'Muriel Spark had it right, spending most of the year in a whirl of social engagements, and retreating to a hotel where she would write.'

Muriel Spark had it right, I think, spending most of the year in a whirl of social engagements, and retreating to a hotel where she would live undisturbed for months writing her books. Unfortunately, that option is not available for most of us.

'My interest in Venice dates from the mid-seventies, when I watched Don’t Look Now on late-night TV. '

My interest in Venice dates from the mid-seventies, when I watched Don’t Look Now on late-night TV. The melancholia of the film was redoubled by the fact that I was watching it alone on New Year’s Eve... 1977 became 1978 without my noticing.

'My reading is profligate, promiscuous, a hopeless addiction that has grown chronic over the years. '

My reading is profligate, promiscuous, a hopeless addiction. The evidence mounts behind the closed door of my bedroom. Broken-backed volumes that slip from my hand in the middle of the night accrete over weeks on the rag rug by my bed.

'Literature festivals can be like jazz — it’s a known song, but each singer makes it sound so different.'

No two festival years can be the same. Literature festivals can be like jazz — it’s a known song, but each singer makes it sound so different with the unique chemistry of the three Aristotelian unities of time, action and space.

'With the exception of some very big names and some airport novels, there is simply no money in books. '

With the exception of some very big names and some airport novels, there is simply no money in books. This has corroded pretty much every professional publishing relationship: that of writer to agent, agent to publisher, and publisher to writer and bookseller.

'I found myself creating narratives to go with the photographs. Who did those abandoned shoes belong to? '

I found myself creating narratives to go with the photographs. Who did those abandoned shoes belong to? Who cared enough for the child on the beach to photograph her? When strangers (literally) collide on an escalator?

'Letters, notebooks and diaries testify to an ability to write with tolerable coherence without prior planning. Everything else has me pacing...'

Letters, notebooks and diaries testify to an ability to write with tolerable coherence without prior planning. Everything else has me pacing, note-taking, sketching out paragraphs, dictating, binning and starting anew — before I sit down to the screen.

'Self-isolation has become so ingrained as to be virtually indistinguishable from addiction. You gravitate to the periphery, outside but looking in.'

Self-isolation has become so ingrained as to be virtually indistinguishable from addiction. You still gravitate to the periphery, outside but looking in, close enough to discern the moving parts, distanced enough to have some sense of the whole.

'Unfinished poems, beginnings of stories, ideas for plays, an abandoned novel, pieces for radio which never were aired, articles which never were published...'

Unfinished poems, beginnings of stories, ideas for plays, an abandoned novel, pieces for radio which never were aired, articles which never were published, which weren’t even sent out for publication, thoughts, quotes, things observed, read, overheard…

'A friend was so incensed at being sacked from a daily newspaper that she was inspired to write a bestseller.'

Commonly, a writer is driven by heartbreak, fury or the desperate need for money. A friend was so incensed at being sacked from a newspaper that she was inspired to write a novel which became a bestseller. ‘It was pure hatred which drove me’, she said.