It was hard not to feel exceptionally inadequate this week when legendary romance novelist Danielle Steel revealed that she regularly works 20 to 22-hour days. She probably polishes off a few chapters in the time it takes me to write an email. And to be fair, she has churned out 179 books in the past 50 years — and sold 800 million copies. Is it possible to write a hit novel without putting in quite so much labour? We asked four fiction writers what their writing routines entail and what tips they can offer aspiring authors who don’t want to stay up all night.

Many of us also feel inadequate about our numerical skills. Once when it came time to split a bill in a restaurant, a friend of mine whipped out the calculator on her phone and said to me: “I don’t do public maths.” I thought it was a fantastic way to express the sense of anxiety so many of us have about other people seeing how bad we are at sums. But, as we learnt this week, a fear of maths can be overcome.

Last year, a man-eating tiger called Avni achieved global fame when scientists created a special designer cologne in an attempt to draw her into a trap so she could be captured humanely. It didn’t work, and Avni was subsequently shot and killed. Her story serves as an important reminder about how humans behave towards wild animals and how they are being affected by the climate crisis.

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