Jill Mansell - Diary Book Tour April 2008

Spring 2007 | Summer 2007 | New Year 2008 | Book Tour 2008

Hi everyone! OK, here we go again – this time I’m going to be writing about my book tour of Singapore, New Zealand and Australia. It’s an awfully long way away and I’m leaving my family for almost three weeks. Can’t bear to think how much washing-up there’s going to be waiting for me when I get back…

(Oh, and can I just quickly say, I do find it sweet when people take me aside, lower their voices and confess guiltily, ‘Sorry, but I’ve been reading your diary on your website…’ Hey, that’s what it’s there for! No need to apologise – it’s allowed!)

Thursday 3rd April. Shall I start with the new Singapore Airlines A380 Airbus? It’s a double-decker, for a start. (When you’ve grown up in a tiny village where the only buses are single deckers, your perception of utter glamour will forever be the exotic double-decker.) In business class we have extra-wide seats and huge TV screens and a million films to choose from. Everything is superb, apart from the man next to me, who looks gorgeous and super-athletic in a James Cracknell kind of way, and is extremely pleasant whilst awake, but who spends most of the night snoring like a warthog. If my other half snores, I give him a great thump, but it seems impertinent to do this to a stranger so I lie awake listening to him and fantasise instead about smothering him with a pillow. I also watch three films. Juno – brilliant, hilarious, highly recommended. Atonement – good but deeply depressing. The Diving Bell and the Butterfly – so desperately sad that it was almost unbearable to watch. (And during my years working in the neurological hospital I worked with several patients with locked-in syndrome, so it struck a particular chord with me.)

The only downside of the Airbus is that it has now spoiled me for any other form of aircraft. Flying back to the UK on a 747 is going to seem like second best…

Singapore – so clean, so green, so tall! And hot! It’s like walking around whilst being smothered with a steaming hot flannel. I’m staying at the rather gorgeous Goodwood Park Hotel and my jet-lag is already making itself felt. I’ve never had jet-lag before; it’s very…fuggy. Lots of interviews and a lovely evening with a very jolly crowd at the British Club. I thought I’d be able to crash out afterwards but my poor confused brain had other ideas, so at midnight – after two hours of sleep – I woke right up.

Saw a magazine with the most brilliant name. DestinAsian. Isn’t that perfect?

More press interviews, then a fab lunch with my publicist Cheryl, then a radio interview at the front of the huge Borders store, broadcast over the shop and to be followed by me giving a talk before signing books. (My own books, not just anybody’s.) Except in the course of the quite long radio interview, the presenter inadvertently covered most of the contents of my talk, and then people were advancing upon me waving books to be signed, so we ended up just doing that instead. And a big hello to everyone I met – you were all so enthusiastic and lovely! (I always worry that no one will turn up and I’ll be forced to sit there like a lemon while shoppers give me a wide berth and pitying looks, but not quite pitying enough to buy a copy of my book.)

Then I met Rosie Milne, a fellow writer who lives in Singapore and is a fellow member of a writers’ e-group. So we met in person for the first time, which was fantastic, and spent the rest of the afternoon shopping and gossiping together in the malls on Orchard Road. I bought a pair of crystal-studded shoes – hooray! They’re stunning!

Next, it’s off to the airport and New Zealand, and this time on the plane I sat next to a very charming man who kindly pre-warned me that he might snore, but in fact didn’t. Two other men did, though, at about a billion decibels each, so another sleepless night. Couldn’t snorers travel in the hold with the luggage?

Finally we arrive at Christchurch and I make my first error. Having read my schedule at least a dozen times, I’ve managed to convince myself that I’m being met by Raewyn, my NZ publicist, at the next stop, which is Dunedin. So when the non-snoring man who’s taken me under his wing invites me to be his guest and wait for the connecting flight in the upstairs Koru Lounge, which is the private lounge for frequent flyers, I happily agree. Which is great, except poor Raewyn is downstairs  in International Arrivals wondering where on earth I’ve got to. She has me paged, she asks the police to help look for me, everyone’s searching everywhere for the dippy missing author…and the one place they don’t look is in the upstairs Koru Lounge because they know I can’t possibly be there …

Anyway, she finds me at last as we arrive at the boarding gate and we head off for Dunedin. Lovely place, home of the steepest road in the world. That’s not another of my inane exaggerations, it’s a fact! It’s called Baldwin Street and we saw it. It’s very….steep.

