Your Life Must Now Run The Course

It Was Like Being Given A Maths Problem When Your Brain's Exhausted, And You Know There's Some Far-off Solution, But You Can't Work Up The Energy Even To Give It A Go. Something In Me Just Gave Up.

I Still Have A Suspicion Of Charity And Think The State Has A Role To Play In Many Areas. And Although For Most Of The Years Since I Have Been A Rather Privileged Writer, I Identify More Closely Than Perhaps I Should With Those Social Workers. Had I Not Become A Writer That Would Have Been Me. Lots Of Our Friends Are Still In That World And I Do Feel Part Of That Generation Of People Who Were Rather Idealistic In The 70s And Became Disillusioned In The 80s. Not Just About Social Services Issues, But The World.

My Friends And I Took Songwriting Very, Very Seriously. My Hero Was And Still Is Bob Dylan, But Also People Like Leonard Cohen And Joni Mitchell And That Whole Generation.

Typically In My Novels The Narrator Tells A Story By Remembering, And The Memories Are Colored By This And Colored By That. So The Whole Universe Of The Novel Tends To Be Framed By The Narrator's Memories And Thoughts.

The Reason I Wouldn't Dare To Write A Western Is Simply Because That Seems To Be So Much A Part Of American Culture. Maybe If I Want To Write A Western Enough I Should Try To Overcome That Fear, But I'll Certainly Feel Like I'm Trespassing. I Feel That That Is So Much A Part Of American Foundation Myth, It's Part Of The Myth Of America, The American Vision Of What America Is, Which People Have Glorified And Then Challenged And Then Vilified.