'I am writing to some extent about a city that no longer exists, a city of the mind, and tangled up in it are objective and subjective elements.'

I am writing to some extent about a city that no longer exists, a city of the mind, and tangled up in it are objective and subjective elements, but it is my experience.

'Not so much touch-typing as hammer-throwing; what that did for my finger joints I am only now beginning to find out.'

The keys were similarly stubborn; not so much touch-typing as hammer-throwing. What that did for my finger joints I am only now beginning to find out.

'I still employ that childhood sweet-shop approach of chancing upon an author I like then consuming all her, or his, books one after another.'

I still employ that childhood sweet-shop approach of chancing upon an author I like then consuming all her, or his, books one after another until they are gone.

'I also need to listen to the target audience. How and where will they watch the film? What have they seen in the past? What do they like and dislike? '

I also need to listen to the target audience. How and where will they watch the film? What have they seen in the past? What do they like and dislike? My job is to embed the key messages into a drama people will see as realistic.

'People will ask how well sales are going, when what you want them to say is how beautiful that line on page 10 is; how they were frightened to death by the child who felt no pain.'

People will ask how well sales are going, when what you want them to say is how beautiful that line on page 10 is; how they were frightened to death by the child who felt no pain.

'Shades of meaning crowd round every piece of advice I ever received. I never took anything as truth, only as something to think about. '

But how about, for example, writing to find out about what you don't know? Or writing as a job in itself? Shades of meaning crowd round every piece of advice I ever received. I never took anything as truth, only as something to think about.

'I find a photo of a green pick-up truck and remember open roads, low slung hills, ghost towns, dust balls, camping in the woods, climbing ladders in the Mesa Verde National Park.'

Leafing through those Nevada months I find a photo of a green pick-up truck and remember open roads, low slung hills, ghost towns, dust balls, camping in the woods, climbing ladders in the Mesa Verde National Park.

'To have a black academic defending hip-hop artists meant so much; it helped give our work currency.'

To have a black academic defending hip-hop artists meant so much; it helped give our work currency. Dyson would still be critical of our misogyny and homophobia but he could see the brilliance beyond the b-words.

'I loved the sense of living in Woolf's novels, their heady, fluttering, thoughtful sensuality; the significance of each detail.'

I loved the sense of living in Woolf's novels, their heady, fluttering, thoughtful sensuality, the significance of each detail; the epiphanic moments of being she evoked.

'Funny isn't it how you don't consider for a second that you can be a writer even though it's what you love doing the most? Well you can.'

Funny isn't it how you don't consider for a second that you can be a writer even though it's what you love doing the most? Well you can, and please don't take as long as I did to realise it.