Once in a while, a new idea will explode into your mind and, wherever you are, you’ll find yourself scratching around for a piece of paper or fumbling with your phone as you hurriedly attempt to launch the Notes app. Perhaps you’ll be able to quickly locate your journal or your laptop and then, once you’re settled, the writing will come pouring out of you. Hours later, you’ll realise you have skipped meals. You’ve missed an important appointment. You’re terribly dehydrated. It has turned dark outside or night has given way to morning light.
Other times, you will sit down to write and find yourself doing everything but. Because, sometimes, nothing feels more daunting than the blank page.
I often find that, once over the hurdle of the first few paragraphs, the writing flows. But knowing how to start is often the hardest part. So, this issue of Writer’s Workshop will focus on how to simply get some words on the page and I’ll be giving…