'We're all supposed to be so mature about feedback, aren't we? Some of us can fake a gracious response, but don't be fooled. '

We're all supposed to be so mature about feedback, aren't we? Some of us can fake a gracious response, but don't be fooled. Writers, like anyone else, hate to be criticised.

'For bollards, rumble strips and sleeping policemen; ghost islands, green men, Belisha beacons. For zebra crossings and lollipop ladies.'

For bollards, rumble strips and sleeping policemen; ghost islands, green men, Belisha beacons. For zebra crossings and lollipop ladies. For traffic lights, streetlights, floodlights, neon. For lit windows in tenements.

'Experimenting at the margins by placing two disparate genres side by side creates a tension. '

Experimenting at the margins by placing two disparate genres side by side creates a tension. Whether visual art is juxtaposed with writing or haiku with prose, whichever genre comes second can be used to cast a different light upon the first.

'With each personal new item I posted I felt less invested in the thing, less myself, less attached, more the automaton.'

With each personal new item I posted I felt less invested in the thing, less myself, less attached, more the automaton.

'What I realise now is that it's a war of attrition. If you want to get anywhere in the book world, you have to keep chipping away at the edifice.'

What I realise now is that it's a war of attrition. If you want to get anywhere in the book world, you have to keep chipping away at the edifice, working away at your craft, tapping along on the laptop. And the rejections never end.

'The kind of fluidity I aspire to is exemplified by Ted Hughes, who could write a masterly short story such as 'The Rain Horse', but also rhymed light verse for children...'

The kind of fluidity I aspire to is exemplified by Ted Hughes, who could write a masterly short story such as 'The Rain Horse', but also rhymed light verse for children, lyrical season songs, confessional Birthday Letters, a film poem...

'Think I need a fag, but sadly no longer smoke. Have a belated post-lunch coffee, sit down at the computer; doorbell goes. '

Think I need a fag, but sadly no longer smoke. Have a belated post-lunch coffee, sit down at the computer; doorbell goes. Take in two large boxes. Sit down at the computer, turn off phone, close office door, take a deep breath.

'I think of writing now, not in terms of addiction — although this can be tempting sometimes — but rather in terms of sexuality. '

I think of writing now, not in terms of addiction — although this can be tempting sometimes — but rather in terms of sexuality. As a child you fumble in its direction, then one day, suddenly, you go 'Oh'.

'My first year at Latitude it was baking with sunshine and I ended up having a drink under a tree with John Cooper Clarke.'

My first year at Latitude it was baking with sunshine and I ended up having a drink under a tree with John Cooper Clarke, who heard one of my gloomy poems and called me 'Sylvia'.

'I do think critics are absurd about crime and sci-fi. They tend to get discombobulated by it, and over-praise genre titles that somehow break through.'

I do think critics are absurd about crime and sci-fi. They tend to get discombobulated by it, and over-praise genre titles that somehow break through, without realising that lots of work still stuck in genre ghettos is much better written.