Surely: the adverb of a man without an argument.

I see the author as the person who has written; the writer, the one involved in the process of writing. And they're not necessarily friends. The writer is the one I want to reinforce; the author would just feed on the reviews - so I'm in favour of starving him.

The thing about the 'Melrose' novels is that I have to feel they're impossible when I set out.

Well, the attractive thing about the subject of happiness is that it is notoriously difficult to write.

The Booker 2011 is of no more interest to me than the world heavyweight championship, which I'm not going to win either. It's irrelevant.

Looking after children can be a subtle way of giving up... They become the whole ones, the well ones, the postponement of happiness, the ones who won't drink too much, give up, get divorced, become mentally ill. The part of oneself that's fighting against decay and depression is transferred to guarding them from decay and depression. In the meantime one decays and gets depressed.

Everything was usual. That was depression: being stuck, clinging to an out-of-date version of oneself.