Stephenson Holt is an author that physically writes between 5am and 8am each morning, leaving that painting to sketch and dream for the rest of the day. Sometimes he returns into normality but not for long periods. For most of his life he is constructing one novel while sketching the next novel – it keeps the mind fresh.

His favourite sketch and dream places are;-

I. Lying on a beach listening to the waves.

II. A favourite armchair in the conservatory with heavy rain on the roof.

III. Laying in a hot bath staring at a tiled wall.

IV. Sitting next to a canal where he used to fish as a boy.

V. Motorway driving.

VI. That chair in the corner of the greenhouse, shielded from the sun by that grapevine and next to the olive tree, full of bird feeders.

VII. Gardening with a corner of his eye on the sparrow returning to the nest in the eaves above him and imagining he’s the sparrow looking down on himself.

VIII. Running a familiar route where he doesn’t have to concentrate on where he’s going.

When stuck for inspiration he will;-

I. Listen to an episode of “The Invisible College” a series of ten minute podcasts from BBC Radio 4 that sit nicely on an iPod.

II. Listen to a three album collection converted to CD of Jack Kerouac reciting and backed by either piano or saxophone. Including “Poetry for the beat generation” and “American Haikus.”

III. Fight like a superhero with a six year old grandson.

IV. Walk in the hills.