The first time I visited the Muker Show was in 2005. My first novel had just been published and I remember the excitement of seeing it on the shelves of Ottakar's bookshop and being interviewed by the Northern Echo. I also remember visiting the Sedbergh book festival that month and giving Reginald Hill a copy of 'Corpse Way' - he asked me to sign it 'To Reg'. I took a box of books to the Muker Show and shared a table in the history tent. On that occasion it poured with...

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...

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...

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...