We’re spoilt with a whole host of brilliant local authors round these parts and international bestseller and Brightoner Josie Lloyd is one of them. We caught up with her just after Lifesaving For Beginners, her latest book, came out in paperback. Set in Brighton and featuring lots of sea swimming, it’s a great read.
We found your latest book such a life-affirming story; it beautifully conveys the power of female friendship at all ages, as well as the restorative nature of the sea. Is this something you’ve experienced personally?
Yes, very much so. I’ve always swum in the summer in Brighton, but when lockdown hit, I carried on and, before I knew it, I’d swum all through the year and became addicted to the cold water hit. I met an incredible bunch of women on the beach and it was their friendship that inspired me to write the book.
Your characters deal with a lot of hard-hitting stuff, from grief to infidelity, with honesty, sensitivity and humour. That must be a tough balance to strike?
I think as a novel writer it’s important to hold up a mirror and I like writing about women with real problems. By the time you get to my age (53), life is complicated and people have a lot of baggage. Friendship is always about reminding people of the lighter moments and the humour to navigate our way through the dark times. One of the loveliest things a reader said to me recently was that she didn’t ever feel represented in fiction and that older women don’t often get ‘seen’ except in books like mine.
“I think swimming in the sea is the best mental reset you can possibly get”
That’s very true. Your oldest character in the book is incredibly inspirational – we want to be like 70-year-old swimmer and sea expert Helga when we’re older, she’s amazing! Was her character based on anyone you know?
I’m glad you liked Helga. I loved writing her. She was inspired originally by my friend Sandy, who still swims every day. She had an incredible therapy dog, Nala, who swam with her. I’m always drawn to the wisdom of older people and I have lots of friends in their seventies, but Helga walked onto the page and is actually unlike anyone I know in real life.
You said you became addicted to cold-water swimming over lockdown, do you still swim regularly like your protagonists? Has it helped you deal with difficult situations too?
Yes. I try and swim on Saturday mornings with a gang of friends and I do the full moon swims. I think swimming in the sea is the best mental reset you can possibly get. No matter how tetchy or grumpy I feel, I always, always feel amazing after a swim and completely renewed. Cold-water swimming saved me during lockdown. When everything around us was so gloomy, the sea was a source of joy.
We also love that the book is set mainly in Brighton and features BOTI faves the Salty Seabirds!
The philosophy of The Salty Seabirds is very much at the heart of the book. There’s so many off-shoot Whatsapp groups and it’s lovely to be able to easily find someone putting a shout out for a swim. What I love about it most is that everyone has each other’s wellbeing at heart, even though they are often strangers. Nobody gives a monkey’s what you look like in a costume, or what you do for a living. There’s no hierarchy, just people supporting one another.
Swimming features heavily in your book, do you have any favourite spots to swim in Sussex?
I swim down the road from my house, usually by the Bandstand, or down near Hove Lawns. I prefer the sea and the pebbles under foot to a slimy river, but I have had a great swim near Barcombe Mills. I hear that they’ve just opened up the lake for wild swimming sessions at Ashdown Forest Lake, so that’s next on my list.
And what’s next for you writing-wise? You used to write with your husband – we loved your Come Together rom-com – do you have any plans to write more books as a team?
Yes, Emlyn and I love writing together. We really enjoyed writing our parodies We’re Going on A Bar Hunt, The Very Hungover Caterpillar and The Teenager Who Came to Tea, although my favourite is the one based on our house: Shabby: The jolly good British Guide to Stress-free living. We also love writing novels and screenplays together. We’re working on a script at the moment and hope to write a book together next year. I’m writing my next Josie Lloyd book, which is all set in Brighton again and is loads of fun to research.
“At the end of the day, being a writer is a ‘bums on seats’ job”
We can’t wait to read them! And what about your writing habits – where do you like to write and how long do you typically spend writing a book?
I like to get up at 6am and before I do anything else do my 1,000 words. I call it my ‘golden hour’. I don’t always achieve it, but that’s the goal. I have a houseful of children and a dog, so that quiet time before anyone is up is ideal. I write in my study, which is basically the boot room at the back of our house and I wouldn’t so much call it a writer’s room, but a place where I sit for the purposes of letting the dog in and out of the garden.
