‘I ’m a bad girl,’ says CJ Skuse. ‘I’m not disciplined enough to write to strict hours. It’s like that old quote – “I don’t need time, what I need is a deadline”. When I’m on a deadline I can get organised very quickly otherwise it’s incredibly difficult to remain focused. In an ideal world, I’d write during the week from 11 until about 3 then have evenings and weekends off. But it’s not an ideal world and I often end up writing when I go to bed. Even though I’m tired, the best ideas really do wake up right then. By morning though, they’re gone.
‘Some days I’d rather do anything than write because of the fear that what’s in my head won’t be as good on the page. I have this at the moment with Book 6. Again, a deadline is the only thing that really helps with this kind of hesitation.’