If you can't imagine it, think clumsy silence. Think bits and pieces of floating despair. And drowning in a train.

It's insane to be a writer and not be a reader. When I'm writing I'm more likely to be reading four or five books at once, just in bits and pieces rather than subjecting myself to a really brilliant book and thinking, "Well what's the point of me writing anything?" I'm more likely to read a book through when I take a break from writing.

The impoverished always try to keep moving, as if relocating might help. They ignore the reality that a new version of the same old problem will be waiting at the end of the trip- the relative you cringe to kiss.

It was one of those moments of perfect tiredness, of having conquered not only the work at hand, but the night who had blocked the way.

She took a step and didn't want to take any more, but she did.

I think to be writer you have to enjoy being alone. I was a loner as a teenager and was always drawn to characters in books and films who were at the fringes.

Imagine smiling after a slap in the face. Then think of doing it twenty-four hours a day.