known to take commas out then go back the next day and put them all back in again, and vice versa.  Oscar Wilde was once quoted as saying: “This morning I took out a comma and this afternoon I put it back again”.

Oh, I feel his pain!  I would love to one day sit with a writer to proofread their work so I can ask them if they meant to put a pause in or not.

I think I felt most like I was actually a proofreader when I had my first return business from a large corporate client.  And even more so when they paid me!

  YSB: I know exactly where you are coming from with commas : ) What’s been your most challenging proofreading assignment so far? Is it easy to ‘detach’ yourself from what you proof?

The most challenging has not been due to the quality of writing, rather the genre of the novel I was proofing.  It was novel called The Realm of the Shadow, by Drew Bowler who is a friend of a friend.  It’s well written, has an interesting theme and plot, but there are some truly horrific and very graphic sections.  They include torture scenes and a part where children are being hurt.  Drew writes in a very descriptive way so he conjures up a very vivid image in the reader’s mind.  So although well written, it was the gory nature of some parts of the novel that made it very difficult to read. It genuinely gave me nightmares; I woke in a sweat several nights whilst I was proofing it!  But I don’t think I would want to detach myself from that kind of reaction, it’s certainly made it stick in my mind anyway.

 YSB:  How long does it take to proofread a novel from start to end?

Depending on the quality of the writing, an average speed for proofreading is anything from 1000 words per hour for something with few errors, to 2000 words per hour for work needing serious corrections made.  As this is still a part time venture for me, I also have to factor in fitting it in around all the day to day house chores as well as my 9-5 job.  An average manuscript of 300 pages in MS Word is around 120,000 words, so it can take a few weeks to proof.

YSB: What are the most common errors you come across when you work? As writers what are we most guilty of?

The thing I see most of is repetition.  Writers tend to have a few words that they like using but can overuse them.  It’s when you close read the novel as a proofreader that you notice them cropping up over and over again.

I would have had a field day proofing 50 Shades of Grey, but it would probably have taken me about 3 years to tidy up all the repetition of words…

Another one is continuity.  It surprises me how often I see character’s names changing throughout the story.  We might start off with Mrs Wilson but suddenly in chapter 5 she becomes Mrs Wilkinson, then back to Wilson in chapter 6.

YSB: God, I did the latter with something I just wrote, my friend Nerissa pointed it out! I know you proofread part time at the moment, what is your main profession?

I work for my local council, in a community use high school.  My job title is Admin Assistant.  My role involves a bit of finance, HR, marketing, and lots of other bits and bobs. In the past I’ve also tutored my own arts and crafts class for kids in the evenings there as well as covering an art class, a drama class, shifting furniture… It’s never dull!  I’m very lucky; I love my job, I work close to my home and to my son’s school, I am now working term time and it’s very flexible.

YSB: What kind of books do you enjoy reading for pleasure?

I’m a big fan of the classics but I’m on a mission at the moment to read all of Ian Rankin’s Rebus novels.  I’m on the 6th one at the moment and trying to read them all before his new one is released in November.  I like being able to visualise the places in Edinburgh that he writes about.

YSB: I’ve got his first couple of books; still not got round to reading them though. If you were going to the Moon and could only take 5 books what would you take and why?

Oh blimey!!! Killer question! (It’s taken me 2 days to decide on these 5, they’re not in any particular order but are a bit of a stroll through my life…)

  1. Anne of Green Gables – L M Montgomery – the book of my childhood.  I still sometimes pick it up and read it even now and it always takes me back to a wonderful place.  I adored Anne’s spirit, I related to the trouble she got in to and her fiery temper!

   2. Pride & Prejudice – Jane Austen – I adore Austen, her books have so much silliness in them!  She was such a witty, clever, independent lady and I love all of her novels.  Pride and Prejudice is just an absolute classic.  I feel a particular connection with it as I wrote a lengthy response to personal reading based on it as part of my 5th Year Higher English exam.  I got to know it inside out and loved the variety of characters.  I tend to like the bad boys so I would have to put Mr Wickham near the top of my favourites!

  3. The Crow Road – Iain Banks – I read this when I was about 17 because a bloke I fancied said it was good!  I loved it.  It was a time when I was very much finding myself and taking myself out of my safe and comfortable life at home with my family and discovering the world for myself.  The book took me completely out of my comfort zone of reading the classics.  It conjured up some gruesome and violent images that I hadn’t experienced before, and yet I felt so much pain for Frank as he discovers things about his father towards the end of the book. This book takes me back to my teens, and great years they were too.

