Keep writing even when you don't want to

Illustration by Mouni Feddag

"Hi Ksenia! I wanted to say that I've recently read 2 of your books, Rosehead and Irkadura. They were both so beautiful and I'll definitely be reading all the rest of your books! But I wanted to ask, you said that it was very hard writing Irkadura and you felt so sad while writing it. So why did you carry on even when the book was such a struggle and you didn't enjoy yourself?"

Here is my answer, darling.

In order to get at that nagging pain that's been gnawing o...