Author Jill Mansell on designer notebooks commissioning art and the family bear YOU Magazine
Author Jill Mansell on designer notebooks commissioning art and the family bear - YOU Magazine Fashion Beauty Celebrity Health Life Relationships Horoscopes Food Interiors Travel Sign in Welcome!Log into your account Forgot your password? Password recovery Recover your password Search Sign in Welcome! Log into your account Forgot your password? Get help Password recovery Recover your password A password will be e-mailed to you. YOU Magazine Fashion Beauty Celebrity Health Life Relationships Horoscopes Food Interiors Travel Home Celebrity Author Jill Mansell on designer notebooks commissioning art and the family bear By You Magazine - January 16, 2018 Author Jill Mansell I use a new Christian Lacroix notebook to write down all my ideas for each book – any old notebook just won’t do. I always think the better the notebook, the better my next book will be. They encourage me to keep up my standards. This 1988 copy of Jilly Cooper’s Rivals, signed by her, changed my life. She was my idol long before I started writing books when I was working in clinical neurophysiology in the NHS. I love her humour and the way she creates characters you want to be friends with. This big bear, only just a bit shorter than me, lives in our fireplace. I spotted him in a shop and fell in love with him, so my partner Cino bought him for my birthday one year. We dress him up for special occasions – he’s become a part of the family and he makes me smile. I commissioned the artist Rose Popay to paint this scene of me writing a book by hand and my daughter Lydia typing up my notes. My mum Gwen used to do it – it’s why there’s no sex in my books. Lydia keeps me in check if I put old lady things in the mouths of young characters! I bought this life-sized horse sculpture a few years after I wrote Take a Chance on Me. I sit and look out of the window and can’t believe how lucky I am to have written a book that helped me buy something so beautiful. It’s funny to read my diaries from when I was about 11. One of my New Year’s resolutions was ‘to keep up my writing and try not to be so ambitious’. If only I could go back, I would tell the 11-year-old me that I would end up becoming an author. My stepfather – and my dad since I was two – gave me this gold-plated fountain pen six or seven years ago. I’ve always written with pens, but this one is my nicest. I like to use bottles of coloured ink, too, just for fun. When I come to the end of nine or ten pages, I change to another colour. My father Nigel was a photographer, but he died when I was a toddler. I only had three pictures of him until about four years ago. Just before my stepfather John passed away, he remembered that there was a suitcase of photographs under his bed, including this one of my parents on their wedding day. People say that my dad was an extrovert and the party started when he entered the room. After my mum died, she left me a tangle of jewellery that I didn’t want to throw away – or wear. I had some pieces melted down to make this bangle, studded with diamonds, which I now wear every day. Jill’s new novel This Could Change Everything will be published by Headline on 25 January, price £12.99. To pre-order a copy for £10.39 (a 20 per cent discount) until 28 January, visit you-bookshop.co.uk or call 0844 571 0640; p&p is free on orders over £15 By Fiona Mccarthy RELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHOR 50 of the best celebrity Halloween costumes of all time Shirley Ballas ‘ Strictly gave me back my hope’ Davina McCall discusses how men can help women going through the menopause Popular in Celebrity TV chef Gino D Acampo on Sardinia Sophia Loren and scary salads May 25, 2017 The Evergreen Goddess Exercise guru Diana Moran on looking fit and July 10, 2017 More more Julianne Moore November 13, 2017 Author Jill Mansell on designer notebooks commissioning art and the family January 16, 2018 EMOTIONAL TIES Kelly Hoppen on vodka vintage finds and being a April 4, 2018 ‘ I have no regrets’ Millie Mackintosh on divorce debt and reuniting May 20, 2018 EMOTIONAL TIES TV presenter and tennis player Annabel Croft shares her July 1, 2018 Stella Parton ‘ Dolly and I have always been close’ August 12, 2018 Anna Friel on getting jeered in the street shared parenting with September 23, 2018 Queen of primetime Charlotte Riley on juggling rising stardom with pregnancy October 21, 2018 Popular CategoriesFood2704Life2496Fashion2240Beauty1738Celebrity1261Interiors684 Sign up for YOUMail Thanks for subscribing Please check your email to confirm (If you don't see the email, check the spam box) Fashion Beauty Celebrity Life Food Privacy & Cookies T&C Copyright 2022 - YOU Magazine. All Rights Reserved