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I work really hard at these books, and when colleagues write nasty reviews of them, I take it very personally.

If you're a novelist, as I am in real life, you're usually so desperate for any kind of feedback.

After each book, I get panicky. I don't love the reviews. I don't like going through all that, and you would think that, after almost 40 years of writing, I'd have got the hang of it.

It feels wonderful to get praise from other authors who I admire, but with each new book, my confidence is always the thing I struggle with the most until I start getting positive feedback from readers.

Part of me feels that I'm letting people down by not being as interesting as my books.

I have a confession to make. For years, I earned a living - or a sort of living - writing negative book reviews.

I've never really been satisfied with a book. I always want it to be better.

I - I love being told by people that they enjoy my books, and I think that's really very nice.

Be kind and considerate with your criticism... It's just as hard to write a bad book as it is to write a good book.