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" People say 'chick lit,' and what they mean is 'crap.' And so even though you might sell 100,000 copies of a book, you're never going to win a prize. These are books that people don't just read, they devour them - they stay up into the early hours because they want to devour them. "

Lisa Jewell

You

Book

Early

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" For me, the optimum circumstances for writing a book are those of stultifying routine. "

Lisa Jewell

Writing

Book

" 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. "

" Don't do a hard sell or try to tell the agent that you're going to be a bestseller or the next John Grisham. This goes down very badly. If your work is good, then they are skilled enough to know this within a few pages. "

" 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. "

" Everyone thinks they've got a book inside them. "

" Writing a book is not easy. "

" You feel undervalued when you write the kind of fiction I write. "

" Sometimes you need to be shaken out of a situation. "

" The older I get, the more I love psychological thrillers. "

" There's a weird contrast between my usual daily routine and then my book coming out. It's like someone's just suddenly opened the curtains in a dark room, and everyone's looking at you. "

" People with big ideas worry. They lie awake at night and fret as they try to climb up the social or financial ladder. They probably feel proud of themselves for what they've achieved, but I'm proud of the fact that I've done very little - and hence have little to worry about - and I've still got somewhere. "

" I knew I wasn't the sort of person who could do a full-time job and write in the evening and at weekends. "

" I tried to write about my first marriage in a fictional version but got two pages into it and realised it was too personal. Then I came up with an old-fashioned love triangle, which became the plot for 'Ralph's Party.' "

" I am the oldest of three girls and the only one not named after one of my father's ex-girlfriends. "

Lisa Jewell

Oldest

Three

" 'Ralph's Party' was a romantic comedy, and at the end of it, the two main characters, Ralph and Jen, kiss for the first time and think they're going to be happy together. Then, 10 years later, I wrote a sequel in which they've been together for 10 years and are about to split up. "

" My marriage is far from perfect. We're not hand-holdy and soft. We are snippy and bickery. We sleep in separate beds because we have no tolerance of each other's night-time idiosyncrasies. "

" 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. "

" Flowers would be wasted on me. I don't like valentines. I don't need gifts. I'm a pragmatic romantic. "

Lisa Jewell

Gifts

" My father was a self-employed textile agent, and the shop below his office was an art gallery. "

" No man ever fell in love with me for the way I fill out a Lycra dress. "

Lisa Jewell

Out

Love

" In 1995, I was 27, and I completely got caught up in Blur and Oasis and the fashion of the time. "

" If one of my romantic-comedy colleagues had written and directed 'Love Actually,' they would have been torn limb from limb. I thought it was awful, contrived, dreadful. I could see every twist and turn. I thought it was despicable. It was the writing that got me. "

" I married someone I didn't love. I was too polite to say no. "

" My husband loves having his own room. "

" I don't think my first book was chick lit. "

" 'Ralph's Party' was supposed to be a psychological thriller, but I fell in love with all my characters and wanted only the best for them. "

" 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. "

" That whole idea of chick lit being a thing that you just lump all the commercial female writers into - it went on for years.I'd switch on the radio, and I'd hear, 'Two female authors are here to discuss chick lit - is it dead?' and I'd think, 'Argh, no, not again. Are we seriously still having this conversation?' "

" Every time I've written a book, I'm like, 'Oh, it's so different from the last one. Are they going to like it?' "

Lisa Jewell

Different

Last

" Getting married young was the worst experience of my life. It was horrible - really horrible. "