Sadie Jones Quotes

I remember people saying: ‘You look funny, your hair is so black, you have a flat nose,’ but I didn’t think of it being racism, and I still don’t. But there was a sense of difference, of being an outsider.

Remove all the traffic lights, yellow lines, one-way systems and road markings, and let blissful anarchy prevail. I imagine it would produce a kind of harmony.

Our minds and memories are crowded with the common experience of nature.

Oh, I always think everyone feels left out.

I don’t consciously use my own life or experience at all.

I don’t believe in regret.

When I was a child, I wanted to raise horses in Wyoming or be a cabin boy on a pirate ship.

I think very visually, and I just never thought I had a novel in me.

I think if you write about human relationships, you’re always exploring the psyche and the soul. I don’t separate certain – perhaps more extreme – things that people do from others.

I love writing on trains. The joy of being a writer is it’s all in your head; you don’t need materials apart from the laptop. It’s like taking your work home with you, so you can feel grounded in your own insane writerly realities wherever you are.

I don’t eat when I’m working. If I start to fridge-raid, I’m in trouble.

If I think about the writers I love or might be influenced by, I can’t write at all, so I pretend there aren’t any.

My father is from Jamaica, and as a child I spent many holidays there. I remember the weight and drenching wetness of that hot rain, as I experienced it in my childhood, not only for itself, but for what it represented for me.

I’m never happy with what I’ve written. You imagine, before you start, there’s a cathedral, and the moment it starts on the page, it’s a garden shed. And then you just try to make it the best shed you can.

Art is inspiring. Walking into a gallery, or when the lights go up on a stage; that thrill of getting something that has nothing to do with acquisition.

I try not to picture a reader when I’m writing. It’s like trying to make a great table but not picturing anybody sitting at it.

I have a study now – I used not to. I also love working in cafes; ignoring noise is good for concentration.

Horses know how to be loyal but still keep their distance.

My favourite author as a child and teenager, and who I still re-read now, is K. M. Peyton. She writes very truthfully; sometimes I’m not sure if I’ve actually done things or just experienced them in her books.