TODAY'S WOMAN: 'I love getting a tilt at New York'
Doncaster girl Lindsey Kelk loves New York so much, she's based her first novel there. And, just like her romantic heroine, she's now off to live in the Big Apple
She's off to live in New York, she's just had her first novel published... and she owns not one, but two pairs of Christian Louboutin shoes.
Lindsey Kelk is living the dream. The one that thousands of fellow Doncaster women hit the pillow with night after night. The same one that filled her head as a Harworth schoolgirl as she watched endless re-runs of Sex And The City
It's just nine years on and her life is actually turning out like the plot of a glamorous American TV series.
She's just landed herself a triple book deal with her bosses, publishers HarperCollins and, come August, the 26-year-old will be Carrie Bradshaw reincarnate, tripping around the urban chic bars of Tribeca, lunching in Greenwich village and shopping on Fifth as their girl in the NY children's books division.
It's all happened so fast, the Donny lass is having to pinch herself.
"I feel so lucky – and I can't wait to live in New York. It is just... electric," she sighs.
"The city is always switched on. There's always something new to discover and being there is SO exciting. I've been three times and I feel like I belong."
It's not only luck that's transporting her to a different life, though. Lindsey is a talented writer already being hailed by her publishers as the next Sophie Kinsella. And her determination has to be factored in – she set her cap at achieving her goals.
"If I can do it anybody can," she says modestly. "I just went to North Border Comp and kept trying, I guess!"
After a degree in English at Nottingham Trent, Lindsey moved to London for a job in PR. Her clients ranged from L'Oreal and Haagen-Dazs ice cream to the Bratz dolls.
She expected the Absolutely Fabulous lifestyle of Patsy and Edina, two more TV characters she had grown up adoring.
"But it wasn't as glamorous a time as you might imagine," she says.
"It was a really small company and the husband and wife team who ran it were going through relationship issues," she says. "It was quite Devil Wears Prada at times."
She was delighted when the chance arose to jump ship and go into publishing.
But at first, her job in the children's department of HarperCollins publishers wasn't all glitz either. The storylines she got to write? Think activity books, think Noddy and Big Ears On An Island Adventure.
Lindsey giggles.
"It wasn't quite what I had in mind when I said I wanted to be a writer", she readily concedes.
But it fired her onward with her desire to write: "I got a bit bored. So I made a resolution to write something every day."
She started a beauty blog called Beautymecca, writing pithy reviews of the make-up and skincare products she bought.
"And after a holiday in New York I thought I'd try starting a novel. It was all just for fun really."
She was in the right place to have her talents as a writer spotted. And once people started to read her material, things started to happen.
She got to trade Noddy and his pal for two of the hottest teen celebs, Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen. Lindsey was asked to be the ghost-writer behind the budding fashion idols' Style Secrets bible.
The American actresses did contribute hints and tips, but as is the way with many a celebrity title, the book was essentially Lindsey's work.
She hasn't a bad word to say about the twins, though. "They were really sweet, the pair of them. I met them at a couple of publicity events staged in London to promote the book and they were not fluffy airheads at all.
"They were actually very business-savvy and really lovely to everyone," she says.
Will the New York based Olsens become her New Best Friends once she moves to the Big Apple? "They're not in my address book, but you never know. Anything can happen in New York," she beams.
It certainly does for Angela Clarke, the heroine of her comic romance, I Heart New York. Angela moves to the city to escape a broken heart and before she knows it she is dating two sexy guys and writing about her romantic adventures in a Carrie Bradshaw-style blog.
The love-lorn element is missing, but the story does sound pretty familiar. "My friends say that when Angela speaks, it's as if I'm talking," she admits.
"She was definitely based on me when I started out because that was what I knew, but I think she did become her own person," she says of the character her publishers clearly think is a winner. They are hoping to hook readers with two sequels, I Heart Hollywood and I Heart Paris.
Fortuitously for a girl who loves her cosmopolitan cities, each book required considerable reconnaissance for research purposes. It's a hard life, being a novelist.
"Luckily I have friends in both cities, so it was cheap for me to stay. People think that becoming a published author means immediate riches but it doesn't," she is at pains to explain. "I still need a full-time job – I couldn't afford to quit."
So... what about the Louboutin heels? There can't be many from the class of 2001 at North Border Comp who have two pairs of the celebrities' favourite shoe sitting in their wardrobes.
"I was really irresponsible with my book advance," she admits. "I told my mum I was going to be sensible and save it for when I bought my own house. But I accidentally spent a lot of it on shoes. I do love a shoe and a handbag."
Has she confessed to her mum, who works at a furniture store in Retford?
"I have," says Lindsey. "She's acknowledged the beauty of the shoes and forgiven me."
Her whole family still live in Harworth and Lindsey is a regular visitor.
Despite those glitzy new horizons, she still hearts Doncaster.
"It still has a piece of my heart. It's where I started writing and it will always be home, no matter where I am," she says.
"I love the way Doncaster girls make such an effort to dress up.
"Actually, that's very New York. I'm looking forward to getting back into that – London tries so hard to be cool and deliberately dresses down in the evenings.
She harks back to her Doncaster clubbing days: "I had many a night out in the town centre, mostly under-age," she giggles.
"On Thursdays we sixth-formers always used to go to Visage on Silver Street. If it was a special occasion, we'd head for Club Wow in Sheffield. Everyone there was glammed to the eyeballs."
Any more reasons why she hearts Doncaster? "It's got a Primark," she enthuses. "I LOVE that store. New York doesn't have one and I'm going to miss it so much. Apart from the Louboutins, my favourite shoes are a pair of their leopard-print ballet flats I got for 4."
I hope they make it all the way to the Big Apple with Lindsey. There's a certain irony at the thought of a Donny girl following in Carrie's footsteps along the most prestigious fashion streets in the world, dressed in a pair of cheapie flats from Primark.
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Friday 25 May 2012
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