AL Kennedy on writing | The Guardian

AL Kennedy: The novelist kicks off a new series, coinciding with the Edinburgh international book festival, where writers consider the words that mean most to them

AL Kennedy: The really valuable returns for an author are emotional, spiritual even. Though it's great when the bills get paid too

It's been some tiresome time since I last blogged, but a trip to Germany provided some more sombre reasons to worry

Working early in my career with vulnerable writers, I saw how the arts – like the Paralympics – can release power and status for people whom society was working hard to keep very far from both

AL Kennedy: The upheaval of moving house is a reminder of the need to find discipline to work

AL Kennedy: The poet Talha Ahsan is awaiting extradition to the US, where he faces a life in detention virtually deprived of human contact

AL Kennedy: It is absurd and insulting to assume artists are assisted by despair or hunger in a way that, say, plumbers are not

It's easy to ignore your surroundings when lost in the world of words, but they can make the writing life a lot more agreeable

AL Kennedy: Complete commitment, down to the last comma, is the only way for me to make writing work. Which isn't good news for everything else in my life

Running some tests on your writing

AL Kennedy

It can be very uncomfortable, but if you want to produce a healthy manuscripts, you'll need to make some clinical judgments

AL Kennedy: I've never writhed and howled in sync with my characters, but fiction isn't possible without some feeling

AL Kennedy: Authors dread being asked where their ideas come from, but if we can't talk about unhinged belief, what else is there to ask?

Even in good health, these are not occasions for the writer to look forward to

I appreciate the value of the promotional round, but it's not my forte. The best way to approach it, I've found, is never to read the interviews and never, ever to look at the photographs

AL Kennedy: After much delay I finally get around to the subject of procrastination

AL Kennedy: The focus and passion of these birds' gaze is a fine inspiration for any writer

AL Kennedy: I'm lucky enough to get paid for it, but the pleasures and rewards of putting words together can and should be shared by all

AL Kennedy: Creative writing is an important outlet for many people – even more so for those denied freedom

AL Kennedy: An essential part of good writing, it can also obliterate your best efforts when prompted by the wrong editorial hands