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.

A writer’s life is in his work, and that is the place to find him.

Loneliness is like starvation: you don't realize how hungry you are until you begin to eat.

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

Writers and artists never pay attention to advice given by their elders, quite rightly. The only worthwhile advice is the most general: Keep trying, don't give up, don't be discouraged, don't pay attention to detractors. Everyone knows this.

Much in our lives is chance.

In a family, what isn't spoken is what you listen for. But the noise of a family is to drown it out.