We like to think about how smart we are. But I think talent as a writer is hard-wired in it's all there at least the basic elements of it. You can't change it any more than you can choose whether to be right handed or left handed.
I deeply adored my mum. She was an extraordinary person even for the prejudice I'm likely to have. She was beautiful amusing a tremendous elaborator of things into comic proportions and extravagant in her imagination.
