Quote of the day

"It's work. As much as climbing up a ladder with bricks on your back. I'd rather run a corner shop, but I have to do it".

1999 Whitbread Award winner Tim Lott on novel writing, from this article about the popularity of the pursuit - a popularity that is remarkable because the odds on publication are so slim.

Like many people, I'd love to think I could give it a crack - but it's the determination and perseverance that I'd find difficult. It doesn't take me long before I get bored with or critical of my ideas, so the prospect of being able to sustain my own interest (let alone that of a reader) over the course of a whole book is remote.