This much I know: Kate Mosse
The campaign against library closures in the UK is close to my heart. Books and learning should be for everyone, regardless of background and opportunity. Education transforms lives. The public library service treats everybody equally once they get through the doors.
I should have been a farmer. I’m happiest getting up at first light and going to bed when it gets dark.
I try to see something good in every day. Of course, I believe our outlook has a lot to do with temperament. I was lucky to have grown up with my parent’s generation who had a very tough time during the war and think I was influenced by their ‘can do’ spirit.
I always thought I’d have a career in music, not writing. I played the violin in orchestras throughout my school days. When I was 18 I realised I would never rise above orchestral level, so I decided to study English instead.
You can teach the structure and the building blocks of writing, like you do with music — you can’t play an instrument unless you are taught where to put your fingers — but after that it is up to the individual to provide their own creative flair.
My advice on writing? To write! Use every free moment. I’m pretty disciplined about time management, but then I think all parents are — we realise that we must make the most of every little bit of spare time.
I was hopeless at sport in school but as I’ve grown older I’ve become fitter. I walk, cycle and run. I live in Sussex close to Kingley Vale, one of the oldest yew forests in Europe. When I have time I’ll follow a steep route that I used to take there with my dad. I enjoy the feeling that generations have walked there before me and that generations will do so after I’m gone.
A huge amount of success for writers is down to luck. I realise that luck could stop at any time. Whenever any of us sits down to write a new book we think ‘Can I make this book work? Is the story worth telling?’ During our email correspondence, Maeve Binchy and I admitted to each other that we each had this image of everyone at our publishers sitting around ashen faced in the board room having read our latest book saying ‘Who’s going to ring her?’
I do think it is possible to create your own work life balance. I have the best of both worlds — I have quiet times sitting on my own when I’m writing, and I have several months working with other people on the projects I’m involved with, such as the Orange Prize for Fiction.
My biggest challenge was the death of my father. I was very close to him and he was a wonderful person. He had a very strong Christian faith and that was reassuring for us. I don’t know if there is life after death. I do sometimes catch myself looking upwards asking him ‘can you see this?’ whenever something wonderful happens.
If I have an addiction, it’s probably to Heinz Salad Cream.
So far life has taught me to make the most of it — treat every day as if it might be your last and learn to enjoy what you have.
* Kate Mosse will be at the West Cork Literary Festival on Monday, Jul 8, where she will read from the final novel in her Langeudoc Trilogy, Citadel. The West Cork Literary Festival takes place in Bantry, Jul 7-13. This reading takes place in Bantry Library at 1pm and admission is free. Further information is on www.westcorkliteraryfestival.ie or 027-52788/9.
