'Interactivity has been a disaster for writers. Famously susceptible to procrastination, writers are avid for distraction. '

Interactivity, I would argue, has been a disaster for writers. Famously susceptible to procrastination, writers are avid for distraction, which the new technologies all too readily provide. The itch for stimulation is far too easily scratched with social media.

'I think back to a house we were renting twenty-five years ago. I had a very small room with a narrow desk in front of the window. '

I think back to a house we were renting twenty-five years ago. I had a very small room with a narrow desk in front of the window. When I looked up, I saw the road outside; people walking up the hill, and beyond them the hillside seething with trees.

'I was a picture editor for ten years. It made me feel busy and confident, which isn't something that comes easily as a writer. '

I was a picture editor for ten years. It made me feel busy and confident, which isn't something that comes easily as a writer. And it made me feel like I was good at working. All of this is invaluable, especially when you sit down to actually write.

'A machine assessed my three chapters in two and a half hours, and sent best wishes for placing my work with another machine elsewhere. '

A couple of years ago a machine assessed my three chapters in two and a half hours, and sent me a heartfelt middle finger, with best wishes for placing my work with another machine elsewhere.

'The city has become a very different place. There's no hanging about with a coffee and earwigging.'

Now we are in lockdown and the city has become a very different place. There's no hanging about with a coffee and earwigging, no note-taking of angry phone calls on the bus, no sneaking off for crafty matinees at the Duke of York's cinema.

'Overwhelmed by the pressure to write, I had ceased to do many of the things that I enjoyed. With hindsight, it all seems so clear.'

Overwhelmed by the pressure to write, I had ceased to do many of the things that I enjoyed. I did not read for pleasure, or take long meandering walks, or let lonely strangers tell me their life stories. With benefit of hindsight it all seems so clear.

'Her multitudinousness spawns my passive respect for numbers, speed, spectacle, calculation; all of which barely disguises the non-event. '

Her multitudinousness spawns my passive respect for numbers, speed, spectacle, calculation; all of which barely disguises the non-event. I attend with others, but spend as much time watching a screen as the performance.

'Publishers call it editing. Writers call it killing your darlings. As if you're drowning kittens, or choosing which of your children to leave at the orphanage. '

Publishers call it editing. Writers call it killing your darlings. As if you're drowning a litter of kittens, or choosing which of your children to leave at the door of the orphanage. Surely that's a bit of an exaggeration? Not by much...

'All of my favourite writers are Dylan Thomas. I say this because his writing is so varied. There are so many of him..'

All of my favourite writers are Dylan Thomas. I say this because his writing is so varied. There are so many of him. I love his comic prose; the incredible sonic and formal ambition and achievement of his poems.

'Writing, and especially fiction, can become obsessive. A dimension no one else can reach. It can become antisocial and addictive.'

Writing, and especially fiction, can become obsessive. A dimension no one else can reach. It can become as antisocial and addictive as online gaming, pornography or drugs. Keeping us awake until the small hours.