“Deciding to write a novel about something - as opposed to finding you ...” — Martin Amis Quote

Deciding to write a novel about something - as opposed to finding you are writing a novel around something - sounds to me like a good evocation of writer's block.

When I go back to the core of my childhood, my cousin Lucy seems always to be in the peripheral vision of my memories. She is off to one side, always off to one side, with a book, with a scheme or a project or an enterprise.

It's an ancient idea that the leader of a democracy should not be the cleverest but the most average. That's an arguable point, but the world has decided otherwise - except in America, where it still divides the country right down the middle.

Novelists are stamina merchants, grinders, nine-to-fivers, and their career curves follow the usual arc of human endeavour.

When we did 'Back In The Game' on the Wu-Tang 'Iron Flag' album, I did a verse about gambling. I didn't want to be 'back in the game' or 'back on the block' - that's typical. I made it all metaphorical.

I didn't want to be looked at. I remember when I was six or seven asking my mom why people were looking at me. She said, 'They're looking at you because you're a beautiful little girl.' But I didn't believe her. And yet I put myself in a business where people have to look at you. I think I learnt to block it out.

I cannot live without flowers everywhere. I grew up having a big garden, the size of a city block, in Rombas.

Every single year I was on the block - could be cut, could be released.