 4. The Rainbow – D H Lawrence – If ever a book made me realise how much I have changed over the years as I’ve grown older, it’s The Rainbow.  When I first read it I was a hormone fueled, horny teenager with a big hopeless romantic streak and I enjoyed the fact that it contained lots of swearing and sex and rebellion and love stories.  But over the years I’ve re-read it a few times and always find something different.  Some scenes which, as a romantic young fool, seemed sensual and passionate, with older eyes seem awkward and stifled and I notice the tensions in the relationships more.  The Brangwen family are a firm favourite of mine. In fact, if I can find The Rainbow and Women in Love together in one book I’ll be cheeky and take that to the moon!

 5. Skipping Christmas – John Grisham – a lovely little comedy novel and completely removed from Grisham’s usual law based novels.  It was later made into a movie called Christmas with the Kranks, where a family decide to skip Christmas as their daughter is away traveling.  The grief they get from their neighbours always makes me laugh.  But this book is mainly on my list as it reminds me of my dad.  We both loved the book and a few years after he passed away, I opened Skipping Christmas and one of Dad’s train tickets to his work fell out of it.  It’s still in there.  I read it every Christmas and have a little cry because I miss him so, so much, and a little giggle because he found the book so funny. Wonderful memories.

  YSB: As a kid I was besotted with those LM Montgomery books. Anne of Green Gables was lovely! Good choice! ; ) I saw on your FB you are fan of the band, Gun. I had no idea they were still together. What other music do you like and how did you get into them? I’ve got Better Days on 7” somewhere.

I love my rock music, it just lights a fire inside me like no other type of music does.  I have such a varied music collection (including a lot of country and classical, plus a bit of pop) but give me some screaming riffs and something that makes you punch the air uncontrollably any day!  GUN have been around in various forms since the official split (check out El Presidente, fab!) but have only recently brought out their first new album with their new lineup and it rocks!

Check out the first single from it, Break the Silence. Turn it up loud and bounce!  They are a great Scottish band and I went to see them loads in my teenage years in the 90s when they played a lot of gigs.  I once won a competition on local radio to go to a festival they were playing at in Lisbon, Portugal and then backstage afterwards. It was a brilliant weekend.  I’m going to see GUN supporting The Cult in Glasgow, in September. My younger brother bought tickets for me and him to go for my birthday, I can’t wait!

YSB: What else do you enjoy doing in your free time? I believe you’re a bit of a whizz in the kitchen! You have a cooking website, tell me more about it.  Where can we find it?

I do, I find cooking so relaxing. I would happily spend the day in the kitchen messing around and trying out new recipes.  I’m quite a haphazard cook, I like to tweak recipes and play around with them.   I started my home cooking blog at http://pots-of-love.blogspot.com/ mainly because I had come across so many fantastic food producers in my local area.  I love writing and I love cooking, so I thought I would combine the two and give the local foodie guys a shout out on my blog.  And it means I am constantly discovering new products to try, cook, eat, and write about. And I do love my grub!

YSB: Do you have a favourite chef?  Who is it and why?

Not one in particular.  I like Tom Kitchin, Nigel Haworth, Michael Smith and lots of others.  But really, I just have a lot of respect for chefs who use good, local, seasonal ingredients and don’t ponce about with it too much.  I saw Eric Lanlard on stage at Taste of Edinburgh recently and he was great, such an amazing pattisier.  I’ve only recently discovered the joy of making my own pastry and he really inspired me to try some new things out.

I’m not really into the current craze for molecular gastronomy but I would make an exception if I could try the menu which Alan Murchison put together for Great British Menu this year.  His fish course of grilled mackerel, beetroot meringues, horseradish ice cream & fruit caviar just sounds like perfection to my taste buds and it looked absolutely stunning.

Colourful

YSB: Is there a recipe you’d like to share with my readers? I quite fancy the sound of nice, easy pudding actually!

The best and easiest pudding as far as I’m concerned is a fruit crumble, preferably rhubarb. Yum!!  Rather than stewing the rhubarb in a pot and risk it going watery, chop up a dozen or so stalks of rhubarb and put them in a roasting tin.  Sprinkle a few tablespoons of water over it and about 8-10 tablespoons of caster sugar, it depends how sour the rhubarb is to start with really, or how sweet/tart you like it.  Roast it in a medium oven, about 180C/Gas 4, for about 10 mins.  Put it all in an ovenproof dish.

