Red Magazine

Message from Mo Hayder 20th July 2009:

I did a photo shoot for Red Magazine along with some other novelists. I was especially excited to meet Marian Keyes and Lisa Jewell. If you look at the photo you'd think we had all met and had spent a jolly chummy time discussing plot lines and editors. Actually there were just too many of us to make-up and wardrobe at once so they did it in two halves and relied on a swift photoshopping to make us look en masse. So I did meet Lisa, but not Marian - her side was morphed in to ours (or we were morphed into her side depending on your perspective). Lisa Jewell lived up to everything I hoped for - she's funny and just plain bloody nice (so rare I'm afraid). We had a long chat about being Mums and trying to write at the same time. Sam Baker is the editor of Red mag and she was also lovely - a complete bookworm, she put me to shame with the amount of reading she does. She knew the plot of every single one of my books - in fact she knew them better than I do. It got a bit awkward when, mid pose, she started whispering names I didn't recognise. I played for time, pretending to be smiling for the camera until I figured out she was talking about some of my characters. Crikey - just how senior is that? I've had the pleasure of meeting Kate Mosse before - not only is she clever and full of energy and at least as pretty as the other KM, she's also incredibly sweet (damn her eyes).

So now, sigh, there's just Marian Keyes left. I would SO love to meet her. I think she's such a huge success because although she is marketed firmly inside a genre she's the sort of writer who could scribble out the telephone directory and somehow make it a fascinating read.
Anyway - there you go. A taste of what it's like to be a proper sleb.
Hope you're all doing well.
Mo x