I’ve written 20 novels now and each one has been different. They all take differing amounts of time and present their own challenges, but as it’s what I do for a living, if I don’t hand them in on time, I don’t get paid, so that rather sharpens the mind.
Yes, the threat of not being paid is a great motivator! But if writer’s block still strikes, do you have any tips for overcoming it?
Write at the top of your document: ‘I am free to write the worst junk in the world’. That often does the trick. If you write down all the rubbish thoughts in your head, without judgement, usually you get to the good stuff. Over time, I’ve learnt to trust my subconscious mind. That’s a writer’s greatest tool. Have faith that it’s all in there and your brain is churning it over. At the end of the day, though, being a writer is a ‘bums on seats’ job. You have to sit there in front of the keyboard until the words come.
We devoured your book in a day and need new reading recs – what have you been reading and what’s on your to-be-read list?
I’ve just been on holiday in Mallorca surrounded by lots of fig trees and I absolutely loved reading Elif Shafak’s The Island Of Missing Trees which is set in London and Cyprus and told partly from the point of view of a fig tree. I really like books with a sense of place as well as a gnarly relationship central to the story and The Paper Palace by Miranda Cowley Heller did not disappoint. I devoured Lisa Jewell’s The Family Remains on audiobook. Next on my to-be-read pile is Gillian McAllister’s Wrong Place Wrong Time. I’m a fiction junkie and there’s never enough time to read everything I want to read. I also have a terrible book-buying habit. Our house is stuffed with teetering piles of books.
We’re going to be a bit mean here as we know there are some incredible Brighton-based authors, but if you had to give us a top three must-read local writers, who’d be on it?
Julia Crouch, for sure. She’s been described as ‘the queen of domestic noir’ and I love her all-too-plausible twisty, scary stories. The Daughters, her latest, is brilliant. Next up, the very brilliant Kate Harrison who also writes as Eva Carter. I can really recommend Owner Of A Lonely Heart and How To Save A Life. There’s a whole load of brilliant male authors in Brighton who I really like, too, but I’m sticking with the girls. I loved Sue Teddern’s funny and moving, Annie Stanley All At Sea.
Whereabouts in Brighton and Hove do you live and why?
I relocated from London with my family in 2007 and wanted to be within walking distance of the sea. We live near Waitrose off Western Road. I love our street because it’s full of interesting people and we have a great neighbourhood community.
“The aubergine miso at Bincho Yakitori is to die for”
What are your favourite places to eat and drink in the city?
I really love the fact that we have so much choice. I was one of the first through the doors of Isaac@ and love supporting local restaurants and bars. I like a cocktail occasionally and Burnt Orange, L’Atelier du Vin and The Twisted Lemon are faves. I live very close to Preston Street so I’m spoilt for choice locally to eat. I love Bincho Yakitori [so do Brighton and Hove’s foodies!] – their aubergine miso is to die for – and I also like Wild Flor in Hove. When the weather closes in, nothing beats a bag of chips from Bankers. I do love a pub, too. Locally, the atmosphere, live music and fire in The Royal Sovereign is a winner and I really like The Bottoms Rest or The Basketmakers in town.
And finally, what would be your perfect day in Brighton/Hove?
That’s so hard! And impossible to answer as it depends on the weather and who I’m with. Walking my dog Ziggy down to the beach and having a swim with my gang, followed by breakfast at Lucky Beach or a cheeky sandwich from The Big Cheese in Preston Street. I’d wander around the Lanes shopping and probably buy something from a vintage clothes store and have lunch at The Flint House. In the evening I’d see a gig at Chalk or The Old Market having walked into Riddle and Fins for some oysters, or to Archipelago for a Greek meal, or I’d go to a comedy show at The Secret Comedy Club. Or I might get stuck listening to the jazz at The Paris House on the way and end up dancing, or going to see some cabaret. That’s the joy about going out in Brighton – you never know how your evening will end up. That’s why I love living here so much.
Thanks, Josie! You’re right, we’ve chosen a pretty good city to live in!
You can get a copy of Josie’s Lifesaving For Beginners here.
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