Creditors' demands are distracting me, says Duff
By Marty Sharpe - The Dominion Post -  17/06/2010

Alan Duff says writing novels is difficult and he does not need the distraction of creditors demanding he pay his debts.
In an email to The Dominion Post from France yesterday, Duff said writing novels was "quite a difficult task".
"Sometimes they come, but mostly they are bled out of you, drop by painful drop. Throw in some pressure like I'm under, along with horribly unfair and distracting media attention such as yours, and it is even more difficult."

The 59-year-old author was on the brink of bankruptcy two years ago. He avoided it when all but one of his 25 creditors agreed to a proposal giving him until last month to pay the $3.6 million he owed. The deadline passed without a cent paid.

Duff moved to France in late 2008, and has since published two novels, with a third on the way.

This week John Waymouth, a lawyer for Mutual Finance, which is owed $36,000, and Kelly Kirkwood, the daughter of deceased creditor Erin Begley, urged Duff to face up to his debts.

Yesterday Duff said the court judgment in November 2008 had granted him time "to write a book that I might put out to the broader international marketplace and hopefully make a breakthrough by way of a bestseller or even a good seller.

"At no stage was it envisaged I would make payments in the 18-month period," he said.

However, in his judgment, Associate Judge David Gendall said he had agreed to a proposal submitted by Duff that the novelist expected proceeds from his novels to be forwarded to creditors as soon as funds were available.
Full story at DomPost.