After five short story collections, eight plays, a couple of non-fiction works and 10 novels, Ali Smith knows a thing or two about writing. To celebrate the release of How to Be Both on audio, the Scottish writer and author appeared on the Penguin Podcast to tell Nihal Arthanayake about the book she’d save from a fire, her most beloved objects and what she thinks about when she writes. Here, we rounded up some of Smith’s most useful thoughts on putting pen to paper: