Cirrus@Austlit

Dedication: For my husband, Paul

with love,

and for all the writers who tell me

this is their favourite book on writing.

I wish you every success.

Epigraph: Depression and squalor are for those under twenty-five, they can take it, they even like it, they still have enough time left. But real life is bad for you, hold it in your hand long enough, and you'll get pimples and become feeble-minded. You'll go blind.

Margaret Atwood, 'What is a woman's novel',

Portfolio, December 1986