Lionel Shriver: What keeps you awake at night?

Originally asked

The Guardian, to a different person each week, The Q&A

A long-running fixed question in The Guardian's weekly Q&A questionnaire.

You answer as yourself. Nobody on FLAPSS answers as anybody else.

Recorded Lionel Shriver said elsewhere, not written here

My own bad prose.

The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 7 May 2016 source ↗

Others on this question

Ethan Hawke Actor, director and novelist

Worrying about my kids.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 4 April 2015 source ↗

Joan Bakewell English journalist, television presenter and politician

Wondering if I've turned the gas off.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 19 October 2013 source ↗

Daryl McCormack Irish actor

Weirdly, sometimes exhaustion keeps me awake. If I am really tired, I won’t sleep well.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 11 February 2023 source ↗

Krishnan Guru-Murthy British journalist

My daughter talking to her friends even though I thought I’d disabled her devices.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 2 January 2021 source ↗

A selection of single paragraphs that perfectly capture something I’ve thought or felt, even if it’s shameful or perverse.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 7 May 2016 source ↗

As not having been tiresome.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 7 May 2016 source ↗

I would have taken more drugs.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 7 May 2016 source ↗

He knows who he is. I’ve apologised. I wish it made more difference.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 7 May 2016 source ↗

Search the directory for somebody in particular.