Why should I want what's good for me?' Beatrice asked him, smiling. 'Is that what you want for yourself - only what's good for you?

It's always a challenge to discover the most effective first sentence, and the most effective final sentence, in a chapter for instance, and in the book as a whole.

Though I am never exactly "blocked" I do have difficult periods. I am led by a fascination with material - the challenge of presenting it in an original and engaging way. I have no problem imagining stories, characters, distinctive settings & themes - but the difficulty is choosing a voice & a language in which to present it.

The novel is the affliction for which only the novel is the cure.

It's where we go, and what we do when we get there, that tells us who we really are.

A good, sympathetic review is always a wonderful surprise.

My role models were childless: Virginia Woolf, Jane Austen, George Eliot, the Brontes.