Schools don't really allow failure and yet it's part of any endeavour, not just writing.

The problem with being Irish... is having 'Riverdance' on your back. It's a burden at times.

To claim that music is more important than oxygen would be trite and sentimental. It would also be true.

If you're from Dublin, for example, chances are you live with your family, if you're lucky enough to, right up to the mid-20s. And most of the people I know, when they finally sort of set off on their own, they don't stray all that far.

My parents were sixty years married.

My novels come from within me; they are things I feel I want to do.

I tend to plan as I write. And I want to leave myself open and the character open to keep on going until it seems to be the time to stop.