RB: One last question. To quote the title from your wife's novel, how do you do it?
AL: Round midnight. I wait till peace and quiet and write as I go. I don't enjoy writing. I enjoy rewriting. I like editing myself down. It is journalism. I'm not sitting there waiting for the muse to descend. I'm lucky I have subjects. Nothing would terrify me more than sitting down and being told to write a novel, Chapter One. That would seem like naked self-exposure to me.
Identity Theory, October 3, 2002
I do have one very brutal writing ritual. If I'm working in the morning, I don't allow myself a cup of tea until I've written two paragraphs. It's harsh.
The Daily Telegraph, December 14, 2003
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