'At 8.5 pence per loan, sometimes the annual sum from the public lending rights can be more than writers receive in the first place.'

Those who borrow my novels and stories from libraries; your activities do not go unnoticed. At 8.5 pence per loan, sometimes the annual sum from the public lending rights can be more than writers receive for their work in the first place.

'Nowadays I rarely venture into central London. I'm drawn instead to Hampstead Heath. It's the nearest thing to the countryside.'

Nowadays I rarely venture into central London. I'm drawn instead to Hampstead Heath. It's the nearest thing to the countryside this city can offer. From the top of Parliament Hill, I look down on the great Babylon, the cityscape obscured by mist.

'All the poet needed, it seemed, was a well-proportioned townhouse on a sunny piazza, a couple of thousand calf-bound books and some fabulous friends...'

All the poet needed, it seemed, was a well-proportioned townhouse on a sunny piazza, a couple of thousand calf-bound books and some fabulous, if not heroic friends, and poetry would just happen.

'I've learned the hard way that the best thing to do is wait, until one idea out-shouts the others, and the clamour dies down. '

I've learned the hard way that the best thing to do is wait, until one idea out-shouts the others, and the clamour dies down. Trying to write myself out of a hole gets me deeper into one in more cases than it doesn't.

'I'll resort to tea, but anything stronger would make things much worse. The likes of John Berryman or Dylan Thomas couldn't cope without alcohol. '

I'll resort to tea, but anything stronger would make things much worse. The likes of John Berryman or Dylan Thomas couldn't cope without alcohol. For others, it's been sex or the occult, and Sylvia Plath found inspiration in the proximity of death.

'I don't know what it is, but there just seems to be a divide between my creative thinking and all things technical. I believe it's the way I'm wired up. '

I don't know what it is, but there just seems to be a divide between my creative thinking and all things technical. I believe it's the way I'm wired up. My creative flow has no boundaries and I can meander through without restriction.

'I once sat on a panel with two British Asian male crime writers. There to discuss 'diversity', the three of us looked out over a sea of white faces. '

I once sat on a panel with two British Asian male crime writers. There to discuss 'diversity', the three of us brown-skinned authors looked out over a sea of white faces. We were, in fact, the only non-Caucasians in the entire festival.

'Writers, especially women, manage to write in all sorts of places. At the corner of the kitchen table while they knead the bread, in damp dugouts with shells raining down...'

Writers, especially women, manage to write in all sorts of places. At the corner of the kitchen table while they knead the bread, in damp dugouts with shells raining down on their heads, in grim bedsits at the end of a long working day...

'It took years, decades, for him — while he morphed into me — to grasp that his project was fiction and there was no pattern to follow. '

It took years, decades, for him — while he morphed into me — to grasp that his project was fiction and there was no pattern to follow. If a novel, it would deserve that name. I was never tempted, for example, to foreground one or more of my 'people'.

'Yes, I am talentless, you're right. An utterly unconvincing stab at magic realism, dreadful. And yes, I'm ugly too.'

Yes, I am talentless, you're right. An utterly unconvincing stab at magic realism, dreadful. And yes, I'm ugly too; I agree. You were right to throw the novel in the bin, it is trash. That one star review is valid.