I have two gears in my life - very fast or very slow. It's not the physical part of writing I find stressful, it's the travelling. Publicity tours are a performance, and they can be grim. You're constantly seeing nothing of the country but hotels and airports. I'm away from my family, surrounded by people to whom I have to be nice. Some of it looks awfully glam, but often you're just in a cupboard, signing a mountain of books, then going back to a rat-hole of a hotel.
I never get the chance just to 'commune with my muse' for a whole day. I'd feel guilty going to a spa, though long bubble baths are nice.
The things that help me relax are high-passion activities. I play bass guitar in a band; we practise in my back room. We don't gig any more, we just blow off tension by making a lot of noise.
· Joanne Harris is a novelist. Her most recent book, Holy Fools, is published by Doubleday.
