Must my head be constantly full of ideas? And why would I want to escape from them? I escape into them.

Actually most of the time I’m just someone who has a routine life and lives in the suburbs – like zillions of other people. In daily life, ideas pop in and out in a seemingly random way, and most are of an almost unimaginable banality, because I live in the real world: all writers do. We’re not prophets or oracles or seers; we’re working people with families and friends and mortgages and pets and fridge magnets and allergies and dreams and phobias and nightmares and favourite pizza toppings and everything else. But every now and then I’ll read something in the newspaper that gets me thinking, or an idea will pop into my head in the middle of the night – or best of all, I’ll make a connection I don't think anyone’s made before - and then I’ll start making notes. I feel very alive and excited when that happens.