'I can trace my entire journey to adulthood — to my passions, my career, values, priorities — through you, like landmarks I didn't always notice as I passed.'

I can trace my entire journey to adulthood — to my passions, my career, values, priorities — through you, like landmarks I didn't always notice as I passed through. But now running my finger back along the map, I see how you shaped my route.

'Poetry provides some unique satisfactions; the epigrammatic click of a word locking a couplet, the exact phrase that nails a sound, texture, colour or movement. '

Poetry provides some unique satisfactions; the epigrammatic click of a word locking a couplet, the exact phrase that nails a sound, texture, colour or movement. A little like completing a crossword. (Actually, I don't do crosswords; I work on a sonnet.)

'The willingness and ability to be genre fluid affords you versatility and experience. The market can be brutal.'

What's so great about a backlist of unpublished failures? Well, my answer is that the willingness and ability to be genre fluid affords you versatility and experience. The market can be brutal, and good deals for commercial fiction are like hen's teeth.

'You are very much expected to do your own marketing as far as possible. People who draw a salary from marketing want to know what marketing you are doing for yourself.'

In today's climate, you are very much expected to do your own marketing as far as possible. People who draw a salary from marketing want to know what marketing you are doing for yourself while importuning you to tell them what they ought to do.

'My mother made inquiries about acquiring a patch of land near the rice paddies and apple orchards not too far from the main village. '

My mother made inquiries about acquiring a patch of land near the rice paddies and apple orchards not too far from the main village. Our own piece of land in the idyllic Kashmir countryside. I still wonder what life might have been if she had succeeded.

'I had a date when I would hand the book to someone else, and that was a gift. I found I loved having a deadline. It made me more focused.'

I had a date when I would hand the book to someone else, and that was a gift. I found I loved having a deadline. It made me more focused and motivated, and that has continued ever since. Now, if I’m not given a deadline, I request one.

'When I write my first draft in ‘just a few hours’ out of ‘seemingly nowhere’, I did not of course write the book ‘in a few hours’ and it certainly wasn’t out of ‘nowhere’.'

When I write my first draft in ‘just a few hours’ out of ‘seemingly nowhere’, I know that I did not, of course, write the book ‘in a few hours’ and it wasn’t out of ‘nowhere’. If you’re interested in this process, I recommend Alex Soojung-Kim Pang’s book, Rest.

'You said you felt cheated, that you’d never done anything on this earth you wanted to. I want to tell you you did everything Mrs B.'

When my mum went to visit you in hospital a few weeks before you died, no more than a year into retirement, you said you felt cheated, that you’d never done anything on this earth you wanted to. I want to tell you, you did everything Mrs B.

'When I was sure that no one was about, I would talk to myself about the play as loudly and urgently as I could. I began to voice the characters. I had loud family rows.'

When I was sure that no one was about, I would talk to myself about the play as loudly and urgently as I could. I began to voice the characters. I had loud family rows with myself. The cows stared. The darker it got, the freer I felt. I finished a first draft.

'The near-dream state is artistically useful. I believe that’s why many writers write at the beginning or the end of the day — burning the midnight oil or rising to work at dawn. '

The near-dream state is artistically useful. I believe that’s why many writers write at the beginning or the end of the day — burning the midnight oil or rising to work at dawn. To mine that seam of creativity that we have access to closer to our dreams.