Then for the crumble, rub 100g of butter into 200g of plain flour and 100g of Demerara sugar until it looks like breadcrumbs.  Sprinkle it over the rhubarb and bake for about 40 mins or until the crumble is toasted and the fruit is bubbling up.  A bit of ground ginger is nice in it too, or if you use apples, cinnamon and nutmeg is nice added to the fruit.  If you like a chunkier crumble, add a handful of rolled oats into the crumble mix.  And always serve it with a disgusting amount of custard!

YSB: I so approve of disgusting amount of custard!!  And to close, where can people find out more about your proofreading services?

I have a website which details my rates, testimonials from some nice people I didn’t even have to pay to say nice things, plus contact details at: http://www.jillblairproofreading.co.uk/

Thank you very much Jill. Thank you for all your help with Gunshot Glitter : )

Filed under: Gunshot Glitter, People you should know about

**THE Lisa Jewell interview**

 

The Birthday Girl

 Hello you.  Many moons ago when I was still in my twenties, I remember there being a bit of a buzz about Lisa Jewell in the media. Being a soul who’s never really been driven by hoopla I just got on with contenting myself writing pervo erotic stories and poetry.  But one weekend I went up to Oxford for a party, and on the Sunday while everyone else was slumbering away, I woke up early and raided my friend Phil’s bookshelf for a read.  I spotted Thirtynothing by Lisa Jewell.  I’d heard about Ralph’s Party but not read it, back then, the cover fascist in me didn’t like the font of the title, yes that’s how instantly dismissive I can be! Terrible I know. But I really liked the spiel on the back of Thirtynothing; I had had a ton of platonic male friends at Uni and have always got on well with men, and I’ve danced  that fine line between love and friendship – so the premise of  Dig and Nadine’s story immediately appealed to me. And I’d never seen it tackled before.

I took the book down, went back to bed and started reading.  The household woke up around me; a cooked breakfast was put in front of me. And I was still reading. A pub lunch was suggested and I said I’d only come if I could carry on reading! I think I might even have sulked a bit when I was asked to put the book down. When it was time to head home, I told Phil I had to take the book with me or I might die.  Luckily, I’m here writing this, so you know he let me! I took Thirtynothing back to London and read it on the way home. Then when I went to work I did something quite sneaky, I had it on my lap so I could squeeze in the odd page here and there in between bits of Marketing. Then on my lunch hour, so I would remain undisturbed, to the amusement of my colleagues, I actually retreated under my desk to finish it!

The story just spoke to me. It was fundamentally a story about two friends who didn’t know they were in love, but far, far more than that. I loved how Lisa had written so empathically from a male and female perspective and how London centric the novel was.  I was and still am a bit of a bohemian music nut and there were cultural references galore.  It was as if it was written for me. And it was funny, moving and edgy. I love an edge in my fiction and this book definitely had one.

There was also a bit where a cat came up and pissed on a man having sex that made me choke with laughter! There wasn’t a cliché in sight and the characters were very human and approachable. I’d never known a female writer to write like that before, both with humour and emotional intelligence.  And I knew after  reading Thirtynothing she would always be interesting. And I would always be curious to see what she published.  Nobody could write a book like that and be unoriginal, they just wouldn’t tolerate it in themselves.  So I have followed Lisa’s publishing career since then and read her books in all kinds of memorable situations.

In fact, I vividly recall reading the ending of  ‘A Friend of the Family’ in my younger brother’s car, driving to Heathrow airport, when I was readying to fly out to the Maldives for the second time!  I was determined to finish it before I left the UK.

Now, fast-forward seven odd years and witness a conversation going on between me and my older brother, who at the time was working for a bank:

TB: Guess who I spoke to today?

Me: I don’t know. Who?

TB: Your favourite writer

Me: Lisa Jewell? No!  What was she like?

Yes, indeedy, he’d rung her to check she was happy with her fiscals and she’d perked up when he mentioned how his sister and wife were fans of her books and how I was actually writing one. His anecdote tickled me enough to wonder if Lisa was on Facebook and lo and behold she was. So I wrote to her and said ‘I do believe you spoke to my brother today’ and she wrote back, pretty promptly.  I was delighted.

