It's funny, but I think my stories - the good ones - they're much smarter than I am.

I tried once in my life to write a novel. I had written something like 80 pages of it when my laptop got stolen. When I told people this, they acted as if something tragic had happened, but I kind of felt relieved, grateful to the thief who saved me from another year of something that felt more like homework than fun.

I don't like the expression "writer's block" because I think it presupposes that you have a problem with your plumbing. I really think it's the other way around.

Often, the stories are very much like trust falls. You fall, and you hope the story's going to catch you.

I think when you write, you should call it a "writing spree." I don't write every day, and I don't write regularly.

My first and biggest love was always fiction writing. But it is a very lonely pastime.

For my mother, having a family was the most important thing in her life. In the Second World War, it was a challenge - surviving physically and mentally and finding somebody who you loved and who was willing to be with you.