Julian Fellowes is her uncle and Jessica wrote the five official companion books to the television series Downton Abbey following a journalism career in which she was a columnist for The Mail on Sunday and deputy editor of Country Life magazine.
In her guest edit, Jessica shows us around her online world and tells us which blog does wonders for her marriage, and how social media has allowed her to meet her heroes.
My favourite website… Anything But Plastic - It’s a tiny one-man band site, but the founder finds the most brilliant non-plastic solutions for every day items. Everything is always posted in beautifully wrapped brown-paper parcels with a handwritten note of thanks. What could be nicer?
My favourite app… Spotify - I’m a premium subscriber because I believe in paying artists for their content (hint, hint). But it’s easy to get your money’s worth. My son and I use it such a lot, creating playlists for every kind of occasion from dancing round the kitchen to parties.
My favourite blog… TheGuyLiner - For his forensically brilliant and witty take on the Guardian’s Blind Date column. It probably helps my marriage too – a good reminder of why one doesn’t want to get back out there…
My internet hero… Anyone who shows kindness and moral courage. Not many of them are on the internet, applaud them when you find them.
My favourite podcasts... Viv Groskop’s ‘How To Own The Room and the backlist of Radio 4’s Desert Island Discs - Both inspirational and entertaining, perfect on a dog walk to start the day with verve and vim.
My most recent buy online… At the behest of another writer friend who understands the sufferance of sitting down for hours, I bought a wooden massage roller for my feet that will live under my desk.
Book just downloaded/ read… I’m guilty of impulse buying books for my Kindle and then failing to read them but I last enjoyed the very beautiful All Among the Barley by Melissa Harrison, as recommended on @cloverstroud’s Instagram.
Favourite tweeter… My editor, Ed Wood @edwoodeditor - He’s quick thinking and politically right on, unafraid to call people out, but never aggressive. And he has a cohort of brilliant writers at his fingertips, which makes for some very interesting and often witty exchanges.
Favourite instagrammer… My best friend, @celiawalden - A columnist for the Telegraph. She makes me laugh about ten times a day (admittedly, nine of those are our daily witterings to each other on email).
Social media allowed me to meet… Authors and journalists I’ve long admired, such as David Nicholls, Susan Hill, Annalisa Barbieri and Clover Stroud. More for the fact that when I’ve met people in real life only briefly, social media allows a relationship to develop further.
The best digital advice I've been given... Set a timer. When writing, particularly as my novels contain strong historical elements that require research, it’s all too easy to disappear down the wormhole.
My screensaver… My twenty-one--year-old stepson and my nine-year-old son at a party earlier this summer. They are relaxed and smiling, unaware of the camera, with their arms around each other and it always makes me happy to see it.
My pet hate online... Not something I’ve personally suffered from, but the idea of online bullying is abhorrent to me, whether schoolchild or adult. It’s the worst kind of insidious, cowardly behaviour and we need laws to catch up quicker with the technology.
Standout online memory... The BBC interview with Robert Kelly. when his daughter idly wandered into the background. A journalist friend sent it to me and I don’t think I’ve ever laughed out quite so loudly in public. Less than an hour later it seemed the entire world was giggling too. Joyous!
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September 2019