A boyfriend made me a hammock in Richmond Park once. That was lovely - although I ended up getting a tick on my stomach from the deer. Emma Healey More Quotes by Emma Healey More Quotes From Emma Healey I loved 'A Lion in the Meadow' by Margaret Mahy. Emma Healey margaret meadow lion loved There are lots of things going on for teenagers, with exam stress, changing friendship groups, becoming independent, and all those hormone changes affecting you. Emma Healey things you stress friendship Mark Haddon's 'The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time' was published while I was trying to work out how to write 'Elizabeth Is Missing,' and reading the story of that impaired amateur detective gave me the licence I needed to attempt one of my own. Emma Healey me reading dog work Sometimes people ask, 'If you'd never had a reader, would you carry on writing?' No. Emma Healey never you sometimes people It's a slow process rewriting your own life in your head. I think that's a writerly thing. Emma Healey slow your think life Reading about what a digital native thinks of the Internet is like reading about what it's like to blink: it's kind of boring. Emma Healey digital internet boring reading If you work hard at something, you can forget everything else. Emma Healey work-hard you work forget I have a study at the back of the house, overlooking our garden. It's tiny, just wide enough to fit my desk in. The walls are covered with pin boards and art postcards from galleries all over the world, including Tate, MoMA, and Lenbachhaus. Emma Healey garden house world art I really admire Ana Mendieta. She was a Cuban American artist who died the year I was born and whose work examines violence, feminism, and belonging. Her art is always brave and visually arresting and vibrates with meaning. Emma Healey violence brave work art With novels, you're representing things. You're not explaining. Emma Healey novels things you representing I had tried to write about young women in London who had jobs and boyfriends, and it was so tedious. Emma Healey tried women london young I think I'm too scatty. Emma Healey i-think too think I had so many people in my family with dementia that it felt like it belonged to me in a way. I feel like the same with teenage depression because I went through it. I feel like I'm allowed to write about it; it's mine. Emma Healey me family depression people I feel like Mills and Boon saved my life. It was a way of not living. I read a lot of other books as well, but they were definitely the best for just switching my brain off, not having to deal with reality. Emma Healey my-life best brain life People always want to give you advice about parenting. People who you've never met before will tell you you're doing something wrong. And it's quite similar in writing. People forget that you're a human; they just want to give you their advice. Emma Healey you parenting forget people I used to go to the gym with one of my best friends, and we seemed to have the same conversation over and over again. I was always saying, 'I'm still not pregnant, and I still haven't worked out what I'm writing,' and her answer to both was always, 'Just relax!' Emma Healey best gym friends relax I was very worried about whether I could do it or not. I mean, how arrogant - here I am in my 20s trying to write from the point of view of a woman in her 80s. Emma Healey woman i-am view trying Several members of my family have, or have had, one form of dementia or another. I really wanted to explore what it might like in fiction, but I didn't know how to start. Emma Healey start like know family I can trace my interest in modern classics to the summer before art college. Emma Healey i-can college summer art I found 'The Face Of Another' by Kobo Abe disappointing despite the excellent, gothic premise: a man who's terrible facial scarring leads him to create a perfect mask. Emma Healey face man mask perfect
