Deborah Moggach: 'I try not to look at property porn, but the flesh is weak’

The author on being distracted by emails and phone calls, and why real people make the worst characters

Everyone has their rituals and I have to start the day with a roll-up and a cup of coffee. It gets my brain fizzing – it loosens the connections – and if I’m interrupted, I’m lost. If someone even says “I’ll phone you some time in the morning” it threatens my concentration, which is a feeble organ at the best of times. With screenplays it’s not so bad because it’s a more public process anyway – so many other people are involved – but if I’m writing a novel, I need to shut myself off into my private world. I don’t mind people in the house, as long as they’re not quarrelling and they don’t come in, but I can’t bear music.

After that I chew gum for the rest of the morning, trying to ignore the infuriating Adobe upgrades that ping on to my laptop, and my daily missive from the ever-faithful Sarah Raven, with her tempting flower-seed offers. I try not to look at other emails, especially if they’re about property porn, but the flesh is weak.

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