When and why did you start writing?

When I was at school; I always loved playing with words, especially for comedy purposes. I found out that you could deflect all kinds of awkward situations by making people laugh, and I was hooked. I mixed the interest in writing with my interest in trundling around different places, and travel writing seemed the obvious career choice. Not that it's exactly a traditional "career".

When and why did you move to Mid Wales?

Spring 2000. I'd been travelling around and writing about Wales for the Rough Guide since 1992 and loving it more and more. Recent connection to the internet had shown me how portable the life of a writer could be, millennial blood-rush was coursing through my veins; I decided to move and was installed in a small flat between Aberystwyth and Machynlleth within weeks. It was, without doubt, the best decision I ever made.

How long did it take you to write 'Neighbours From Hell? English Attitudes to the Welsh' and how did you find the process?

I'm slightly ashamed to admit that it took about 5 years to write: Y Lolfa (the publishers) were very patient as various deadlines slid past. The problem was simple: there was so much good source material for research that I just kept collecting more and more of it, and not processing it into the actual book.

Eventually, I had to force myself to stop adding more and start shaping it into the text. It was a great process that I thoroughly enjoyed: there's nothing better as far as I'm concerned than an absolutely fascinating topic and the chance to have a really good rant about it.

What themes are dealt with in the book?

Neighbours From Hell? looks at the way English cliches and stereotypes about Wales and the Welsh have percolated down the centuries. To that end, it looks at the cliches about different aspects of life: the Welsh character (long stereotyped as shifty, verbose, lazy, heathen and even oversexed!), the Welsh language (ugly, dead, the "secret language of extremists", not a proper language), the Welsh landscape (either the "very rubbish of creation" as one Englishman put it in 1700 or as the embodiment of the Picturesque and the Romantic), Wales at the Margins, the English invasion and some thoughts on the future of this ancient relationship.

Do you draw inspiration for your writing from your locality?

Absolutely. Physically, I utterly depend on the Welsh landscape for inspiration. If I'm stuck, there are places within walking distance that I can go to and just be in for a while, and almost always the thoughts and inspiration will flow again.

If I need something a little stronger, within half an hour's drive of my front door, I can be up a mountain, on a beach or moor, in a wood or glade, by a waterfall, river, lake or stone circle - all of which give me different kinds of oomph. Much more than that though, I find Welsh culture, and my wonderful Welsh friends, phenominally inspiring to be surrounded by.

When was your first book published?

1991 - the RAW Guides to Birmingham and Greater Manchester, youth-oriented guide books that were published to a wave of yawning indifference.

How many books have you written so far?

Written or co-written 10 guide books, 1 work of fiction, and 2 more general non-fiction books, this one included.

What was different in writing this book compared to the Rough Guide books you've written in the past?

This was much more fun. I've really had enough of writing guide books, especially for big multinational companies who want you to write to a very tight formula. The gap between Rough Guide Wales and the Wales that I see around me was growing wider by the day. I want to write about the real place, not the marketing version of it.

Do you write for a living or do you have another job?

I've eked a full-time living out of writing since 1991; I'm absolutely unemployable now in any normal sense. It's more than just sitting hunched over a word processor, though. For the past five years, I've written and presented travelogues for ITV Wales (Coast to Coast and Great Welsh Roads), so that's been a very pleasant diversion.

I do like the performance side of writing very much: I did a few years as a (rather hopeless) stand-up comedian in the late 1990s.

What are your plans for the future?

I've been writing almost exclusively about Wales since moving here in 2000 and I'm very keen to broaden that out a little next. My next project is to work on a book about my life long love affair with maps, an obsession that I know I'm not alone in cultivating! 'Map Addict' is published on April 30, 2009 by HarperCollins. It's a lively and loving celebration of the humble map and its place in our history and culture. There's lots about Wales in there, but the book also travels all around the rest of the British Isles, throughout Europe and as far afield as Thailand and the USA.

What advide for a would-be writer?

Be ruthlessly honest with yourself. Don't try and manufacture interest in things that really don't do it for you: stick to your true enthusiasms and go deep, deep into them. And don't be put off by the sniff of failure: everyone has had copious rejection letters. Also, be wary of the internet: it's great, but it's not the last word in either research or opinion."

Q & A with author Mike Parker

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