'The natural world became a place for the growing urban middle classes to escape. Into this new psychological landscape came the Brontes.'

The natural world became a place for the growing urban middle classes to find peace, escape, and relaxation. Into this new psychological landscape came the Brontës. Emily Brontë had an intense, complicated relationship with these moors.

'I was a mini-me Melvyn Bragg, with a broadcasting bailiwick and books of my own. Scottish Television's housetrained house poet.'

I was a mini-me Melvyn Bragg, with a broadcasting bailiwick and books of my own. A bohemian with a PA and a pension plan. Busy being a beatnik on expenses. Scottish Television's housetrained house poet.

'Writing is a bit like dreaming, or day-dreaming. You write to clarify something inside your head.'

Writing is a bit like dreaming, or day-dreaming. You write to clarify something inside your head. But the dream is a delicate thread that can snap at any time and leave you lost and bewildered.

'If you don't care about what you write passionately, how will you endure it, and why on earth should your readers be bothered?'

You and your readers are going to be spending irretrievable time and irreplaceable energy on what you write. If you don't care about it passionately, how will you endure it, and why on earth should your readers be bothered?

'The deadline for this piece was Christmas Eve, but that was also the deadline for buying presents for the family. '

The deadline for this piece was Christmas Eve, but that was also the deadline for buying presents for the family. So — while making hurried purchases through multiple windows on my computer — I also wrote the following...

'I am typing with two thumbs in the early morning; still in bed, half immersed in a hypnagogic state. As a mother of two, lie-ins no longer exist. '

I am typing with two thumbs in the early morning; still in bed, half immersed in a hypnagogic state. As a mother of two, lie-ins no longer exist. Right now, I can hear my deadline running towards me, in the form of my three year old child.

'A friend at Caltech asks, are you a dilettante? You are not. You are very focussed, just not on PhD research.'

A friend at Caltech asks, are you a dilettante? It stings, and you keep thinking: am I? Well, I can tell you; you are not. You are very focussed, very single minded, just not on PhD research.

'A writer in London has the ever-present possibility of going out of the door and into a space shared with millions; a grand, random work of performance art'

A writer in London has the ever-present possibility of going out of the door and into a space shared with millions; entering a grand, random work of performance art, at any hour of the day or night, any stage of the work.

'He was a publisher of the old school. Full of himself, and expense account beanos. He was dressed for his part in a three-piece, loudly checked suit.'

He was a publisher of the old school. Full of of himself, and expense account beanos. He was dressed for his part in a three-piece, loudly checked suit; a fob watch in his waistcoat, and in his jacket's breast pocket an enormous spotted handkerchief.

'My dreams are often literary, occasionally disturbingly so, like that vivid encounter I had with R. S. Thomas before I woke to hear he'd died.'

My dreams are often literary, occasionally disturbingly so, like that vivid encounter I had with R. S. Thomas before I woke to hear he'd died. I had a rather pleasanter dream about Samuel Palmer; it provoked some 'dream-envy' on Facebook.