'A non-fiction book tends to be sold before it's written. Whether its your first book, or your fiftieth, the deadline will have been in the contract from the beginning. '

A non-fiction book tends to be sold before it's written. Whether its your first book, or your fiftieth, the deadline will have been in the contract from the beginning. As far as I'm concerned, I'm undertaking a craft, and I go about it in a professional way.

'I was writing anti-poems, non-poems, un-poems. I was working so hard at writing them. A poet who's not writing poems is an ailing creature, '

I was writing anti-poems, non-poems, un-poems. I was working so hard at writing them. It's a terrible thing: a poet who's not writing poems is an ailing creature, wailing through the night. A catastrophe for everyone around them.

'What happens if you can't get there? What happens if the cafe is shut, or there's a thunderstorm? Or, you're not able to leave the house? '

What happens if you can't get there? What happens if the cafe is shut, or there's a thunderstorm? Or, you're not able to leave the house? Does that mean you throw up your hands dramatically, and declare 'I shall never write again!'

'Every now and then someone gets in touch to say how much a piece of my writing has meant to them. It's satisfying to know that mind can touch mind.'

Every now and then someone gets in touch to say how much a piece of my writing has meant to them. It's satisfying to know that links can be forged through carefully wrought sentences, so that mind can touch mind.

'When I read my own drafts, I print them out so that I have pages to turn, and can tap into the thousand times I have opened the pages of a book I didn't write.'

When I read my own drafts, I print them out so that I have pages to turn, and can tap into the thousand times I have opened the pages of a book I didn't write. I borrow that mindset of expectation. The more you read the better you write.

'I spend my time writing and researching outsiders for biographies, but it took me a while to realise that I was an outsider myself.'

I spend my time writing and researching outsiders for biographies, but it took me a while to realise that I was an outsider myself — which may explain why the stories I work with feel so much like home.

'Six French poets got together with six English-speaking poets, and translated each other's poems. The French poets were operating with a very different aesthetic'

Six French-speaking poets got together with six English-speaking poets, and translated each other's poems. What became clear was that some of the French poets were operating with a very different aesthetic than the English-speaking poets.

'To say that I was estranged from my father implies that I'd known him well at some point, and that one of us broke off contact. In reality, I never knew him at all. '

To say that I was estranged from my father implies that I'd known him well at some point, and that one of us broke off contact. But that's not the case. In reality, I never knew him at all. My parents divorced while I was in nappies.

'You wanted so badly to be good at it, and you were worried that you'd find out that you were not.'

You wanted so badly to be good at it, and you were worried that you'd find out that you were not. Worried that you would find out you were not up to it, or only liked the idea of being a writer, and not the reality.

'If we'd planned a girls' trip to London or a night out, my sister would ask me who I'd killed off this time, and I would let her know which of my characters had taken the fall.'

If we'd planned a girls' trip to London or a night out, my sister would ask me who I'd killed off this time, and I would let her know which of my characters had taken the fall, so that I could throw caution to the wind and forget they even existed.