The Novelist, Quite Rightly, Fears The Psychoanalyst

I Am A Regular If Not Exactly Enthusiastic Patron Of My Local Bookshop. I Try To Buy At Least Some Books There Because I Cling To The Belief That It's Important To Maintain Those Businesses Which Put A Human Face On The Exchange Of Money For Goods And Services.

You Know That Sickening Feeling Of Inadequacy And Over-exposure You Feel When You Look Upon Your Own Empurpled Prose? Relax Into The Awareness That This Ghastly Sensation Will Never, Ever Leave You, No Matter How Successful And Publicly Lauded You Become. It Is Intrinsic To The Real Business Of Writing And Should Be Cherished.

I Think In Retrospect That All Those 'alternative'modes Of Living Were Little More Than Exercises In Arrested Development.

Once The Working Classes Were In Chains, Now They're In Chain Restaurants.

I'm Very Happy For Whatever Plaudits Might Come The Way Of My Work, But I Never Ever Sit Down To Write X With Y In View - Whether It's A Reader, A Prize Or A Sale.