"The process of creation begins way before one starts writing."

"The thing that matters most is what matters to you, not anybody else."

"I'm a classic eccentric, living at the extremes of high mania and low mood. There's no middle ground, only madness and sadness."

"If we have faith, then we can see the beauty around us. If we don't then we are just blind followers, not knowing why we are on the path."

"There's no such thing as 'not enough time' out here in the woods. I don't even have a watch. Time is my own, categorised as nothing more than 'morning, afternoon, evening and night'."

"Take a step back and view the world through your eyes, not someone else's. Listen to your heart and decide what you really want."

"When sitting down to write a letter, it always pays to calm one's mood, collect one's thoughts, and have a plan."

"Stand up for your beliefs, and be different."

"We have the freedom of choice, to choose what's right."

"The act of fishing " for fish, dreams or whatever magic is available " is enough."

"We are all Clapping Monkeys, but while some of us smile, others look around to see if anyone has noticed."

"Confront the page that taunts you with its whiteness. Face your enemy and fill it with words. You are bigger and stronger than a piece of paper."

"Sounds simple, doesn't it, this notion of simplicity? Simple things done simply by a simple person. But it's not as simple as it seems."

"Michelin Star? I'd rather chew a French rubber tyre."

"The things we place greatest value upon are prioritised by their context in our lives."

"I'm likely to stay here, pen in hand, until dusk comes and my writing melts into the twilight."

"Reveal the timeless beauty of Nature's special places."

"If ever the adventure proves tiring, or you lose sight of your dream, look to the west at sunset. There, on days when the skies are clear, you might see upon the horizon a thin layer of amber mist. When it appears, you will know its purpose: it is the mist of believing."

"It's not always best to know what's going on beneath the surface."

"Eventually, after much dreaming, the dream no longer suffices. You have to physically be there."

"Leaps of faith tend to favour those with long legs."

"Smile, tip your traditional hat, and enjoy your time by the water."

"Life can be impossibly tough. At times it seems like there is no escape from either the pressure or monotony of a world where you are corralled into being something or someone you are not. But there is an escape, to more peaceful and gentler places, and a happier state of mind."

"Wear your heart on your sleeve. Write about what you think and feel. And share it with your friends."

"As a child I would play with such imagination that the 'real' world was never real at all. It was full of mystery, adventure and possibility."

"Live humbly and for the moment."

"Often I have found myself gazing up at clouds " yesterday's seas and tomorrow's streams " to think of them as floating on an ultraviolet sea, beyond which is the infinity of space that presents so much wonder and so many questions."

"It was a country life, a precious existence."

"Editing one's writing is as easy as lighting a match while riding a bicycle."

"As with writing by candlelight, one's greatest ideas come from 'the flickering' between darkness and light."

"Rarely will I write indoors, even if it means getting wet during rain, or my hands numb in winter."

"Freedom within is embodied in things as well as people. Like coins tossed into a wishing well, they contain our hopes and dreams."

"Walk free from the long shadows cast by small people."

"Study the nature around you, but also within you."

"A man is biologically incapable of giving 'the look'."

"Where the writing takes place doesn't matter to a publisher, but it matters a great deal to the author."

"Eyesight can be so blinding. We need to look beyond the face of things."

"Being an author is to have a toe in the creative pool and a foot in the vat of commerce."

"In the dream world, anything is possible. It requires a fertile imagination, and a desire to explore the half-light between the known and the unknown."

"You need energy and purpose to become the person you're destined to be."

"Traditional angling is a mindset. So,have you set your mind?"

"Proudly buck the trend. Dare to be different."

"I dropped my gardening tools, threw my bicycle over a hedge and went in search of fortunes laid beneath the hangman's noose."

"Nurture a desire to be free from the clock."

"Breathe deeply, focus your thoughts, and say out loud, "The quest begins here."

"As an angler and a gardener, I cherish each drop of rain that falls."

"It's the wonderment of water that makes it so appealing: thoughts of what's beneath the surface, or out there beyond a watery horizon."

"Cherish the moment and the time in which you live."

"Isolation serves as the ideal antidote to the bone-aching stresses of work."

"Time alone can help us to look inward, to fish for things that others can't see."