Why do I feel so guilty when asked when the next book is going to be published? If a reader asks, then it is because they are waiting eagerly to find out what Mills is up to, which should be a good feeling, but in my head I can hear the unsaid follow-up ‘Well why aren’t you getting on with it then?’ I am not a full-time writer – but then, who is? Most of us have day jobs, like the lady in the local paper last week who has twelve novels published but still works in the Co-op. Such interactions with the public are surely potential sources of inspiration which we can’t derive by simply looking out of the window. This is the time of the year when groups such as the U3A or WI begin to organise their speakers for the following year and I am contacted to confirm dates that are, in some cases, over twelve months away. It is a serious obligation and I would never dare ask to postpone after such a long term commitment. This year I have been talking to groups up to 50 miles away, sometimes in the daytime but often in the evening. In the summer it is pleasant to visit one of the villages in the Dales to meet interesting folks and sometimes they are already familiar with my books. The size of the groups varies between a dozen and over a hundred but always there are interesting questions to answer and often a cup of tea with home-made cake to follow. I am often asked by readers where I get my ideas from. The internet is a wonderfully random way to get ideas, particularly local news and social media. For example, as I was beginning my last book I knew that it would be based at a posh boarding school and that there would be a school production of Hamlet. I was on twitter and offered my 1,000th follower the opportunity to be named in the book. A certain Jo Rhodes came along and it turned out she was an expert in medicinal plants – and poisonous ones. Suddenly I had a possible cause of death and a title taken from Hamlet: ‘Potent Poison’.