The cinema—I tend to watch at least one or two films a week. This means I see a lot of bad films that make me depressed. But this also means when I see a good film I think I love it more because I’ve endured so much already. I personally feel that films generally tend to have fewer ideas in them than most stuff that inspires thinking but it’s still a pretty worthwhile pastime.

Writing — I started off my career writing with a biro on an A4 pad. I then progressed to an Apple desktop. Then an Apple PowerBook. Then a whole host of other Apple desktops and laptops. Now however I use a Parker fountain pen, an A4 spiral bound notebook…and an Apple desktop.

Cafés—These days in the early stages of writing a book I like to stay away from the office. Instead I write in cafés. I find this embarrassing because I am English and therefore feel self-conscious to find myself doing anything in a café other than drinking coffee or reading a newspaper. If I was a Parisian or a Californian I wouldn’t find this embarrassing at all. But I’m not. The embarrassment doesn’t actually stop me from writing in cafés. It just means that I don’t feel very cool when I do it.

Typing—In my ideal world I’d type up the stuff that I’d written in the café in the afternoon. This never happens.

Hours—Sometimes I work from 7.30 a.m. until 1.00 p.m; sometimes it’s more like 9.00 p.m. until 2.00 p.m.; on occasions it’s 5.00 a.m. until 12.00 a.m. Really though the truth is the I work 24/7. I am always thinking about stories. Even when I sleep.

Breaks—It is very important to take breaks. I take breaks all the time. The only time I don’t take breaks is when I’m in the moment. Psychologists call this “flow”. It’s when you’re so into what you’re doing that you forget about everything else and only realise once you’ve stopped just how much you’ve enjoyed yourself. I’m not sure but I think this is one of the reasons I love writing.

Clothing — If I started early (which I tend to do towards the close of a book) then I’ll be in a T-shirt and boxer shorts and will be unshowered. If I start later I’ll be fully clothed and will be clean. Right now I am wearing a blue short-sleeved shirt, khaki-coloured shorts and nothing on my feet. This, I think, is a good look.

Wrists—RSI (repetitive strain injury) in the wrists comes from holding your arm in the air while typing. I get it when I try and type too much. The answer to not getting RSI is to not do too much in one day. Many people ignore this advice including me. A few years ago I came up with an invention to alleviate the symptoms of RSI following the purchase and subsequent disposal of yet another “wrist rest”. It’s called the “balled up sock”. Take one stretching bandage-style wrist support (from any major chemist store), place it on the wrist and then shove a pair of balled up sock inside so that they sit under the heel of the palm. It works magnificently and means you can genuinely rest your wrist. (Please note: If you’re a wrist rest manufacturer and you wish to put my idea into production then by all means do so. I want no financial remuneration but a lifetime’s supply of the things wouldn’t go amiss.)

Stopping — The funny thing with writing is that less very often is more. I’m probably more productive in the first few hours of writing than I am in the final few. Dragging it out makes writing a chore that it shouldn’t be if you’re doing it right. Instead stop when you’ve had enough. Some people suggest stopping mid-sentence so that you can pick up straight away the following day. I did this once and all that happened was that I spent half the morning trying to recall what I’d actually wanted the character to say.