I write exactly as I speak, so therefore I would not say any writer influenced me at all. - Maeve Binchy

I once tried to write a novel about revenge. It's the only book I didn't finish. I couldn't get into the mind of the person who was plotting vengeance.

I don't say I was 'proceeding down a thoroughfare', I say I 'walked down the road'. I don't say I 'passed a hallowed institute of learning', I say I 'passed a school'. You don't wear all your jewellery at once. You're much more believable if you talk in your own voice.

On my 100th birthday, piloting Gordon and myself into the side of a mountain.