I'm such a sucker for the Tiffany blue box.
Jane Fallon
I've always worked out, but running pushed bits of me harder than anything else I had ever done.
Painting my nails is the easiest way to look as though I've made an effort.
I was never one of those little girls who played with baby dolls and picked names for her firstborn. I was playing in the mud with my dog, doing backflips, and climbing trees.
There's something lovely about writing a book, doing what you want. I love the solitariness of it.
I started out working as a script editor and storyliner.
I spent my whole childhood trying to find places to be on my own. I used to sit on the water tank in the attic or in the dog's kennel. I was quite a strange child.
I have always had a bee in my bonnet about being seen to do things for myself.
My dad used to cut out newspaper ads and post them to me in the hope I'd get a proper job.
Ricky and I met aged 22 at University College London.
I just feel that if you're going to have kids, you need to believe that, emotionally, you can give them a really good life.
I'm not a girly girl at all.
In the winter, my failsafe dinner party menu has to be my roast chicken or a creamy fish pie with mashed potatoes on top, followed by something like a tarte tatin. My cooking style is quite homely.
If I die, I know the news item would be, 'Partner of Ricky Gervais and novelist dies.' That would come first. But I've come to terms with it. As long as they do still add the 'and novelist,' that will be fine.
After my eye test, I was told I was showing symptoms of glaucoma. I realised - but only in retrospect - that pains in my eyes and the feeling of pressure that I had been experiencing must have been because of that. I'd assumed they were symptoms of migraines.
When I started working from home, I made a promise to myself to go out at least once a day.
I don't know one end of a car from another.
One thing that was drummed into me when I was younger is that you have to make your own way in life, that you mustn't expect anyone else to support you.
I suppress stress to the point where it will force its way through my skin in the form of a large angry pimple because that's the only channel it has.
Bizarrely, I've been called selfish for not having children. Surely it's more selfish to have a child when you don't really want a child?
If you spend too much time in L.A., you might start to lose a sense of what's normal.
I've got a really good group of friends. I don't feel the need to go out and forge new bonds.
I love L.A. for a couple of days - I like the healthy food - but it's a one-industry town.
You just don't come across proper, deep, loyal friendships very easily later on in life.
One reviewer dubbed my first book, 'Getting Rid of Matthew,' 'chick noir,' and another called it 'anti chick lit,' both of which I loved.
The best thing about a British winter is the cold weather, real fires, frosty mornings. I love living somewhere that has proper seasons.
I'm not a gossip. The worst thing anyone can say to me is, 'Ooh, I've got some gossip.' I'm like, 'Oh, shut up.'
I have a strong say in how my books are marketed, and the covers - I am very firm that I don't want pink and fluffy, or stick figures sitting drinking cocktails. That's simply not appealing to me.
I've always been very clear: I never want to be known just as somebody's girlfriend.
I'm such a solitary person that working on my own is perfect for me.
I rarely go out at night - usually once every two weeks. I'm much happier staying in.
As an adult, I had to accept that I was not a natural distance runner. Anything more than about 400 metres had me gasping and wheezing like a broken accordion.
I've got no desire to be famous myself.
Whenever I'm out, I have a bit of a yearning to be in my house, to be able to shut the door on the world.
My whole life, I've wanted to be a novelist.
I like being on my own. I'm very happy in my own company.
'Teachers' is in no way a realistic soap; we're not trying to do that, which is why we never do 'issues.'
Our Siamese cat, Ollie, is like a dog in a cat's body because she is really loyal and very chatty, following me around the house all day.
It's a difficult world, and you shouldn't have kids unless you really want them.
I'm stupidly shy. It's the thing I dislike most about myself.
I remember watching a 'Big Brother' contestant saying that she wanted to be a footballer's wife. I thought, 'What is the world coming to?'
My idea of the perfect day is nothing to do and a great book on the go.
What I find weird is that the term 'chick lit' is used to encompass literally anything a woman writes about relationships. It's the assumption that because you're female, you must write in a certain way. I don't understand why that is - it is a bit demeaning.
Everyone has bits of dysfunction in their families, but I actually have a very nice, happy one.
I write about messy relationships - between friends, rivals, married couples, siblings. I'm not really interested in boy/girl romances.
My hair is frizzy, so I'm constantly smoothing it down.
I've always been a glass-half-empty sort of person.
The earlier I wake up, the better my day, so I try to get out of bed between 5 A.M. and 7 A.M.
Even when I was a kid, I was never interested in any of that marriage or baby stuff.
I think a lot of people assume you need to be born into a special creative family to have a career as a writer. So I never thought it would happen for me.
