IRVINE Welsh has vowed that he will keep on writing until his dying breath.
The Trainspotting author said he would be dead “within weeks” if he stopped working and found it difficult to sit around doing nothing.
The vow will delight fans of the writer, who at 59 could retire in just six years’ time.
In an article in Canadian magazine Maclean’s, he said: “I couldn’t retire. I mean, what would I do?
“If I stop working and publishing, and TV, and film and all that, I would be dead within a couple of weeks.
“I don’t really have that kind of off-switch.”
Welsh added: “I can’t stand still. I find it very difficult to sit around and do nothing. I’ve got to have projects on the go because the devil makes work for idle hands. I’ve got to be going forward all the time.
“If I don’t have something to do, I’m not the kind of person who can sit on a beach on holiday.”
Welsh told Alexander Bisley: “I think that a lot of people who are, in some ways, successful are kind of like that. I’ve noticed that in all walks of life.
“You want to be constantly moving into the next thing, you’re disinclined to reflect, and to kick back and relax. You want to keep going.”
In the interview, Welsh also hit out at publishers who hire hire “sensitivity readers” to flag potentially offensive content.
He said: “It’s absolute nonsense. It’s total f****** nonsense, and a complete and utter waste of time.
“It’s gonna kill culture by binding it down.
“You have to let people express themselves in the way that they need to express themselves.
“You have to express yourself in any way possible, provided you’re prepared to live with the consequences.
“I think that particularly in art and literature, if you start gagging that—that should be the frontier, where there’s no such thing as decency, really.
“In civic life, I think that’s where you can debate what is good taste and what is acceptable to other people, and what’s gonna offend people.
“Do that there, but leave it out of art, because art is the one frontier that shouldn’t have restraints put on it.”
Last week, Welsh agreed to write a third instalment of Trainspotting but only if Hibernian won their derby match.
Despite Hibs beating Hearts 3-1, Welsh has kept tight lipped about whether he will be going through with the promise.
