Here’s the first promo quote graphic for the book.
I love this quote. She sounds like she’s being sarcastic, when she actually means what she says.
I’d certainly take him home, if he wasn’t quite so young! Do you think he sounds like a catch?
There is a lot of tea drinking throughout Inspired By Night. While many female lead characters will crack open a bottle of Pinot or Merlot, Olivia Jones just sticks the kettle on.
Someone asked me once: “What’s the nicest thing anyone ever said to you?” I replied: “Would you like a cup of tea?”
I come from a long line of tea drinkers, I don’t recall trying tea for the first time, it is just something I’ve always done for as long as I can remember. It is, in fact, a principle of mine that I never say no to a cup of tea.
However, I hate making tea! At work I was always pretty good at holding out in the office tea round stand off. Hence never saying no to a brew!
Since I started working for myself my own tea intake has reduced, although I’m pretty good at making a brew for my guests and visitors. In fact, it’s the first thing I ask. It’s a great ice breaker when a new client walks through the door. You will never be stuck for something to say to a stranger when there’s the option of offering a cuppa!
“I made him four cups of tea today. If I were any nicer it would be borderline sexual harassment.” – Olivia Jones
A long time ago I lived and worked in London. While travelling home one night I had missed the last train and was stressing about getting home. My companion turned to me and said “you know, whatever happens, however long it takes, at some point we will be at home drinking a nice cup of tea.” I nodded and said “There is no problem that can’t be fixed with a cup of tea.”
Ah tea, the nation’s healer! – Olivia Jones
I just ordered this pendant from Scribbelicious, a fabulous jewellery maker that recycles old books and creates beautiful custom ordered items using quotes from your favourite books.
*Title quote taken from the play Sweet Lavendar by Arthur Wing Pinero, 1888.
After a 3 year break series 9 of 24 hits our screens tonight and I, for one, cannot wait.
Last week I drove past a billboard with a huge picture of Jack Bauer in London and I couldn’t contain my excitement.
In anticipation of the new series, last month we started watching 24 from the beginning. We’re currently half way through series 3, David Palmer is still president and Jack Bauer is as badass as ever.
On the radio this weekend I heard a news presenter refer to a perimeter fence and giggled at how exciting that sounded. For months after first watching 24 I was constantly telling people to set up a perimeter or open a socket.
And like everyone who ever watched 24 my default affirmative response is copy that.
When Olivia and Steven attend Friday night drinks after work, at the end of Steven’s first week at Inspired Design, they sneak off to avoid Steven’s ex girlfriend and Olivia takes great pleasure in pretending she’s a secret agent. Naturally all of her comments were entirely inspired by 24.
I cannot wait to see Jack Bauer back on our screens again. I’m taking sweep stakes in how soon he says “dammit!”
We’ve decided to carry on watching the old series before we watch 24: Live Another Day, so by the time we reach it, it should be finished and we can watch it all in once go, rather than waiting week by week.
So if you’re watching it in real time…no spoilers, please!
One of the things the Editor in Chief at Xcite Books commented on, was that she’d never come across a thing for sideburns in anything she’d read before.
Olivia Jones has a thing for sideburns, and I guess she gets that from me.
Although I don’t consciously have a strong feeling either way about sideburns, but it was pointed out to me by my own boyfriend when I realised that, as much as I had a thing for David Tennant, I only liked him as The Doctor.
“I just don’t seem to fancy him in anything else” I declared, “maybe it’s because he seems to play kinda creepy characters in everything else.” Secret Smile as a case in point.
“He just seems to look different, maybe it’s his hair or something.” I continued. In all honesty I felt kinda sad that I couldn’t commit to a poster pin-up.
“Sideburns” my boyfriend said, “he has sideburns in Doctor Who.”
And it was like fireworks went off in my head. That’s it. Something about sideburns changes the shape of his face and that’s where, in my opinion at least, his beauty lies.
I tested the theory further – Colin Firth… In Pride and Prejudice? Hell yes, in Bridget Jones? Hell yes,
(And frankly Bridget was totally wrong when she said “you should rethink the length of your sideburns”).
In Fever Pitch? Not so much.
Stephen Moyer – whispering “Sookeh” as the old fashioned southern vampire Bill Compton in series 1 of True Blood? Absolutely!
But in later series, when he’s all clean shaven and business like… Nah it’s Eric Northman all day long. Bill Compton lost his appeal when he pulled out his razor blade.
So. Sideburns then. I got a thing for them apparently. But my fella doesn’t have sideburns and I like him just fine. So I guess there’s more to this attraction thing than facial hair. But still, when you’re looking from afar, sideburns are pretty darn sexy
Who remembers Crazy Frog? How many times in the early 90s did you look at someone and then say “A ding ding ding ding…” before they threw something at you?
I remember exactly where I was the first time I saw it. I don’t remember who emailed it to me, but I remember watching it, sat at my desk in work and roaring laughing. I don’t know how many people I forwarded it on to but I couldn’t get enough of it. I must have watched it at least ten times over before I sent it on.
I was amused when the Axel F song came out, but after that Crazy Frog really did become The Annoying Thing, as it was originally called.
When I was writing Inspired by Night, I wanted Olivia to be already well established in her career. I didn’t want her to be another plain, uninspiring girl, who gets swept off her feet by the rich successful older man. So I made her the older successful one of the relationship, (while still being a young woman with her own set of insecurities). So I gave her career an early boost with the creation of a character that was inspired by Crazy Frog. Olivia’s character is called Jerk Chicken, described as a slack jawed chicken singing “Chick chick chick chick chicken, lay a little egg for me.”
I actually wish I was capable of 3d animation so I could create Jerk Chicken. I secretly hope someone will make one… “inspired by’ inspired by night.’” I own the intellectual proprty to that idea though, right??
What was your most viewed/forwarded email from back then? I was also quite partial to the guy auditioning for Pop Idol, singing Eye of the Tiger, but I always felt really guilty for laughing.
Takes a lot of guts to get up and sing, I kind of hate all those shows now that I know how it works, shame on the pre judges for putting people through if they were either brillaint or so bad they’re funny. To be ridiculed by Simon Cowell and his mates for believing they’ve got any talent is particularly horrible, especially when they’re only stood in front of the celebrity judges after getting through pre-judging – who wouldn’t start believing in themselves if they’ve made it through?
Still, I’m only human, so this still makes me laugh*.
*Please don’t judge me, I’m not a bad person.
I’ve started a new notebook which is quickly filling up with ideas, snippets of dialogue and timeline ideas for novel number two.
As I was writing up ideas, I remembered all those times at school, in English Literature classes, analysing novels. I never really understood the point of it, I used to think – it’s just a story, how do we know the author even had this big obsession with the imagery of windows* or whatever we were focussing on at the time.
It seemed like complete nonsense to me, analysing these stories, quotes, themes etc. And yet here I am, doing it in reverse. I have my idea, a vague plot to the story and I’m making notes along the lines of “this happens, and then later it is revealed that he was actually doing this” or “…this links back to the initial discussion in chapter 1″ or ” sows the seeds for the thing later”
Not that there will ever be a time when school children are analysing my novels… but if anyone does ever look a little more closely at my writing at least I’ll be able to confirm that it was all planned!
* I seem to recall there being an assignment on Wuthering Heights, analysing the use of windows and doorways throughout the novel. Never made the slightest bit of sense to me!
