Mutton: live webchat with India Knight Tues 24 Sept 12-1pm

I think I'm done taps watch. Thanks very much for having me!

RScake - Thanks and I pick the titles. I know what you mean... but I do think it's a good 'what it says on the tin' title. It's really hard (I've tried) to convey domesticity and family life in a title without it sounding a bit overly cosy.

woof

Hello! I'm intrigued about your 'relationship' with Liz Jones. I'm not a big fan of her columns. I read somewhere that you worked with her at Mirabella. Has she always been so reckless with her friendships and ready to spill the beans?

Woof - She used to be lovely. Really.

Wallygrom

hi India - will there be a follow up book to Mutton?

Wallygrom - Possibly. I'm doing this non-fiction version of Mutton next.

ilikecourgettes

Hello! Welcome to Gransnet. I'm quite new myself!

Out of all the books you've written, which one is your favourite?

ilikecourgettes (I do too) For sentimental reasons, a picture book for toddlers called The Baby. Other than that, the one I'm working on is always my favourite at the time.

applepie

Hello! You're prolific on Twitter - do you think it can sometimes get you into trouble though?

Applepie - Twitter's a godsend if you work from home but yes, the odd unguarded tweet does get through. It's kind of the point, though - it's an impossible place to be unguarded on.

mrscake

Hello India - I really enjoyed the book too. From the title I was expecting more on the whole ageing thing and less on the family relationships. This is absolutely not a criticism - just curious about how you came up with the title (do you choose them or does your publisher?)

MrsCake - I'm like Clara in the book: I prefer cheese to cake and red wine to chocolate. It would probably be one of those very dense, not too sweet flourless chocolate ones, followed by a giant wheel of brie.

SwishySwoshy

Hey India. I have a friend who religiously followed your high-protein, low-carb diet books. But what do you think of the 5:2 Diet? It's a bit of a fad recently...

SwishySwoshy Yes, I know lots of people on it - haven't tried it personally. The thing about diets is that they all work, pretty much, and I'm sure that applies to 5:2. It's a question of what fits best into your life, really, and for me what fits best is not being starving.

limpet

ha! did you do the puking bit too? I did

Limpet - Yes. AND HOW.

Oh crap, sorry, there are more questions that for some reason I can't see. Hang on..

ticktock

'Not a clue'? You sent her a letter and it was pretty big in the media...

Ticktock: What would you like me to say? It was an extremely bizarre situation, to put it mildly. I responded. She responded. I lost interest after that. Have a nice day!

Tap

Do you think some of your tweets in the lead up to #twittersilence were anti-woman and anti-feminist?

Tap: no.

fidget

What are you working on now?

Hi Fidget. I'm working on a sort of real version of Mutton - a manual to getting older, which hopefully will cover everything from fashion to stepfamilies to Botox to putting your parents in a home. I think "ageing" is so not what "ageing" used to be in our mums' generation, let alone our grandmas, that it would be useful to have a kind of guide.

I've just seen an email saying 'could you cut and paste the question' before replying - sorry!

ticktock

Hi India. What was all the hoo-hah about with MK Hajdin?

Ticktock - not a clue. I love social media, but it does throw up some peculiar people.

ElenaT

Hello India, I wondered what your writing routine is and where you write-if in public did you end up burssting out laughing at what you were writing? Think I would have. Oh, and what are you reading at the moment

Hi ElenaT - I don't really have one. As was saying earlier, I tend to write at the kitchen table, and occasionally in my local cafe. Embarrassingly yes, I do make myself laugh, which is really the pits. It's why I don't do readings in public - I get nervous, and the nervousness makes me laugh at anything, in this case my own work, so I look like I'm howling with laughter at my own brilliance, which is just the pits.

I'm reading detective stories by Louise Penny - set in Quebec, sort of quiet and domestic with lots of food in them. They're great.

nannye

Are you as cool a mother as the ones in your books?

Nannye - I don't really know the answer to that. I'm relatively young in relation to my sons (18 and 21) and pretty old in relation to my daughter (9). I'm just myself, really. Seems to work out ok.

Riverwalk

Thank you for the book - lots of laugh out loud moments when I was reading it on the tube.

I'm irritated by celebrities and national treasures who swear that they've not had cosmetic surgery, but would consider should it ever be needed (who are they kidding!)

India, what sort of grandma is your own mother?

Riverwalk - ha, good question. She is very much not the kind of grandma you ring up and ask to babysit, because she's always out (quite rightly). She's brilliant with my kids, and became especially brilliant when they became teenagers, not least because she put herself in charge of their cultural life and started dragging them round exhibitions and so on - worked brilliantly (they'd say 'I'm asleep' to me but wouldn't dare say it to her). These days she takes them to restaurants and discusses poetry and tattoos with them. She's great, but she's not what you'd call a traditional granny.