This is part of an interview I did recently with the author and writing coach Lorraine Mace.

Tell me something about yourself your readers might not know?

I am a trained sports massage therapist. This was the answer I gave to the same question, asked at an interview for a Christmas job at Argos. It seemed to work quite well on that occasion. They offered me the job.

Do you Google yourself? What did you find that affected you most (good or bad)?

I don’t Google myself, always assuming there’s nothing there. Let’s have a go now… This is fun. Graham Norton does this sort of thing with his guests. Well, Jones is a common name so there are lots of Martin Joneses. My blog is listed, along with entries for a number of other Martin Jones authors, who seem to be doing very well with their writing. There’s an archaeologist who has written ninety seven books, his latest about why humans share food. What have I been doing with my time? And there’s someone who writes horror stories. So not much to see with regard to me personally.

What do you like to do when you’re not writing?

Reading, obviously. I have this scheme which alternates classic novel with new novel. Music has always been a passion. Cycling the byways of Kent is my favourite form of exercise.

What was one of the most surprising things you learned in creating your books?

Hmmm. Interesting. Perhaps the most surprising thing I learned was the way confidence can exist alongside an equally profound level of doubt. Within candy floss clouds of diffidence, there is a small rock of determination – not so much a rock as a chunk of neutron star. It’s odd how these opposites can exist so naturally together.

As a child, what did you want to do when you grew up?

At primary school it was astronaut, fireman, and very briefly glazier, after a man came to fix our school window and seemed happy in his work. I thought about being a musician for a while – making some pocket money in my sixth form years playing the French horn in show bands. But writing ambitions always lurked, and had completely taken over by the time I finished school.