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I only start to panic when the number of days until the deadline is less than the number of thousand words I have left to do, and in that case I find that escaping to our house in Devon for a few weekends, where there's no television or post, helps tremendously. It's on the Yealm estuary and we've just bought a little boat which we like to potter around in. Drifting in with the tide on a lovely summer's evening can make a pretty perfect weekend and also restores productivity.

My mother [Mary, who died in 2000 aged 76] and father had a unique way of working on their books together; she was his researcher, learning to fly for one book or program a computer for another. To a lesser extent, Debbie and I do this too. Debbie will read what I've written out loud to me on a daily basis and that's how I know whether the rhythm of the sentences – something that I learnt from my mother – is right. If Debbie has to read something twice to get the correct intonation then it needs more work. Some critics have said rather disparagingly that my books are "just easy reading", but I can tell you I work very hard to make them that way. I like nothing better than someone telling me they stayed up until 5am with one of my books.

I've always found that handing in the finished draft of a book and waiting for a verdict is the most desperately nerve-racking process, far worse than getting exam results. Thankfully it seems to be going well so far and I'm very proud to be carrying on what my parents achieved for so long. There's one particular tradition I like to keep up: the late Queen Mother was famously a great fan of my father's books and I still deliver a first edition of each to the side entrance at Buckingham Palace. All I can say is that I've had positive feedback.

My memories of my father are very precious to me and one of my most treasured possessions is the 1948 Mk IV Jaguar he used to own. It was the car he drove to and from the Grand National in 1956, when he lost on Devon Loch, and I remember being in it when I was little. He sold it when I was seven, and a couple of years ago its owner contacted me to see if I'd buy it. We negotiated for two years on the price, but driving it home for the first time I felt very close to my father. It was sad he didn't live to know I'd got it back.

My other great passion when I'm not working is sport. I'm an MCC member and I had my absolute perfect weekend a few weeks ago at Lord's, watching England stuff the Australians. I have a debenture seat at Twickenham too: I love going there on a weekend and having a picnic in the car park with friends before watching a match. I'd rather watch bad cricket than good football, though.

I don't often treat them as such, but I like the idea of Sundays being different. I won't take a day off writing for them, but I might work in the morning and then go to the pub for Sunday lunch. The trouble is that writing is a very sober occupation and I do love my red wine. If things are really going badly, a couple of bottles of wine and a late-night session discussing it with Debbie can sometimes be very fruitful, but generally what I write, if anything, on Sunday afternoons, tends to be utter rubbish.

In short

Herbal tea or stiff drink?

That is so easy – a stiff drink. Whoever invented herbal tea should be made to watch endless episodes of EastEnders.

What are you listening to?

I'm not really up to date but give me most things from the Seventies. The Les Misérables soundtrack is what I play really loudly in the car.

Last meal?

Steak au poivre or possibly chicken madras.

Who do you most admire?

Yuri Gagarin and Neil Armstrong.

Earliest memory?

Collecting the bread at the local village shop with my father. Fabulous.

My favourite things

My wife and family

My dogs

A wonderful photo of my parents in about 1998: it's how I remember them

The book I've just finished, and my whole body of work, really

Redcliffe Hotel in Paignton, Devon

'Dick Francis's Refusal' by Felix Francis (Michael Joseph) is on offer at £16.99 + £1.35 p & p (RRP £18.99). To order call 0844 871 1514 or visit Telegraph Books