Lola Jaye

World Cup withdrawals - what? Me?

Lola — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 20:55:59 +0000

To this day I still haven’t managed to confess the real reason for cancelling a girlie dinner at one of my favourite restaurants in town. I may have mumbled something about being ‘busy’ when what I really wanted to do was settle down to a greasy takeaway, cupcake or two and… err… watch football. FOOTBALL? ME? I like many woman over the last month have been transformed from not really giving two hoots about the ‘beautiful’ game to having staunch, at times passionate opinions on whether the ball was ‘in’ or not. Temporarily shedding any membership to all things pink and sparkly. The last four weeks of the 2010 World Cup has seen me;

- spend rare and precious sunny days sat indoors with the curtains drawn, ‘because of TV glare’ watching grown men kick a ball around – and absolutely enjoying it. -refer to my pristine copy of World Cup fixtures, in advance of each match just to make sure I got the correct television channel on standby and whether any of my favourite team appearances clashed with any of my usual programmes (soaps, dramas, you know who you are)
-shout ‘Oi Ref!!!!’ and ‘I can’t believe he didn’t see that!’ and ‘Blow the WHISTLE!’ making full use of the noughties phenomena that is social networking (Twitter and Facebook) with random updates.
- Sky Plus (to my American friends, I think that’s Tivo) highlights if I dared to be out working during live matches. Yes, I DID THAT!

My world hasn’t completely gone mad though as I did temporarily resort back to being ‘me’ by salivating ever so slightly at the close up of Ghana’s Kevin Prince Boatang’s shapely thigh as commentators discussed his injury. To me, this World Cup has been a bonding experience. It’s the first thing we’d talk about at work, on the phone to friends and family (even my Nan watched the England match!). And I for one, enjoyed the comradery and banter. The whole oneness too (the streets were empty the days England played). But with the end of the 2010 World Cup, held in South Africa, things have now changed. I will no longer be a disgrace to my pink sparkly girliness, Lola’s back. (multiple) girly dinners are booked and I intend to buy a lipgloss very soon and go back to complaining every time there’s a home match and moan about ‘all that blimming traffic it causes’. So as I slink off into normality (PS- don’t ask me about the offside rule….) I shall remember the world cup with dramatic memories; Ghana’s Asamoah Gyan’s tears; Kewell getting sent off; the handballs, the own goals; ‘Facegate’ with Keita of Ivory Coast and Brazil’s Kaka (CLASS); Nigeria’s quick exist; England’s pasting from Germany, which disappointed me not least because I am of the generation that has yet to see England lift that cup LIVE; and of course Ghana’s memorable match with Uruguay when for a moment there, I thought I’d lose my voice (and my mind) when they neared so close to the finishing line and on their way to history. One day. Before you ask, I have managed to fit in some serious writing in between all this, finishing the first draft of the new novel… so no fear…Until next time, Folks.

The strangest thing just happened…

Lola — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 21:06:23 +0000

I was booking a cab to take me to a book signing tomorrow…The lady on the other end asked if I was Lola Jaye, I answered yes and then she said ‘I have your book waiting to be read right beside me…’ What are the odds of that?Also, she mentioned how she’d sent her own manuscript to Uberagent Simon Trewin (an awesome friend of mine) and how one of his staff had mentioned me to her becuase of a ’similarity’ we share… It’s all so strange and clearly means that this lady is going to be a success! The best part is, her pseudonym is…. you guessed it… LOLA! From one Lola to the next… good luck, girl!

Hello…. again…

Lola — Mon, 12 Apr 2010 17:36:05 +0000

Hello!!!!Today marks the end of two weeks of non -stop writing (except Good Friday and Easter Sunday) - where I have done nothing much except sit at my desk and get on with book four AKA novel three.I was very grateful that the sun didn’t make it’s appearance until recently as it would have been tooooo tempting to just run outside into the sunshine in my t-shirt, to ‘bask’. What with Facebook and Twitter - who needs extra distractions?But one had to write. I did manage a life in the evenings, though, like a FANTASTIC concert by an amazingly talented American neo soul artist called Ledisi last Friday and the odd trip to the supermarket. But mostly, it was all about writing.So back to the day job tomorrow and happy to ’step away’ from my manuscript for a while and tackle it again in the near future. Writing’s great. But sometimes you get moments when the craft of it feels like pulling teeth without an anesthetic; with sentences and words not sounding or looking right- and then you wonder if this is the profession for you.Such thinking lasts about a second because the answer is a YES and secretly and without my knowledge I LOVE IT! Later, Folks!LJ

I did a a reading today…

Lola — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 23:46:41 +0000

…at The Poetry Cafe in Covent Garden.And I really enjoyed it! I was last on after two very talented writers and two equally talented ‘open mikers’ took to the stage.I had three books to choose from, but you know which book I chose to read from? By The Time You Read This… I am proud of all my books but that one was the FIRST one to get published, so it will always hold a special place in my heart. I had around eight of my lovely friends in the audiance and I gotta tell you, there was something extra special about seeing them (and my brother!!) looking back at me as I read. So lovely. I’d certainly reccomend it. I did get a tad nervous and I stumbled over a few words but I enjoyed it. Soooo tomorrow is a new day and back at the computer I will sit, to continue with Book Four. I’ve had some time away from it but hope the momentum returns.So… … Until next time… (Wow two posts in one month!)

IT”S WORLD BOOK DAY 2010!!!!

