THE STEPHEN KING THING

How does he do it? How does Stephen King manage to get to the end of his writing day, shake off the horrors he's created and go pleasantly among his friends and family? Does he laugh cheerfully as he tucks into the contents of his stewpot? Does he feel peaceful when walking beside a lake? And does he go to bed without checking inside under the bed and in every wardrobe?

How do such writers move from one horrific scene to another and still gather merrily at the fireside without severe drink taken? Or do they take the dog for long, long walks of an evening? Must go back to his great book On Writing and read for some reassurance.

Sometimes - like just now- it's stupidly hard living with and through a story you care about. The feelings that you're writing tend to stick around a bit, a looming shadow of angst, even though it's all "made up stuff". Guess it's all that drawing from the deep well.

I've recently been battling with an anguished section of Tome Two when all may be lost for my young protagonists. So yesterday, when Lad Home Here suddenly appeared in my workroom to ask a small but important question, I was almostready to leap at his throat. I think I did not speak to him at all kindly. Luckily, he understands. He says.

However, when I'd finished for the day, I still had to stay hidden, pottering with wretched admin, while my heart beat went back to normal and my adrenaline calmed. Is this a healthy state? Writing can feel like a very Jekyll & Hyde type existence.

Even Roald Dahl makes me wonder. How did he feel after writing about that disgusting beard in The Twits? Did he scoff his afternoon tea of scones with cream and jam without any single qualm in the stomach area?