Sara Sheridan

I knew that I was talented. I was positive about that. I wasn__ sure exactly what I was talented at, but I was ambitious enough to wait it out and see what turned up.

Sometimes life isn__ what we want, it__ what we get.

I had loved poetry and the theatre. Now I loved adventure more.

He prefers his adventures second hand.

I had never really understood what an adventure life could be, if you followed your heart and did what you really wanted to do, which is what we must all do in the end.

I am torn between the freedom of this adventure and the benefits of civilization despite its constraints.

It often horrified the English community that she spent her time with local farmers and horse traders, eccentrics and mystics, but she valued expertise over convention and had long believed if you were going to make discoveries in the world you must first quit your Englishness and open your eyes.

Writers need each other.

There are as many different kinds of books as there are writers - as many different responses as there are readers.

Our business is communication oftentimes through the medium of stories but our capacity has a far greater scope - to entertain certainly, but also to stimulate debate, to mark up changes and differences and that way, to maybe, just now and then, to change the world.

Scotland consistently produces world-class writers.

I'd never be where I am if more successful writers hadn't taken an interest in me and done me a good turn.

Many existing top 20 Scottish writers have flourished in part because of good turns done by institutions, arts community, libraries and bookshops.

Writers are a product of where we come from but by looking at alternatives to the culture in which we live, we can find ways to change and hopefully improve it.

One of Scotland's most important cultural exports - stories.

The new contract between writers and readers is one I'm prepared to sign up to. I've met some fascinating people at events and online. Down with the isolation of writers I say! And long live Twitter.

I hope that, whatever happens within the publishing industry, because of the increased control writers have of their own careers, better sales information and the advent of the internet, that ultimately this change in our working environment will be a change for the better.

Being able to read well in public and talk about your work in an engaging fashion is part of most writers' job specification.