Since then, we’ve had quite a few exchanges online and in person at shindigs. I made her a Spotify playlist once to try and get her into Hole.  She was very encouraging about Gunshot Glitter and set me the challenge of coming back to tell her I’d done it.  I’ve always loved how open and honest she’s been with her opinions and feedback. There is sensitivity, because we writers can be painfully sensitive souls ( I know I can be), but no sugar coating. I appreciate that, and her honesty shows in the interview you are about to read.  The publishing world is in a state of dramatic change and if you are a writer entering it all fresh and new you need to know that. This is reality, go into it with your eyes open.

As a reader and fan, I have a massive amount of respect for her ability to create and maintain a character’s voice. I’ve seen writers fall foul to becoming formulaic or rehashing the same kind of characters over and over, or just not writing men very well.  I defy anyone to read ‘ A Friend of the Family’ or the utterly wonderful ’31 Dream Street’ and not see how beautifully realised the men in those books are. So, I salute you, Lisa Jewell, and for your pleasure dear reader, and to celebrate the fact it’s her birthday AND she has a new novel ‘Before I Met You’ hitting bookshops both virtual and physical today: I give you a Goliath-sized interview with Lisa herself.  My personal favourite answer is what Lisa would do if her cats started talking to her ; )

Jack with Lisa’s daughter Evie!

What? It’s a valid question! Enjoy!  Do leave a comment –  and if you’re a fan tell me what your favourite Jewell read is?

Yasmin x x

 P.S  HUGE apologies for radio silence. Gunshot Glitter is coming out next month and I have been working my *^(& off frankly to ensure that happens.  My next blog will expand on this phenomenon and tell you much, much more and I’ll try not to leave it six weeks this time.

 

YSB: Hi Lisa, how’s 2012 been treating you so far?

It’s been a very uneventful year so far. I started a book in January, went to Lanzarote in February, abandoned my book in March, started a new one in April, released the paperback of The Making of Us in May, complained about the weather in June and now I’m just waiting for the new one to come out on the 19th to see if that provides any much-needed excitement!

**NEW** Out today!

YSB: Congrats on your new novel, ‘ Before I Met You.’ It was originally going to be called ‘Pretty Betty’ what prompted the title change?

Naming books is a very strange thing. Sometimes the name comes first, which was the case with Pretty Betty. Before I even knew what the book was going to be, I knew what it was called. Other times I’ve written a whole book and delivered it with no idea what it’s called. Unfortunately, my editor didn’t think Pretty Betty was the right title for this particular book and they all had a brainstorm and came up with the title Before I Met You. I don’t love it, but I’ve got used to it. If it’s of any interest, working titles of my previous books have included:

31 Almanac Road (Ralph’s Party)

Dig and Delilah (thirtynothing)

Whatever Happened to Bee Bearhorn (One Hit Wonder)

The London Brothers (Friend of the Family)

Toby’s House (31 Dream Street)

The Kids (The Making of Us)

YSB: If someone came up to you and asked what ‘Before I Met You’ was about, what would you say?

If they were in a hurry I would describe it as a book about two young women, one in the 90’s and one in the 20’s, both coming of age in London, with a mystery at the heart of it. If they had a bit more time I would say; it’s about a young girl from Guernsey called Betty who cares for her grandmother, Arlette, until her death. She has no idea what to do with herself after her grandmother passes away, until her will is read out and it is revealed that Arlette has left all her money to a woman called Clara Pickle who no one in the family has ever heard of. Betty sets off to Soho to try and track her down. In doing so she uncovers her grandmother’s secret history, retold through a series of flashbacks to the swinging days of the early 20’s.

YSB: It’s quite a departure from your other novels, do you ever worry about reader reactions or do you write for yourself first and foremost?

I absolutely write for myself. In the current climate this is quite a luxury. I am not sure how much longer I will be able to carry on just sitting and writing stuff I like. But I always, always worry about reactions. Horribly. For months the only feedback you’ve had has come from your agent and editor and they’re very good at sounding positive, even when they’re suggesting changes. Once it’s out there, though, you’re at the mercy of thousands of people and their opinions. I feel nauseous just thinking about it.

YSB: God, I’m going to feel exactly the same way when I launch Gunshot Glitter at the masses believe me! Were any of the characters such as Betty or Arlette based on people in real life? Who did you have in mind when you were dreaming up your Britpop icon, Dom?

