... I had never given much credence to the phenomenon of "writer's block". I was more inclined to think of it as "writer's impatience", and to follow Arthur Koestler's dictum: "Soak; and wait.

I'll buy metaphor, but simile's a cop-out used by scaredycats who won't commit to anything. Simile's for cowards.

My background is deep and set in deep time, and in a narrow space, oral traditions going back a long, long time, which I inherited by osmosis.

I love research so much that I do an enormous amount; it helps put off the moment of starting to write the story.

Ive learned never to try and force words to come.

I loathe crowds. I especially dont like cities. A city involves biomass. And biomass gets to me.

My great-grandfather was a self-taught man, and his library was extraordinary. I read the lot.