‘For all writing, you need to be nosy.’

‘To me, text is material in the same way as stone or paint are.’

‘A pen is like a prosthetic for me. It’s like a visual artist needing a sketchpad always to hand, or a sound artist needing to record on their phone.’

‘The first thing with beginning to write is always fear. Fear about whether you will be able to come up with anything, to broach that blank sheet. Once you’ve got bits and pieces, drafts, you can see how to keep working forward. You have momentum and obsession on your side after that first, fearful beginning.’

‘I often start writing with sentences I get on first waking or when I’m in the bath. I’ve had to figure out how to catch those sentences, to write them down when half asleep in the dark, or when immersed in water.’

‘I have a morning head. I’m hopeless after 4pm in the afternoon. Other people are owls. If I can get access to my morning head, without any distractions, then I believe I can make an inroad into whatever creative thing I’m trying to do.’

Extracts from an interview on my writing with Sarah Gray on Soundart Radio. Listen in here: Soundart Radio Podcast.