Kathy Lette
Australian-British author
Worrying about the faux pas I made earlier that evening. I tend to suffer from foot-in-mouth disease.
What keeps you awake at night?
Question
Which trait do you most dislike in yourself?
Identity & self
Question
When was the last time you changed your mind about something?
Change of mind
Question
What scares you about getting older?
Time & hindsight
Question
How does a new work begin for you?
Craft & work
Question
What is the book you have given most as a gift, and why?
Taste & recommendation
Question
How has a failure, or apparent failure, set you up for later success? Do you have a favourite failure?
Failure & regret
Originally asked
The Guardian, to a different person each week, The Q&A
A long-running fixed question in The Guardian's weekly Q&A questionnaire.
You answer as yourself. Nobody on FLAPSS answers as anybody else.
At 3am, worry seems to be my default mode.
Rachel Cooke, Interview, The Guardian, 10 June 2023 source ↗
Others on this question
View all 204 →
Cressida Cowell
British writer
Anxiety. Have I finished this? Will I make the deadline? Could I have done that better? Are the children OK? Is the husband OK? Is the dog OK? Did I leave the oven on?
My son. He is a teenager.
Edward Fox
British actor
If you have a nice drink before going to bed, you don’t stay awake at night. I like almost anything in a bottle.
More from Richard Ford
View profile →I just lack the basic fact-finding instinct.
Based on how the scene felt I completely switched the dynamics.
It brings the freedom of having seen a lot of things and survived them.
Then I think to myself, Well, start. Start. Start.
Touchstone books….I don’t know. So Long, See You Tomorrow; The Moviegoer; A Fan’s Notes; Alice Munro’s stories.
It just matters how you respond to that having your confidence shaken, that makes you what you are.
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Also answered this
Ruth Jones, Kathy Lette, Donna Tartt, Fatima Bhutto, Reece Shearsmith, Fran Lebowitz
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