Arlette’s lover, Godfrey, was based on a photograph I saw of a member of the Southern Syncopated Orchestra, although only in his physical appearance. Betty and Arlette are entirely invented. Dom was supposed to be a kind of amalgam of Damon Albarn, Jude Law and the Gallagher brothers.

YSB: Many writers base characters or events in their novels on personal experience. I know I did with Gunshot Glitter. In ‘Vince and Joy’, I recognised elements of Joy’s marriage from your own life story.  Was your ex-husband aware of the novel, what was his reaction to it?

I haven’t had any contact with my ex-husband since shortly after Ralph’s Party came out when he wrote to congratulate me. I have no idea if he’s read anything since. Given an interview I did about our marriage for the Sunday Times Magazine in which he was painted in a very unflattering light (I so regret this interview) I doubt it very much.

YSB: I found the inter-racial romance in ‘Before I Met You’ fascinating. Did you do any research into what the realities of relationships were like in the Jazz club era?

I had absolutely no idea when I started to write Arlette’s back-story that she would be involved in an inter-racial affair. It was a total fluke. I wanted to involve her character in the burgeoning jazz scene of the post-war years and ran a quick Google search to check that jazz had actually arrived in our country in 1919. This took me straight to a BBC article about the Southern Syncopated Orchestra and uncovered a story that would make an amazing film or non-fiction book in its own right. I knew immediately that I wanted to incorporate the story of the orchestra into Arlette’s story and when I saw a photo of Pete Robinson, their drummer, in a book written by his granddaughter which I read for research:

I knew instinctively that I wanted Arlette to fall in love with a fine man just like him.

YSB: In my teens I wanted to be the editor of Smash Hits, I loved their wit! I know you wanted to be the editor for the NME, was it cathartic writing a novel that was partly about the music scene from the 90s?

I have loved putting music into my books, right from the very beginning. Dig in Thirtynothing worked for a record label, Bee Bearhorn in One Hit Wonder was a pop star, and yes, I do believe that a lot of that is my frustrated music journalist coming out. I spent my teenage years going to gigs, writing to music papers, writing into radio shows, and it amazes me nowadays how little interest I have in music. I never listen to it any more (apart from the bilge my nine year old daughter makes me listen to in the car!). But I do still like to write about it.

YSB: Who were your favourite bands from that era?

In the 90’s I loved Nirvana, Sleeper, Oasis, Blur; all the usual suspects.

YSB: Some writers need to work in total silence; others have to have some music on, which camp you do fall into on that score?

I used to write to music. Then, after I had children, I wrote in silence. Now I find I need the white noise of a public place to help me concentrate, so I write at my local café.

YSB: Your astrologer friend Yasmin Boland, infamously cajoled you into completing the first three chapters of ‘Ralph’s Party’ with a meal at your fave swish joint, but have you ever been tempted to ask her to forecast your future?

The other Yasmin : )

No! My interest in astrology is another thing to have hit the kerb as I’ve grown longer in the tooth. I was never a great believer, but I did love to read my horoscope and analyse it. Not any more I’m afraid (sorry, Yasmin!)

YSB: If ‘Ralph’s Party’ hadn’t been the storming success it was, would you have carried on writing? Or would you have done something else?

No, I honestly don’t think I would have. The whole project always felt a bit dippy and unlikely. I had entirely assumed that I would not get a publishing deal. I had no great ambition or game plan, and would probably have tucked the manuscript away in my attic, got a proper job and maybe tried again when I was fifty.

YSB:Are milestones meaningful to you? Did you acknowledge how cool it was to have ‘The Making of Us’ as your tenth best-selling novel?

I do like a good milestone, yes, but I don’t think I really felt the full impact of this one. It’s all so scary at the moment, my sales have been on the slide pretty much since book number 1 and there was so much pressure for this book to perform well that I didn’t really notice that it was my tenth. But now it’s been published (and sold way better than book nine) I suppose it is kind of cool. One book is a fluke, ten is a real achievement.

YSB: I think though with books, as with a huge mega-selling debut album, it’s extremely hard for an artist to ‘top’ that. You kind of arrived at the ‘top’ to begin with, with ‘Ralph’s Party.’  Have you been tempted to write anything radical and utterly off the wall and publish it under a pseudonym?

I might have to if my sales don’t pick up! A lot of authors are having to take this path to keep their income levels up. The history of an author’s sales has a huge impact on book shop ordering of subsequent titles, regardless of the quality of the book, so a couple of duff sales statistics can be the start of a really slippery slope. If this ever happens to me (please God no!) then I would definitely consider the ‘clean slate’ of a pseudonym. But hopefully, if I have any radical ideas, I’ll be able to write them under my own name. I do hope so.