Lola — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 20:21:46 +0000

AND I’M STILL ON A HIGH…. It started off brilliantly this morning as I did a short talk and book signing at a lovely hotel in Bishops Stortford for Union Learn members. I then raced back to London to put on my green shoes, an even greener dress, slide on the lip gloss, then out again to a very, very famous address… (one of the most famous addresses in the world…)10 Downing Street!!!!!! Yes, home of the PRIME MINISTER!!!! (you probably knew that bit!)I’d been invited for, get this, a reception with the Prime Minister’s wife SARAH BROWN! It was a lovely evening and felt so surreal being surrounded by all those authors. I was forever looking at someone passing by with a glass of wine and thinking ‘I know her’ without figuring out where I might have seen the face before (probably on the back of a book or a TV?). I loved very moment of it. It was great. I took pics outside and succeeded in behaving like an overhyped tourist. I also shamelessly introduced myself to everyone I remotely recognised; Levi Roots (’Do you remember me, I emailed you? And you replied? pant, pant!) , Alvin Hall, Gilda O’Neil (who has since invited me to dinner!) Alison Weir, Ali Smith, Jo Brand and John O’farrell (to which I horridly started the conversation with, ‘do you remember me, we did a talk together??- Luckily , they did), Mike Gayle (we are Facebook friends and have a mutual friend but had never met until now); come to think of, I must have sounded like a crazed fan today, but I couldn’t help it. It was awesome!!!! And I was in a very happy place!I didn’t get to introduce myself to so many others, including Tracy Chevalier who looked very beautiful.AND……. ….I got talking to some very lovely staff and asked them about President Obama and erm… where he sat when he came to visit and I WAS TAKEN TO ’PRESIDENT OBAMA’S CHAIR!’ I SAT IN A CHAIR THAT PRESIDENT OBAMA SAT IN!!! Clearly, 3 hours later, I am still excited about my evening at 10 Downing Street.Pictures weren’t permitted inside the home, but official photographers have taken loads and I will soon be downloading them from a ’special website’. It’s been a long and fabulous day; HAPPY WORLD BOOK DAY FOLKS!!!!

I did a a reading today…

Lola — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 23:46:41 +0000

…at The Poetry Cafe in Covent Garden.And I really enjoyed it! I was last on after two very talented writers and two equally talented ‘open mikers’ took to the stage.I had three books to choose from, but you know which book I chose to read from? By The Time You Read This… I am proud of all my books but that one was the FIRST one to get published, so it will always hold a special place in my heart. I had around eight of my lovely friends in the audiance and I gotta tell you, there was something extra special about seeing them (and my brother!!) looking back at me as I read. So lovely. I’d certainly reccomend it. I did get a tad nervous and I stumbled over a few words but I enjoyed it. So tomorrow is a new day and back at the computer I will sit, to continue with Book Four. I have had sometime away from it but hope the momentum returns.So… Until next time, Folks… (Wow two posts in one month!)

OhMyDayz…

Lola — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 19:15:40 +0000

… so sorry folks, I’ve been very slack at keeping up to date on my Blog… Christmas, New year and now we’re half way through January 2010… And I’m hard at it with Book 4. I’ve taken the whole week off work as Annual Leave to make a larger dent in my new book. Tha Agent is requesting another viewing and it needs to be whipped into some form of shape so… bear with me folks while I write…… :)

Is it December already…? And Christmas in a few weeks?

Lola — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 08:00:39 +0000

Not sure when THAT happened

I did an interview today with Spanish radio station http://www.talkradioeurope.com/ today. It was such fun – and I felt so relaxed (ish) and I didn’t go away feeling like an idiot! The interviewer Hannah was so lovely to talk to and I really enjoyed it!!!! I think you should be able to listen to it by clicking on ‘Listen again,’ enjoy.So what have I been up to lately…?

As you can guess - writing my as of yet Untitled Book 4. I have around 20,000 words down and I’m still not sure how many of those will survive the ‘cull’ but it is so wonderful being at this stage. Getting to know my characters, their habits (one scratches her nose when she’s nervous…) I had one of those ‘moments’ today when one of the characters, who at the moment is quite minor, was kind of begging to be heard more (I know that this may sound strange to non writers, mental even) - BUT SHE WANTED HER STORY TO BE TOLD TOO… So the process of this novel has suddenly taken an unexpected turn…

Viva la Blackpool!

Lola — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 19:00:36 +0000

I did an event today in Blackpool as part of the BBC’s MyStory Campaign. - A nationwide hunt to find storytellers – winners will even have their short story published in a book! A really good prize!! Here’s the link for those of you who’d like to enter http://www.bbc.co.uk/mystory/ So, this morning and after a hearty breakfast at my hotel, I was whisked onto stage and interviewed by the lovely Ted Robbins along with writer Catrin Collier. Toyah Wilcox, Frank Carson and John Thomson from Coronation Street were on later but I had to dash off before I could get any inside info on future Corrie storylines. Anyway, it was a quick visit and I was back home today by 6pm – just in time for X Factor!

Did a talk and a book signing at Worthing library last night with the very talented…

Lola — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 14:59:16 +0000

… author Alex Wheatle - whose new book is called Dirty South (Serpents Tail) and is now on my list of books to ’read’. It was a really good night. I met some really lovely people and some budding writers who were kind enough to buy my book. Although rolling back home past midnight, I felt rather shattered. I can’t blame the ‘jet lag’ anymore so it must be something else… like ‘em… age?