We all talk about how much we hate lies. Yet we prefer, so often, to be lied to....because it allows us to dodge all those painful truths we'd rather not hear.

We don't like admitting this, but it is a key component of human existence: the fact that life has the potential for things both wondrous and horrific.

We all want to fix things. Just as we all believe that so much in life can be rectified. Mend fences, build bridges, reach out, engage in mutual healing.

There is much to be said for solitude.

The decision to write full time was made when I was twenty-eight years old and had just had two small plays accepted for BBC Radio.

There were moments when I felt seriously unhinged; when I was convinced that I would never, ever recover from what had happened, when it was absolutely clear to me that life from this point on would be constant agony.

All our stories are simultaneously unique and desperately similar, aren't they?