YSB: I will always be up for a radical read. What are you working on at the moment, Lisa? 

I am writing a book called (for now, at least) The Bird House. It is a family saga, set mainly in the Cotswolds, but also as far afield as Spain, Thailand, Crete, Australia … and Tufnell Park. It follows the lives of Lorelei and Colin Bird and their four children; Megan, Bethan, Rhys and Rory and unravels the reasons behind Lorelei’s later descent into chronic hoarding. The second half will show the estranged family coming together after Lorelei’s death to unpack her shocking hoard and in doing so untangling the knots of their family history and finding a way back into each other’s lives. It is every bit as much fun to write as I thought it would be when I started it three months ago.

YSB: That sounds seriously cool, definitely different.  God help me if I end up like Lorelei!  Does Jascha read all your books? Does his opinion on your writing matter to you?

No, my lovely husband has not read any of my books since Melody Browne and he is still only halfway through that. And halfway through 31 Dream Street, too, I think. He always packs my latest one to take on holiday and then it just sits there by his lounger for two weeks before being packed up again and brought home untouched. It really doesn’t bother me. He is not a reader. If he was reading, say, Dan Brown and not me, I’d be miffed. But he’s not reading anything, so it’s fine. My sisters’ opinions are far more important to me.

YSB: What is the easiest and hardest thing about being a writer?

The easiest thing is the lifestyle. I can work wherever and whenever I want (assuming there are no children in the vicinity). I can work in my pyjamas (which I never do, but I could, in theory). I am always able to my children up from school or attend nativities or meet a friend for lunch or take a stroll around the shops or tackle some ironing (which I never do, but I could, in theory) and still have time to write a thousand words. The hardest thing is getting the words out of my head and on to the page. Always a struggle, that.

YSB: What inspires you as a writer? I pick up interesting names all over the place and get opening lines from strange sources. How easy is it for you to write your first chapters?

I love writing first chapters. It’s the culmination of all those hours you’ve spent building a world in your head and you haven’t yet reached any brick walls or obstacles. You can still kid yourself that you’ve got it all under control. The things that inspire me are probably the same things that inspire anyone with an interest in writing; music, overheard conversations, headlines, memories, feelings, people. For my current book, I was inspired by passing a flat on the Finchley Road that was clearly hoarded up to the hilt and wondering about who lived there and did they have a family and how did their family and friends feel about them living like that.

YSB: Lisa, do you have a writing routine?

Yes, it has changed incrementally over the years in line with number and ages of children etc. Now that they are both at school and I don’t have to worry about nursery pick-ups or childminders or our prepaid slot at the crèche at the gym, I am free to structure my day much more satisfactorily. I have broken my day into three chunks, which I can arrange in whichever order makes the most sense on that particular day. I am allowed two hours at home farting about on the internet and doing a bit of housework, I am allowed an hour and half for the gym and a minimum of two hours writing at my local café, internet free.

YSB: I should go to the gym to see off ‘writer’s arse’! As a writer and reader, how do you feel about the decline of bookstores and print sales and the rise of ePublishing?

As a writer, as long as my books are being paid for and read and enjoyed, I don’t really care what format they’re in. As a reader, I’m very happy to read a book on my Kindle, but my heart does sing out quite loudly every time I pick up a paperback.

YSB: I know the chick-lit tag sometimes frustrates you, if you were going to classify your own books what category would you place them in?  And if you want to create a new category, go for it!

I would place them in the category of, erm, ‘books.’ I don’t know, I find it really hard to be objective. I witnessed a Mumsnet discussion the other day, following on from my Q&A and one Mumsnetter said she felt she’d judged me unfairly as a chicklit writer and another Mumsnetter popped up and said I absolutely was a chicklit writer, so it’s totally subjective. But let’s put it this way, I do not ever intend or set out to write chicklit. I always set out and intend to write a really good book about a subject that I find interesting. I enjoy my own writing and have accepted the fact that I’m never going to write to a ‘literary’ standard. I just hope that readers who haven’t read one of my books won’t be too put off my chicklit credentials. Shall we call it popular fiction? Yes, I like that. No negative connotations.

YSB: As a writer do you feel you are under different pressures and expectations now to when you first entered the publishing industry?

