Today. This Bright New Day That Awaits

This Might Sound Really Foolish, But When I Came To Edinburgh In 1988 I Had Spent Nearly All My Life Living South Of Bristol, And I Was Just Amazed That A City Like Edinburgh Was Actually In The British Isles.

Screenwriting Is Always About What People Say Or Do, Whereas Good Writing Is About A Thought Process Or An Abstract Image Or An Internal Monologue, None Of Which Works On Screen.

Occasionally, Very Occasionally, Say At Four O’clock In The Afternoon On A Wet Sunday, She Feels Panic-stricken And Almost Breathless With Loneliness. Once Or Twice She Has Been Known To Pick Up The Phone To Check That It Isn’t Broken. Sometimes She Thinks How Nice It Would Be To Be Woken By A Call In The Night: ‘get In A Taxi Now’ Or ‘i Need To See You, We Need To Talk’. But At The Best Of Times She Feels Like A Character In A Muriel Spark Novel – Independent, Bookish, Sharp-minded, Secretly Romantic.

Sometimes I Wish That I Hadn't Learned How To Crochet," I Say, And Alice Laughs. Obviously She Thinks I'm Joking, Which Is Maybe For The Best.

I Still Find It Absurdly Difficult To Concentrate On A Novel If There's A Phone Or Computer To Hand; I Have Taken To Locking Them Outside The Room Like Noisy Pets.