1. Having to wash and blow-dry my hair every single morning. This is not vanity, but a stark reality of my life. The time spent on basic personal hygiene in general. Does Stephen King even take showers?
2. Emails, Google, Facebook, Youtube etc etc
3. The wrong font. Because novels just about write themselves once you’ve found the right one.
4. Living in the south of France
5. Dominique Strauss-Kahn – as well as Manitoba floods, American politics, Japanese car parts, African aid policies, British fashion, Syrian demonstrations, Pakistani double-cross and German polar bears.
6. Breaking for lunch, just when I’ve finished reading the newspapers and am ready to get down to it. Then afterwards I’m too sleepy to write.
7. Spider Solitaire
8. Reading other people’s books. Not only does it cut into my writing time, but they make me realize that the world doesn’t really need another novelist.
9. A messy desk. Clutter clouds creativity.
10. Rationalizing.