Here is a quote from Jeanette Winterson's interview:
Everything in writing begins with language. Language begins with listening. When we are little kids we learn by listening. Writers have to have a knack for listening. I need to be able to hear what is being said to me by the voices I create. Just on the other side of creativity is the nuthouse---and I often notice people looking at me strangely when I am talking out loud, but there is no other way.
Lovely way to talk about one's madness from the best writer of my generation anywhere in the world!