'Trying to write the book'

‘Writer's block is a reluctance to make decisions. You're trying to keep your options open and hoping a simple idea comes along, so it's hard to commit to one. My wife once told me, as I was having trouble getting going, "That's because you're trying to write the book, and you just need to write a book.

I can't work if I can't walk. Even though I live in an urban area, I'm very close to the countryside and I like walking by the River Clyde. It helps me think and write; I read recently that it's because walking, running and physical tasks occupy certain parts of the brain and free up the collective unconscious to get on with itself, and suddenly thoughts can flow more freely and it's easy to process things. So even if it's windy and raining heavily I have to go out, although I've been told I look like a deep-sea fisherman when I do that.'

Christopher Brookmyre, author of Quite Ugly One Morning and Black Widow in the Independent on Sunday