I am definitely not as relaxed about my future prospects as I once was. I feel very much that the industry is now more than ever, about ‘the book’ rather than ‘the author’ and that even a writer like David Nicholls who outsold everyone a few years ago with his third novel, is not guaranteed a life time of top five sales. Readers are more fickle and hop about from hot book to hot book (I am absolutely guilty of this, I am rarely faithful to an author these days) and so now, every time I send out a new book into the world I’m wondering if it might catch the zeitgeist, the collective imagination. I have absolutely no confidence that it will sell simply because I’m a popular author.

YSB: It’s weird, I’m seeing the same thing happen in the music industry with new ‘hot’ bands, but the optimist in me still believes loyalty exists when it’s merited. Who reads your books?  Have you noticed any change in your readership since you wrote ‘Ralph’s Party’? 

Women read my books. Occasionally their partners read my books. Sometimes gay men read my books. A handful of teenagers read my books. Old people have been known to read my books. But essentially, it is women between the ages of 18 and 55. I think this has remained pretty much the case since the early days

YSB: Is there any new news on any of your novels being filmed for TV or the silver screen? I would love to see ’31 Dream Street’ or ‘Thirtynothing’ bought to life.

31 Dream Street is still under option and the guy who’s financing it and producing it wants to start filming sometime between September 2012 and May 2013. My breath is well and truly held.

YSB: Bring it on! I hope they do the book justice. Adaptations often send people scurrying back to read the books too.  Being a writer, wife and mum must take up an awful lot of your day, what do you do when you find a scrap of free time? What do you like to do?

Read. Read. Read. And read. When I go on holiday I am a very poor conversationalist (ask my poor husband, lying there next to me with his unread Lisa Jewell paperback on the floor, hopelessly trying to engage me in chit-chat). At home I am also likely to do mindless things on the internet and watch interesting documentaries about human beings. I have been known to bang out a little watercolour on occasion. And I do love to walk, aimlessly. I miss the pram-pushing days of babies when I’d take them out for an hour or two to nap while I sucked in all the wonder of the outside world.

YSB: Last question, I once broke the world high-kicking record as a teen, as well as writing engaging reads do you have any hidden talents that might surprise people?

I am very good at unravelling knotted things. I can drink all night and not get a hangover. I just asked my husband if there was anything else he could think of and he looked at me blankly. I think that is the extent of it!

From now on I will save up all my knotted necklaces for you. I thought I could end it there but I can’t. Here’s a wee quickfire round. Go with your first instincts, 

Most cringeworthy crush ?

Lion Sleeps Tonight

Steve Grant of Tight Fit.

Band you wish you could dance on stage with?

I would not wish to dance on stage with anyone. Band I would like to watch from the wings with a glass of champagne in my hand: Blur.

What would you do if your silver tabby cats started talking to you?

I would be delighted. I would do a cognitive aptitude test on the boy, because I suspect he has special educational needs. I would find out if the girl was more than just a pretty face and ask her if she ever misses her babies. And I would apologise to both for the brutal combings I have to give them to stop my house being permanently cloaked in silver fur.

Last great film you saw?

Titanic in 3D at my local IMAX. Tenth time I’ve seen it, was gripped till the very last moments and sobbing at the end.

Biggest guilty pleasure?

Skipping the gym, as I am doing at this very minute in fact. It feels good.

Olympics – pant-wettingly excited or already over it?

I was never in it to get over it. Not interested. Not a sporty girl.

Idol you’d most love to meet?

I would not wish to meet an idol. I have met two already, I have been out for drinks in Soho with Nick Hornby and have sat in a soft play centre in Crouch End drinking tea with Clare Grogan. I was totally unrelaxed on both occasions and found it impossible to be myself.

Most romantic thing you’ve ever done?

Do you mean a gesture, or an experience? I have never knowingly committed a romantic gesture. I do not like romantic gestures and would not inflict one on another human being. But the most romantic experience of my life was my wedding weekend in Portofino on the Italian Riviera. Truly magical.

Most famous Lisa Jewell fan you know of?

Jayne Middlemiss

 YSB: Thank you Lisa Jewell  : )

‘Before I Met You’ by Lisa Jewell is on sale now at all good bookshops and online retailers.  Visit: http://www.facebook.com/LisaJewellofficial.

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Millie: ‘I am not just a pretty face…or am I?’

Filed under: People you should know about, Writers I love