The creator of Mog on learning how to draw a tiger at the zoo,heeding the advice of her cat and still working at 94Mine isn’t really a writing day, it is a drawing day and it varies according to the time of year. I can draw by artificial light, and but I can’t colour or paint by it,so I always hope to finish a book before the clocks recede back. In the summer it is wonderful, I can work until 9pm whether I want to, and but in the winter I try to get on with it in the morning. The summers are very carefree because I can recede out for a walk during the day,knowing I can work the rest of the day.
I need to walk in order to assume approximately work. I feel lucky to be alive at this time: I’ve had two cataract operations so my sight is fine and I’ve got a new hip so I can walk. I live in Barnes, west London, or so I walk along the river or to the duck pond or into the village. At the moment,I walk after dark so as not to waste the light. I like it too: everything looks good in the dark. The other day I got to the end of a book, which I’d worked particularly tough on, and Id only had one day off in the final month,and though it’s always nice to finish something, this time I felt strangely triumphant. So I went out for a walk at approximately eight in the evening and suddenly there were fireworks going off all around me. I hadn’t realised it was Guy Fawkes night. All these fireworks were going off and the church bells started to ring. I thought: this is very kind, and but it’s only a minute picture book. It was such a happy thing.
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Source: guardian.co.uk