Tom Allen
British comedian
The fear of nightmares.
What keeps you awake at night?
Question
Which writers or artists most influenced your work?
Taste & recommendation
Question
Which trait do you most dislike in yourself?
Identity & self
Question
What are bad recommendations you hear in your profession or area of expertise?
Craft & work
Question
In the last five years, what have you become better at saying no to?
Daily life
Question
What does love feel like?
Relationships
Question
How has a failure, or apparent failure, set you up for later success? Do you have a favourite failure?
Failure & regret
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.
At 3am, worry seems to be my default mode.
Rachel Cooke, Interview, The Guardian, 10 June 2023 source ↗
Others on this question
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Busta Rhymes
American rapper
Creating. When everyone goes to bed and then you have six or seven hours to create peacefully. I’ve become nocturnal. Even on a night when I am not in the studio, I still won’t go to sleep till six in the morning.
Oti Mabuse
South African dancer
Too much energy.
Vinnie Jones
English professional footballer and actor
Auditions the next day.
More from Richard Ford
View profile →I’d read Something Happened, by Joe Heller; I’d read “A Fan’s Notes,” by Frederick Exley; and I’d read The Moviegoer, by Walker Percy.
I just lack the basic fact-finding instinct.
These mandarin-precious-princess-and-the-pea notions about a writer’s “special place” just didn’t match my life.
Don’t read your reviews. […] Don’t write reviews. (Your judgment’s always tainted.) […] Don’t write letters to the editor. (No one cares.)
I used to tell Kristina, “I choose to be married to you every day.”
It just matters how you respond to that having your confidence shaken, that makes you what you are.
More on daily life
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- What is an unusual habit or an absurd thing that you love? 42 answers
- When you feel overwhelmed or unfocused, what do you do? 32 answers
- What does the first sixty minutes of your day look like? 28 answers
- In the last five years, what have you become better at saying no to? 24 answers
- In the last five years, what new belief, behaviour, or habit has most improved your life? 23 answers
Also answered this
Ruth Jones, Kathy Lette, Donna Tartt, Fatima Bhutto, Reece Shearsmith, Alain de Botton
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