I would end every night reading these ten letters. It made the numbers and the policies very concrete and very specific. And I was reminded that the choices we were making were affecting millions of people. I found that to be very useful.

One thing that I did was race against the British men a lot and they used to push me round the road; they used to make my life really hard but then when I was racing against the best women in the world, I'd been through just about every experience you could imagine. I remember this one race – a half marathon – where my husband literally pushed me into every kerb he could find, he pushed me into every corner, you know, messed around and tried to drop me out the back of the pack. Then when you're in a race that really matters, if that happens, you've got the skills to deal with it… you need to have practised everything you possibly could in the lead up to it.

A few years ago, I started wearing this as a uniform of sorts. It has removed all my anxieties about clothing. I now know what I'll be wearing in both summer and winter.

No, I use like a 2-liter bottle, just like some random plastic bottle. And I basically use it over and over until it’s like this is repulsive, and then I recycle it. And then I move on to another.

I feel some sort of chemistry with the subject.…The bar for me is when it’s interesting enough that I would talk about it on my own time.

Carrie helped me keep to a strict rhythm, but all the essays took shape in very idiosyncratic ways.

I actually did write a novel. I worked on it for five years, and then I shelved it because it was bad.

As a writer, the only thing that you can guarantee yourself pleasure and challenge from is inside your own writing process.

I think it’s so good to abandon projects. I never feel sad about not trying to publish that novel.

I act like a hopeful person, but I think that hope is based on having zero expectations.