Why do I feel so guilty when asked when the next book is going to be published? If a reader asks, then it is because they are waiting eagerly to find out what Mills is up to, which should be a good feeling, but in my head I can hear the unsaid follow-up ‘Well why aren’t you getting on with it then?’ I am not a full-time writer – but then, who is? Most of us have day jobs, like the lady in the local paper last week who has twelve novels published but still works in the...

This is the time of the year when groups such as the U3A or WI begin to organise their speakers for the following year and I am contacted to confirm dates that are, in some cases, over twelve months away. It is a serious obligation and I would never dare ask to postpone after such a long term commitment. This year I have been talking to groups up to 50 miles away, sometimes in the daytime but often in the evening. In the summer it is pleasant to visit one of the villages in the Dales to meet...