Why do I talk about the benefits of failure? Simply because failure meant a stripping away of the inessential. I stopped pretending to myself that I was anything other than what I was, and began to direct all my energy into finishing the only work that mattered to me.

Failure means a stripping away of the inessential.

'Harry Potter' gave me back self respect. Harry gave me a job to do that I loved more than anything else.

With all of their benefits, and there are many, one of the things I regret about e-books is that they have taken away the necessity of trawling foreign bookshops or the shelves of holiday houses to find something to read. I've come across gems and stinkers that way, and both can be fun.

You can ask me anything you like about my work, but I'll never talk about myself.

You have to be free to fail in this world.