Lisa Jewell Quotes:
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.
Lisa Jewell
I think that not being proactive is a good thing. I like life to unfold on its own.
Lisa Jewell
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.
Lisa Jewell
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.’
Lisa Jewell
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.
Lisa Jewell
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.
Lisa Jewell
Writing a book is not easy.
Lisa Jewell
‘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.
Lisa Jewell
My publishers find me really challenging, as a lot of the time, I don’t even know what I’m going to be writing about until I sit down to do it.
Lisa Jewell
I married someone I didn’t love. I was too polite to say no.
Lisa Jewell
For me, the optimum circumstances for writing a book are those of stultifying routine.
Lisa Jewell
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.
Lisa Jewell
I look about my house and see there are lots of lovely things in it, but I constantly buy more.
Lisa Jewell
My father, Anthony, was a textile agent who sold fabric in the West End and was away a lot. He was very glamorous. When he first met my mum, he swept her off into this big, social world.
Lisa Jewell
My mother had breast cancer when she was 39.
Lisa Jewell
If you feel that your father was lacking as a husband, it affects your own choice of man.
Lisa Jewell
My first husband dragged me out of London and made me live in the suburbs in Surrey – not where you want to be when you’re 23.
Lisa Jewell
I don’t think my first book was chick lit.
Lisa Jewell
The older I get, the more I love psychological thrillers.
Lisa Jewell
Getting married young was the worst experience of my life. It was horrible – really horrible.
Lisa Jewell
If you have a calling, you need to let it find you.
Lisa Jewell
For a very long time, I thought everyone I met through the process of getting an agent and a publishing deal had made a mistake. When they agreed to pay me for the book, I thought they would ask me for the money back.
Lisa Jewell
My father was a self-employed textile agent, and the shop below his office was an art gallery.
Lisa Jewell
‘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.
Lisa Jewell