Age: 45
Location: Rome, Italy; UK; US

What has been your most difficult project of late and how did you deal with its challenges?
Writing the recent - and pretty sizzling - feature on Jacquetta Hawkes, acclaimed author and archaeologist wife of JB Priestley, for the Sunday Times magazine (UK). As both her authorised biographer, and a journalist with a great story to tell, I had to juggle being sensitive to her family (with whom I had a long relationship), and provide the type of content to maintain a quality broadsheet's reader interest. Jacquetta's work and personal life was intensely sexual, and that had to come across without being simply sensationalised - the result certainly surprised a few people, and a least got her talked about.

What's the most helpful thing you've learned about writing or freelancing?
Learn to love deadlines! I started out as a staffer in print and TV, and used freelancing to supplement my income and see my work published more broadly; I thrived on that pace. When I went into academia, I kept up that committment to deadlines, with my essays and thesis. Now a freelance journalist and author, who also writes academic papers, I can't imagine working without the drama of the clock and the calender! I am a writer who loves an audience, to know what is expected, and when - and writes to that.

What's the worst career advice you've ever gotten?
I'd prefer to talk about good career advice...but now you ask...I suppose it was the comments of my TV newsroom colleagues when I got a place at Oxford at the grand old age of 32! "You're crazy, you'll never work again..." they warned. To a a certain extent they were right, as I didn't return to the TV newsroom, but have shaped - how shall I put it? - an interesting niche that is constantly challenging. If I had not left my job, I'd have missed out on so many experiences - and all of those now shape my writing, journalism, and provide constant inspiration.

What advice do you have for writers interested in trying their hand at writing a biography who have never done it before (or who do not have a historical background?)
Writing a biography is another form of journalism, more intense - and a tough spec. I fell into Jacquetta (saving her archive after she died, I became committed to tell the world about this remarkable forgotten woman) - and can't imagine I'd have the same passion for another subject. So, first thing is to be utterly passionate about your subject. You don't have to like them or admire them - sometimes that can be a hindrance - but you do need to be fascinated, and to be able to draw your readers in. You have to be just a few steps in front of the reader, opening up and answering questions that they are just about to ask. And also letting the reader draw conclusions from the material, based on empathy, prior knowledge. It helped that my doctoral thesis was on the poets Yeats and Heaney...I used biographical material to discuss the phenomenon of archaeology - and was driven by the who? what? why? where?and when? of journalism. By the time I got to Jacquetta I was used to creating a narrative in a historical framework. It also differs if the subject is alive or dead. With the thesis, I had experience of both. With Jacquetta she had died within 10 years, so there was a lot of material and it was a period I had partly lived through, so I relived that part through the research;it became a form of archive news. So again, as with the subject, you need to be fascinated by the period and the context. It's another form of storytelling and you have to grab the reader!