Hello and welcome back to a brand new episode of writer's routine.

This week we're chatting to Melvin Burgess.

Melvin won the Carnegie Medal for Junk, a novel about heroin use in Bristol, and he wrote it for teenagers.

It's recognised as one of the best young adult books of all time.

We talk about what you do when you've spent ages working on something that turns out to be

not quite good enough. Also, you can hear about the strange badge of honour that he prides himself

on, and we learn why he's returned to writing after a little break.

But recently I've kind of found my mojo again, I feel.

So, but I don't feel, I don't feel obliged to,

uh, to sort of, you know, go charging ahead.

I don't feel obliged to do a novel a year or even a novel

every two years. I tend to take my time. I pick the projects that I really want to do. I've got

a bit of a space around me now. I don't feel as though I necessarily need to do this. I do it

because, you know, I want to do it. It's nice to return to that position where you're sort of doing it because you need to do this. I do it because, you know, I want to do it.

It's nice to return to that position

where you're sort of doing it because you want to do it.

There is more with Melvin Burgess in this week's writers routine.

Yes, ahoy, welcome to the show. My name is Dan Simpson. This is writer's routine. Well, we take a look very simply inside the working day of some of the most successful authors around. And it's Melvin Burgess on the show this week. He's written many books. A lot of them were through the 90s and naughtys. He cracked them out

ferociously. And now, with his family life more settled and his kids a little bit older,

he's taken a break. And he's back with his first novel for adults. Although, as you'll hear

in the chat, that description maybe isn't quite as fitting as it should be.

It's called Loki. It's all about the politics of Asgard. It's a heartfelt plea to overthrow the gods of power and authority.

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