We did a great event in the afternoon then I crashed out from 9 p.m. to 2 a.m. Next morning, interviews, then a great lunch with Otago booksellers from Invercargill and Dunedin, followed by a flight back to Christchurch and dinner with yet more lovely booksellers from Canterbury. Superb restaurant called Tiffany’s in Christchurch, with fab food and optional taster menus – perfect for me, who can never manage to narrow down my choices without getting into a panic that I might be missing out on the best meal. This way, we can choose three mini-meals instead!

Slept from midnight to 3 a.m. Thank heavens I have a good book to see me through the rest of the night. Lisa Jewell’s 31, Dream Street has to be her best yet. And Raewyn is leaving me a carton of fresh milk each night, so I can at least make myself cups of tea without UHT.
More interviews and radio shows…

Tuesday 8th, on to Palmerston North and another fun evening with booksellers.

Weds 9th.  More interviews and live radio, then on to Taupo for another event. On the way, as we’re driving like Thelma and Louise along a long straight road in the middle of nowhere, we pass a massive advertising hoarding that pretty much makes my day. In huge letters it announces:

PEACH TEATS. CALVES LOVE ’EM!

The scenery is utterly spectacular. We’ve now reached Rotorua and met more lovely people. I’ve signed so many books that my Swarovski crystal signing pen has run out of ink and we can’t find a refill to fit it, which means I’m reduced to showing everyone my beautiful sparkly pen and signing their books with a rubbishy stolen-from-the-last-hotel-room one.

At the evening event, a pretty girl tells me such a brilliant story about how she first met her husband (I tout shamelessly for such stories wherever I go), that I’m sure it’s going to turn up in a future book. Can’t tell you what it is – that would spoil the surprise!

Thursday 10th, left Rotorua as a power cut engulfed the entire town. It wasn’t me, I promise. Travelled to Tauranga, to the Bay of Plenty, which is every bit as lovely as it sounds. The sun is out, the sky is blue, and we have a fantastic lunch with booksellers on the balcony of a stunning place on the seafront called the Wharf Street Restaurant.

Then it’s more radio interviews before heading on to Hamilton. Pass through a town called Te Puke. As in, ‘Hey, mate, where ya goin’?’ ‘Te puke.’  (Except it’s actually pronounced Tee Pookie, which is much less fun.)

Fun event with booksellers, then on to Auckland. I’m so shattered now, it’s a struggle to check-in at the Westin Hotel, but for the first time I sleep through the night – hooray! Nine whole hours! When Raewyn came to pick me up the next morning she could tell at once that I’d had a good night. Over the jet-lag at last.

Friday 11th – passed a secondhand furniture store called Junk and Disorderly.
Two speaking events today, two radio interviews and even time for a spot of speedy sightseeing. Auckland is spectacular and the weather is perfect – I just love it here.

Before we went in to start this evening’s event at Auckland’s gigantic library, a chap with a huge rucksack was muttering that he wasn’t going to come in because it’d be boring and he’d hate it. He finally grumbled that he’d give me five minutes but then he was going to walk out. So, no pressure then. Well, I’m happy to report that he ended up staying for the whole hour and even grudgingly remarked to his friend that my talk had been ‘quite funny’. Thankfully most people were more enthusiastic and we had a great time. I particularly loved meeting Alison, one of the other publicists from Hachette Livre, who had evidently been nervous about meeting me (because I’m such a dragon) and terrified that she would accidentally say something embarrassing. Which she promptly did! It was wonderful, made my night, and I shall definitely be using her faux pas in a future book. (What’s the name of that Shirley Bassey song, Alison? Oh yes, Diamonds are Forever…!)

Saturday 12th.  Time to leave New Zealand. Oh no! Lovely Raewyn has spent the last week looking after me so brilliantly, I don’t know how I’m going to manage without her. I tried venturing out of the hotel to the shops first thing this morning and ended up getting horribly lost, and the shops turned out to be shut anyway. See? I’ve been rendered incapable, as helpless as a three year old. Raewyn’s younger than me but I’ve started calling her Mummy. And I don’t want to let her go!
 
But I have to, of course. And while I’m queuing at the airport to go through customs, one of the other ladies in the queue taps me on the shoulder and tells me she came along to my talk last night and really enjoyed it. It’s so lovely to hear this.

Arrive safely in Melbourne and I’m staying at the Windsor Hotel, which is reputedly the grandest hotel in Australia. (Heaven knows what they think of me in my pink flip-flops.) It’s directly across the road from the Parliament Building, of which I have a stunning view from my room. So I go out and explore the area and – of course – get hopelessly lost again. My new ‘Mummy’ doesn’t arrive until tomorrow so I’m unsupervised until then. Is this wise?

