How I write

'How do you write?'

I'm always fascinated by how writers answer that question. Maybe I'm still hoping there might be an easy way.

People are often surprised when I tell them that writing is both the most important thing in my life, and the most difficult thing to do. I've built up a number of 'tricks' over the years to get me to my desk, and these include:

- starting writing first thing in the morning before I do anything else (especially opening my email)

- lighting a candle before I start typing

- giving myself realistic targets, e.g. 1000 words a day

- bribing myself with chocolate biscuits

They don't always work, and so another thing I try to do is not be too hard on myself.

I've been hugely helped by books about writing over the years - including Anne Lamott's 'Bird By Bird', Brenda Ueland's 'So You Want To Write' and Natalie Goldberg's 'Writing Down the Bones'. I return to these when the going is hard - when I feel like I'm a completely terrible writer, or when I've had the fourteenth rejection in a row.

I try and make sure I'm nourishing my 'muse', and the most important part of this is reading, reading, reading - fiction, non-fiction, poetry, the back of cereal packets. I also find it helpful to be in nature or my garden, to spend time alone, to go to galleries, to spend quality time with my cats…

I only seem to be able to write poetry in coffee shops at the moment, accompanied by a slice of good cake. Thankfully this isn't a daily practice.

'How I write' changes all the time, depending on how settled I'm feeling, what I'm writing (and what stage it's at), what else I've got on, and whether I have a deadline. The 'how' doesn't matter - I do whatever works, and if it doesn't work I try something else. Maybe the 'why' isn't important either. I tell myself what I imagine a Zen master might advise - 'just write'.