The writer and journalist sits at her grandfather’s old desk and explores complex issues of love and identity, she tells Lynne Hackles
Jemma’s days begin early. ‘Around 5am,’ she says. ‘When one of the kids decides it’s morning. On a school day, I’m then with them until I’ve dropped the eldest at school (the youngest is only two and still at home), and I sit down at my desk by 9am. I then write until 3pm, stopping for school pick up and delicious afternoons of family time. Very often I pick up again in the evenings after bedtime and write for another hour or two. Before I had children, I used to write all day, but now with restricted hours and the imperative to get things done in that limited time, somehow the words come faster. What is harder, is not having excess time in which to daydream. I used to go to cafes, or on long walks, just thinking, or listening in to people’s conversations, and often that would be where the spark of an idea would begin. These days the spark might come when I’m laden with Lego and paint, and it’s a challenge to hold those nuggets in the mind to explore later.