'Seventy-four years after Dickens’ night-walk, in the year 1930, Virginia Woolf sets out from Bloomsbury to the Strand, to purchase a pencil.'

Seventy-four years after Dickens’ night-walk, in the year 1930, Virginia Woolf sets out from Bloomsbury to the Strand. Her object is not to get through the night but to purchase a pencil. Under cover of this, she can indulge in the pleasure of rambling.

'If I kept the window open, my room was filled with the white noise of the sea, which could block out the radio in another room, or the barking dog.'

If I kept the window open, my room was filled with the white noise of the sea, which could block out the radio in another room, or the barking of a dog in a distant garden. (The absolute enemy of the writer is the barking dog, or the owner of one.)

'I quickly found that playing to halls full of excitable children, and getting a laugh from them, was unimaginably rewarding. '

I quickly found that playing to halls full of excitable children, and getting a laugh from them, was unimaginably rewarding. I don’t just mean financially. Working alone at a desk, I’d never been that aware of the effect that my work could have on others.

'Agents and editors, producers and commissioners, say they are looking for the original writing voice. Surely the process behind it has to be just as unique? '

The one thing agents and editors, producers and commissioners, say they are looking for is the original writing voice. And if the voice is to be original, surely the process behind it has to be just as unique? I don’t have one set way of doing things.

'In my rewrite of It’s a Wonderful Life, George would be Georgia. On a cold Christmas Eve, she sits alone. Born at a time that allowed her dreams, but no chance to pursue them. '

In my rewrite of It’s a Wonderful Life, George would be Georgia. On a cold Christmas Eve, she sits alone. Born at a time that allowed her dreams, but no chance to pursue them. The wife who made her husband’s life easier and the mother who made cakes.

'Orkney is experiencing a cultural renaissance fuelled to a large degree by British people’s fascination with their preliterate past. '

I lived for a year in Orkney, off the north coast of Scotland. Orkney is experiencing a cultural renaissance fuelled to a large degree by British people’s fascination with their preliterate past. The secrets of the time before a word of English was spoken.

'Surely this has been done before? The answer, invariably, is: ‘Well, yes, it has been done,’ (after all, what hasn’t?) ‘just not in this particular way...'

You know an idea has legs when it simply won’t go away. Sometimes it seems too good to be true. Surely this has been done before? The answer, invariably, is: ‘Well, yes, it has been done,’ (after all, what hasn’t?) ‘just not in this particular way...

'One of my literal bottom drawers has jumpers in it and sometimes, if I don’t shut it fast enough, a cat. My other bottom drawer is full of writerly intentions.'

One of my literal bottom drawers has jumpers in it and sometimes, if I don’t shut it fast enough, a cat or two. My other bottom drawer is loosely to do with writing. And it’s to do with the future, full of writerly intentions for a day that may never come.

'I'm a very active and social person so I find it especially hard to lock myself away. It makes me feel like an outsider, not having full control over my time.'

I'm a very active and social person so I find it especially hard to lock myself away. It makes me feel like an outsider, not having full control over my time; when I'm going to work, and when I can stop working. It can feel like it's more than a full time job.

'"So?" raised uncomfortable questions. Aren't we always battling against that nasty little question? On bad days it undermines, on good days it underpins. '

"So?" raised uncomfortable questions. Aren't we always battling against that nasty little question? On bad days it undermines, on good days it underpins. And here it was, so bold and uncompromising, footnoting my trusting poem.