Sunday 13th. Jet-lag’s back again. Wide awake by 3 a.m., having had my usual jet-lag dream where I wake up, look over at my alarm clock and see that it’s 8 a.m., feel thrilled that I’ve actually managed to sleep through the night, then open my eyes and really wake up, only to discover that it’s only 3 a.m. Cruel, cruel trick…

Went to a brilliant restaurant last night. Having wandered the streets trying to find somewhere I wouldn’t feel funny about eating alone, came across a noisy, chaotic, counter-service Italian place where the waiter welcomed me and then ordered me to sit between other people, facing the service area, so we all started chatting and it was all very Moonstrucky and incredibly friendly. The food on my plate was enough to feed six hippos, the turnover of customers was dizzying and if you’re ever alone in Melbourne I highly recommend visiting the Pellegrini on Bourke Street – the staff are a delight. I later discover that it’s a good-luck restaurant where brides go to be photographed on their wedding day. It’s definitely the kind of place you could write a book about.

9 a.m. Still two more hours before the shops open. On Australian TV news, instead of saying ‘A man has been physically assaulted’, the newsreaders announce with relish that ‘A man has been bashed…’ Also, have just watched a piece about the Australian Wife-Carrying Race. (And let me tell you, it’s a miracle some of them can be carried…)

2 p.m. Went out shopping, except not many shops open. Most stay closed on a Sunday.

Louisa, my replacement Mummy (a.k.a publicist), has arrived to look after me! (Even though she’s young enough to be my daughter.)

Monday 14th. Interviews…radio shows…meeting booksellers...sorry, is this getting repetitive? Then a lovely evening event at Dymocks bookstore on Collins Street with super-enthusiastic readers who know my books far better than I do. Also fab to meet Anne Gracie, President of the Romance Writers of Australia and a friend-of-a-friend who had told her I was coming to Australia. Superb meal afterwards too – I may yet set the new world record for the number of fillet steaks eaten on one author tour.

Tuesday 15th. Slept ’til 4 a.m., which is good. Am now intimately acquainted with the presenters of Sunrise TV. Radio and book signings, then lunch with lovely Melinda from Borders before heading off to the airport.

Wheeeeeee! And now I’m in Sydney! Staying at the Sheraton on the Park in a high-up room with stupendous views over the city. Dinner down on the waterfront with the harbour bridge and the opera house in front of me. Hope my throwaway camera (my daughter insisted on taking the posh digital one on her school trip to Berlin) is up to the task of capturing the night-time scene. Very much doubt it.

Wednesday 16th – woke up at 6 a.m., drew back the curtains…and it’s raining! Nooooo! How dare this be happening? I’m only here for a day!

Oh, 7:15 a.m., stopped raining, sun’s come out. Much better.

9 a.m. - sun’s gone in again. Come on Sydney, don’t do this to me…

OK, in the end it doesn’t matter that the weather isn’t great, because we’re so busy rushing around doing book-related things anyway. Another great meal this evening with lovely people from Headline Australia – Carolyn, Jodie and Robert. Sorry if I keep being complimentary about everyone I’ve met, but they’re all just so nice!

Thursday 17th – leave Sydney and fly to Brisbane, then a Literary Lunch at the gorgeous Grand View Hotel in Cleveland. Gerald, the owner, is charming and so welcoming, as are all the guests.

Dinner with Louisa at Pier Nine, a specialist fish restaurant. A truly stunning meal and gorgeous glittery views across the harbour. Lou and I get on really well together, yet our film preferences couldn’t be more opposite. Her all-time favourite film is my all-time least-favourite film – Lost in Translation. My all-time favourite is Moulin Rouge and she actually screamed in horror when I told her, because she can’t bear it.

Friday 18th – one final radio interview, a couple of last signings, then the afternoon off, yay! Except it pours with rain, so we don’t get to visit a wildlife park and end up going shopping instead. I’m going to be leaving Australia without having even clapped eyes on a koala, a wombat or a single kangaroo!

Evening – off to the airport…fly to Singapore, buy lots of presents in Changi Airport, catch my connecting flight to Heathrow…watch Juno again, because it’s still completely brilliant…land in the UK and make it home on Saturday evening. House still standing, which is a bit of a miracle, and it’s blissful to see my family again.

Love

Jill xxx

Click here to read Write Your Heart Out by Rosie Milne