While I'm frustrated at the amount I'm expected to take on in the present, the 1950s woman was frustrated by being excluded - not being allowed to take things on at all.

Writers are a product of where we come from but by looking at alternatives to the culture in which we live, we can find ways to change and hopefully improve it.

Scotland consistently produces world-class writers.

The sky was a sparkling succession of black diamonds on black velvet made crystal clear by the blackout.

Historical fiction of course is particularly research-heavy. The details of everyday life are there to trip you up. Things that we take for granted, indeed, hardly think about, can lead to tremendous mistakes.

Grabbing readers by the imagination is a writer's job.

I had loved poetry and the theatre. Now I loved adventure more.