I get a lot of scepticism about my notebook collection. Some of it justified: I love an expensive notebook, to the bafflement of some of my friends (“it’s just bloody paper!” one exclaimed, despairing, when I was trying to justify some pricey purchase), and I am ridiculously picky about what I write my first and second drafts in. (I found a notebook that I liked in Paperchase and, fearing it was discontinued, bought 20).

But, the one thing I can say absolutely is: they never go to waste.

Here, for instance, are my notes for the last Dark Dates book:

And this pile is the finished article in first draft of the novel and collection of short stories that accompanied it:

So, mock me if you must: but you can’t say I don’t use them!