What is your writing process?
I tend to write in my head quite a bit before I put anything on the page. I don't want to think about writing, I want to relax and watch the TV or read, but it's an involuntary part of the process. What I'm forcing myself to do is find the angle for the piece. Once I know how I'm going to approach it, the writing flows a lot easier and a structure becomes apparent.
Sometimes though I begin writing without an angle or a structure. As a writer of non-fiction, I can often write a paragraph that can slot into the middle of a piece, a bit of background or a description of a person, thing or place and that can get me going on the right track. I might then go back and write the piece from the beginning and end up re-writing or not even using that paragraph, but that doesn't matter, it's served its purpose as a starter motor and I'm away.
I tend to edit as I go, which is not ideal as it slows the process down and I can end up spending a lot of time fact checking when I should be getting words down on the page. Although it's work that has to be done at some point, I know it's a form of procrastination and gives me an excuse not to write. It's that terrible old cliche of the writer who is doing the thing he most wants to do in life but at the same time hates every second of it.
I don't have a particular time of day to write, it all depends on deadlines. I can write from early morning (it's a little after 7.00am as I'm writing this answer) to late at night if there's an editor or publisher breathing down my neck. I do most of my work in my garden office but I can write in hotel rooms and on trains. I often have music playing while I'm researching or writing, but I can't have the radio on as speech is extremely distracting, although the general hubbub of an office or public place isn't an issue unless there's some idiot yelling into their mobile of course.
What's the story behind your latest book?
I'm a food and drink writer with a particular interest in restaurants. My book Kingdom of Cooks is a series of extended interviews with some of the best up and coming chefs in the UK. It was designed as a series of articles which were published on the website of the highly regarded Food Arts magazine in America. Unfortunately the magazine ceased publication in autumn 2014 with only half a dozen of the 13 pieces published, so I decided to use the material to write a book. I wanted to include chefs that hadn't previously had huge amounts of exposure so that their stories would be fresh, and to go into details about their careers and creative process which there simply isn't room to do in magazine and newspaper articles.
Read more of this interview.