You may have heard the recent news about Nobel Prize winner, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, and his revelation that he has not written a line in over a year. Is the seam of magic realism all mined out, or is this just the natural slowing down of old age? Given that many writers of his standing seem to die with pen in hand, can you really retire from something as all-consuming as being a writer?

I can imagine not being able to face the long grind of writing another novel, but not short fiction either? I don't know - it is hard work. Or maybe he's feeling that he's said what he wants to say, and his standards are too high for him to let himself dress it up another way and say it again.

Emma

I can't imagine planning to retire from writing – to decide that, on a specific day, I will stop doing it, although I would probably retire from ambitions to get novels published. I imagine I’ll carry on writing and, if I get to a point where I feel I have something publishable, then I might brush it up and have a go. It’s the commitment to have writing published that creates the pressure which I probably wouldn’t want if I was in retirement mode.

Dee

I'll die at the keyboard. And if it's not sudden, I'll drag myself to the keyboard and 'position' myself so they find me draped over it. And if I'm dying of a long illness, I'll simply sleep at the keyboard, because you never know. And if I'm in public and drop, I'll make sure I'm carrying a newspaper, so I die on print, so to speak.

I'll never stop writing. It's too much fun for starters, and I'd only miss the adrenalin rush.

S.M.