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Feature > An interview with Jenny RobertsI posed the question: If you could be remembered for one thing that you did in your life what would it be for? The answer? “I don’t know … that’s a hard one … for being a person of integrity and honesty I think – someone who has lived a good life but with a moral code. I have a good life, one that satisfies me but I’ve always tried to live positively and tried to help others … and I think it’s important to try to do that.” So says Jenny Roberts – author; founder of Libertas and the York Lesbian Arts Festival (YLAF); a bit of a mover and a shaker in lesbian circles and all round good egg. If that sounds facetious I don’t mean it to be. This is a woman who genuinely seems to try to live by her moral code and not just talk about it. She and her partner Ann own a motor home – she feels guilty about it – but they don’t fly if they can avoid it and they do run it on bio-diesel which is carbon neutral – such is their passion and concern for our environment. She openly and honestly admits to being “disappointingly” born a boy (but that was then – she was born in 1944 – and this interview is about her life as a lesbian now).  She gives back in spades to the community that has been so supportive of her: “I feel so privileged to be part of the lesbian community”; and throughout our interview she happily imparted advice to Sapphic Central: “It’s really important to support start-up businesses – it won’t happen unless we support people like you”; as well as practical advice for growing vegetables for my girlfriend: “Carrots are difficult but onions and potatoes are really easy – they’d be a good place for her to start”. She’s like the old Maureen advert – she just can’t help helping – and I have to admit it, it’s kind of refreshing not to mention a little bit inspiring.Since 2005 though she has focussed a little less on everyone else and instead has been indulging her obsession (as she calls it). YLAF and Libertas have been passed on “I’m a Virgo, I have no difficulty letting go. I was absolutely committed when doing them and I love them both but it was time to move on. I couldn’t do three things well and they were both organised so they could carry on without me whereas the writing was mine and mine alone. So I’m writing full time now.” In case you didn’t know Jenny Roberts is the creator of Cameron McGill – dyke PI – the heroine of her three published books: Needle Point, Breaking Point and Dead Reckoning. Yet despite the positive reviews she continues to be considered a niche writer, something that she finds rather annoying. It’s not about the money – although it would be nice to earn a living from her writing – it is more about reaching a wider audience for her. “When you spend about 2 years of your life writing something you want as many people as possible to read it, to derive pleasure from reading something that you’ve written. Yes, I’d like to be a better known writer,” she muses. She is hoping that the novel she’s currently working on will be her breakthrough book. “I think it’s the best book I’ve ever written – it’s certainly the most complex,” she says, and for the moment at least she has left Cameron behind. So, is Jamie Driscoll – her new heroine – a dyke? “I would love her to be but it wouldn’t fit the character, or the book ... or my ambitions if I’m honest. I’ve got to write ‘mainstream writing’ … so no, I don’t think Jamie is lesbian … but not raving hetero either. There is a lesbian character in the book though, just not leading it this time. I love Cameron and write her for my lesbian audience and will continue to do that but I’d love to emulate Val McDermid in achieving a mainstream readership.” In order to do that though she first of all needs an agent and to get an agent she needs a really good synopsis plus the first 5-10 chapters of her book in finished form – no mean feat when she’s written probably 3 different versions of the novel already over the last 18 months. “The real novel is slowly coming out,” she says, “I can’t just sit down and work out a plot, I have to start writing, getting to know the characters – it’s like doing a Rubik’s cube because I’ll change one thing and then I’ll have to go back and make sure everything else fits. It’s got to feel real too – like it could actually happen. Needlepoint [her first book] still feels real to me – I can go to Amsterdam and point and say ‘and that’s where Carrie’s body was found’, it exists you know … it can’t ever feel ridiculous.”  She is renowned for – and likes – her books to be complex, but that complexity can sometimes lead to frustration: “Sometimes you just feel like it’s beyond you – it’s a bad idea because it’s too bloody hard … but you’ve got to keep going back to it and trying again and hopefully one day the sun’ll shine and the plot somehow develops and moves on. It’s so easy to be distracted though – I try to be disciplined but I had to delete solitaire from the PC! But really the only way to tackle the damn thing is head on – you’ve got to just keep working through it.” Most of the time nothing happens for her creatively unless she is sitting in front of her PC but her eureka moments often come at 6.00am “when I’m lying in bed waiting to get up and I’m only half awake – that’s when answers ping for me.” She shares her life with her partner Ann – the person in her life whom she most admires – although her son and daughter run a very close second. “Ann’s just fantastic, and she is so supportive of me, she’s a real go getter, she gets stuck in and I really admire that.” They are both Virgos too, never falling out considering they work, cook, garden and live together in a home that she loves. When asked to name her favourite room though, her decisiveness falters – it’s the lounge, no, it’s the kitchen, no … her list goes on and on – suffice to say that she is happy at home. “I just love everything about it – it’s in the centre of York – we’re only 10 minutes away from Marks and Spencers, we can see the Minster from here and yet we’ve got this lovely big garden too – I love it, and we’ve persuaded our next door neighbour to rent us a bit of space in his garden so we’ve got ourselves a bit of an allotment as well. I find it hard leaving it.” When she does leave home though she can sometimes be found with Ann, walking their two dogs on the Yorkshire Dales: “I didn’t go walking until my mid-40s but I really enjoy it.” Her favourite walk is near Grassington, from Coniston Dibb to Capel Stone Gate and back along the edge of the valley: “Every time you walk it it’s so different – and you get a great view of Wharfdale from there.” Their two dogs are miniature schnauzers and if owning them isn’t clue enough as to where they stand in the great dogs v cats debate, Ann’s work positively screams the fact that dogs have their vote. “She [Ann] has set up a database website for dogowners called www.dogfriendlybritain.co.uk, it’s a fabulous resource and if you could give it a mention that would be great.” [Click on the link below] Her own view of dogs v cats?: “I don’t dislike cats, I had one and she was brilliant and if I could find another one like her I’d be tempted to say cats but all the others I’ve had since her have all been brats – one even deserted me for a neighbour and then tried to come back to me ages later! Well, I wouldn’t have her back! Dogs are much more of a tie but they’re so loyal – they’re just such good pals.” Not surprising then, given her own moral code, that Jenny Roberts values loyalty highly. Having spoken with her for quite some time – “I do tend to rant on a lot,” she warned at the start of our conversation – I think her wish for being remembered as a person of honesty and integrity is very much in the bag. (What a shame then that her and Ann are both addicted to lip balm!) When her next book comes out – as I’m sure it will – make sure that you give something back to a woman who has given to us and our community, buy it! Visit Ann’s website: www.dogfriendlybritain.co.uk and Jenny’s at www.jennyroberts.net, and check out our short story – Making the Horse Laugh – reproduced courtesy of Jenny. To find out who won the Jenny Roberts competition, click here! |
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