J K Rowling talks privacy and finances

Here are some outtakes from Decca Aitkenhead's interview with J K Rowling, which appeared earlier this week in Arts&Life.

Rowling's follow-up to the boy wizard, The Casual Vacancy, is out now.

On conceiving the idea for The Casual Vacancy "Obviously I need to be in some form of vehicle to have a decent idea," she laughs. Having dreamed up Harry Potter on a train, "this time I was on a plane", she says.

On privacy Sometimes Rowling didn't appear to be enjoying the fairy tale success of Harry Potter at all, complaining of having had to hire privacy lawyers on more than 50 occasions, and suing a fan for writing an encyclopaedia of Potter facts.

On finances Has her accountant ever suggested Jimmy Carr-style tax avoidance schemes? Rowling looks appalled. "No! God, no, he's not that kind of accountant. No. No one's ever put that kind of thing to me – but then, they wouldn't, they just wouldn't. I do take a pretty dim view of those things. I actually chose my accountant because he said to me, 'You have to make a fundamental decision. You have to choose whether you organise your money around your life or your life around your money.'"

On daily life

When I ask Rowling to name the worst thing about her life today, she can’t think of anything. After a long pause: “The very worst thing right now, this second, is that we’ve got no food in the fridge – what are we going to have for dinner tonight? Big deal. But no, I can’t think of anything dreadful in my life.”

On meeting idols Fame has had its upsides for Rowling; meeting Barack Obama and the legendary Democrat speech writer Bob Shrum were the two greatest star-struck moments of her life.

On privacy, part two She has only ever once resorted to a disguise to go out without being recognised, but that was to buy her wedding dress. "I just wanted to be able to get married to Neil without any rubbish happening." She won't say what the disguise was – "In case," she grins, "I need to use it again."

On the name game She's stopped minding that people get her name wrong (it rhymes with bowling, not howling), and quite likes being JK as a writer and Jo in real life. "Jo the mother is where I want to be the most private."

On the empire Advertisers were forever offering fortunes to use Potter characters, and McDonald's wanted to sell Harry Potter Happy Meals, but all to no avail. "I just hate meetings. Though it's true that once you've made a lot of money people around you might be full of ideas about ways to make lots more money and might be disappointed that you don't want to seize every opportunity to do so."

Reprinted courtesy of Guardian News & Media