Author Interview - Jill Mansell and a Giveaway!

I am so excited to welcome Jill Mansell to Books and Needlepoint for my very first author interview! Jill is the International Bestselling Author of An Offer You Can't Refuse which is being released in the U.S. this week!

1. Jill, where is your favorite place to write?

I make myself very comfortable, either on the sofa in our living room or upstairs in bed, and I always have the TV on while I’m working. It amazes me that successful authors go and work in little sheds in their gardens! Where’s the fun in that!


2. Besides crisps, fruit gums (gum drops) and coffee (and of course, your Harley Davidson pen) is there anything else that you need close by while you write?

That’ll be the TV remote control. I love daytime TV. I’ve just discovered the Ellen Degeneres show on cable. Brilliant.


3. I love it when Ellen dances at the beginning of her show! TV would probably distract me from writing. What is the biggest distraction to your writing?

For the next three weeks my kids are home from school. When they’re fighting and yelling at each other, that’s pretty distracting. Yesterday they managed to break our laptop. Lucky I write my books by hand!


4. I just celebrated my birthday - what is your birthday month and do you do anything special?

Happy birthday! Mine’s in June, which is nice because the weather is usually good. Our favourite thing is to go out to a really good restaurant. Being a writer is like endlessly having to revise for school exams – you feel incredibly naughty whenever you take a day off, but it means you enjoy it all the more!


5. Thanks for the birthday wishes! Do you have any hobbies?

Food! Shopping! Jewelry! Reading books! Jumping on our trampoline! Reading more books!


6. When I was younger I used to jump on our trampoline alot - not so much these days! In the book, An Offer You Can't Refuse, Lola is the manager of a bookstore - do you have a favorite bookstore that you like to go?

I find it physically impossible not to go into any bookstore I happen to pass. I always hope I’ll find a book I haven’t seen anywhere else. I can’t have a favourite – I just love all of them.


7. I know what you mean about bookstores - I even have to go into the used bookstore at our library whenever I am there! You mention the TV show Friends in An Offer You Can't Refuse - do you have a favorite American TV show? British TV show?

Ooh, now you’re asking! I do love Friends. And one of my all-time favourite sit-coms is Veronica’s Closet. I adore The Apprentice but they’ve stopped showing the U.S. version over here now. I’m also a fan of reality TV – I’m just fascinated by people’s characters. And I love The Office.


8. I love Friends also - I miss those types of sitcoms! I usually listen to The Apprentice while I am blogging! Where do you come up with the names for your characters?

I go through my books of names for babies, then my telephone books for surnames. If I happen across a great name I’ll add it to the list I keep in one of my jewelled notebooks.


9. My maiden name was Kendall - hmmm, that would make a great first name too. I'll give you a minute to write that down! Just kidding! I read that your daughter doesn't read your books because she is afraid she will read something that she said - Do you remember ever writing anything she has said and can you share it with us?

Ooh, can’t think of any off-hand, but she finds my books hard to read because they sound so much like me. She’s now typing my manuscripts for me (for money, not for love!) and keeps finding things I say myself, like when a character complains about a banana skin being thrown in a waste paper bin which now smells of bananas. I spend my life moaning about the smell of bananas. And cucumbers. They’re disgusting and should never have been invented. Basically, though, when my daughter was young I dreamed about her reading my books when she was older. And now she’s older, she doesn’t want to read them! Luckily all her friends do. I’m very popular with them!


10. Now there is a job I could get into - typing manuscripts! That is neat that her friends read them! Do you have a favorite book out of the ones that you have written?

Can’t answer that! Cruelty to books!


11. After Miranda's Big Mistake - are there plans for more of your books to be published in the U.S? (keeping fingers crossed)

Yes, there are three being published this year, then another three next year, and hopefully lots more after that. I’m so excited to finally be published in the U.S. – it’s a dream come true. And thank you so much for your lovely review of An Offer You Can’t Refuse – I’m thrilled you liked it!

There you have it! Two more books this year and another three next year! I can't wait to start reading Miranda's Big Mistake!

Now for the giveaway! Sourcebooks is offering one book to a lucky commenter - so to enter the giveaway, please leave a comment below pertaining to this post or to my review which is here. Also leave an email address so I know how to reach you! This contest will run until May 1! (Sorry - only available to U.S. and Canada - no P.O. boxes)