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Day 7. Cosy up

Jump straight to today's prompt here. When I was a child, most Sunday nights – the best ones – were heralded by the opening notes to When You Wish Upon a Star. That music – and the image of the cartoon Tinkerbell shooting across the screen – was a signal for a Sunday...

Day 6. Looking back to look forward

Jump straight to today's prompt here.   How are you getting on with the daily prompts? Are you finding your way to your creative instinct? Are words arriving on the page? As always, be kind to yourself. I keep thinking about an interview Tim Winton did with the...

Day 5. Snake goals

Jump straight to today's prompt here. Several years ago I taught a group of novelists who were struggling a little with that old ‘I can’t seem to get it written’ problem.  Listening to them, it became apparent that each time they failed to hit their  ‘target’ (usually...

Day 4. What made you a writer?

Jump straight to today's prompt here. I was at a dinner a year or two ago when the man sitting beside me asked, “What made you a writer?” Barely pausing to swallow my soup, I began my origin story, the very one I’ve told at many writers festivals or in interviews,...

Day 3. Getting lost to get found

Jump straight to today's prompt here. I am known for having a very poor sense of direction. You know when people say, “You can’t possibly get lost on that route?” I take some pride in being the person who absolutely can get lost on that route. Once, I got lost on a...

Day 2. Compassion for ideas

Jump straight to today's prompt here. Long before Alan Garner was shortlisted for the Booker Prize, he wrote novels which informed the imaginations of a generation of British children. And after The Owl Service and the Weirdstone of Brisingamen were published, Garner...