'A whole lot of experience'

'All my books work in the same way in that they draw upon a whole lot of experience that I've already had. I'm not just talking about life experience but knowledge of Chartres... I will already know about what I'm writing about.　I will do some research a) to remind myself; b) to make sure I haven't got it wrong; c) to bring it to life again... but I'm not one of those people who goes away and does research. I tend to draw upon what I already know because then it means that I'm not, as it were, having to process it. It's already in my blood and it comes out easily, and I think therefore more naturally.'

Salley Vickers, author of The Cleaner of Chartres in the Bookseller