You must know how it is - you write an email. blog, postcard which is witty, sharp and funny and your friends immediately say how clever you are. "You should write a book!' is the cry.

Of course I said 'No - I couldn't.' But gradually I began to believe what was said. Vanity raised its ugly head. Of course I could write a book. Secretly I always wanted to. So I opened the diary I kept on the Camino de Santiago and started writing

My next book is about Cuba. I spent three weeks wandering around meeting all sorts of people - university educated cab drivers, poorly paid doctors, well fed waiters....

Amazing contrasts between city and village are evident. Friendly people with honest opinions about their lives and living conditions. Clever scammers you are generally happy to lose a dollar to. Fidel's alive and his influence is everywhere. Che is the guerilla hero. Buena Vista Social Club is the embodiment of Cuban music you hear in every bar.

The most pleasurable way is traveling - by any means of transport - starting from the feet up to flying.

Si si! And there's another book there - 42,000 kilometres in 9 months. Rio to Rio carnival with humid jungles, desert temperatures dropping to -18 at night, 5,000 metre altitudes, moving glaciers and a cast of misfits on a converted truck with a crew who couldn't speak Spanish or Portuguese.

I think of something clever my characters might do or say and then try to remember what was clever and write it down. I write long hand or type. Long hand can take forever yet be pleasurable. Typing is quicker, easier to alter.

Anticipation - my first cup of coffee.

I read biographies and am impressed by people's achievements, sometimes in the face of great adversity. I read crime thrillers because they are racy, scary and the good guy usually wins in the end. Recipe books give me great pleasure - I can enjoy a glass of wine and order in without missing a page.

Haven't graduated to an e-reader yet. Still loving turning the pages.

Smashwords and me - with help from the 'how to' section of the library. Just learning about social media and wondering if a real life marketing guru might like to sign me up for a talking tour.

Smashwords made my e-book available to the reader of any electronic media. It's been the most effective marketing tool I have - apart from my own modest self.

So sedate by comparison to the last few adventures - it's to cycle in France, beside the canals with detours to wineries. Well, that's the current plan.....