Let's get serious...
Well, it's only taken me nearly 57 years to get serious...after all, this writing malarkey is not something you want to rush into, is it? On reflection I'd say "yes" - most emphatically. Certainly there are things I can write about now that I wouldn't have experienced or understood when I was younger - things that over 30 years of marriage, two grown sons, several redundancies and a few changes of career have given me. So if I wanted to I could make lots of excuses for not getting serious about writing earlier. But I'm not going to.

It strikes me as ironic that one of the times we get really creative is when we're justifying to ourselves (and anyone else who will listen) exactly why we can't write that short story or make some progress on that great novel we've been carrying around in our heads for so long (oh, you've got one too?) "But Ian" I hear you protest through the ether, "I just don't have the time. After all, I've got my hands full with my job/my family/my garden/my..." (you fill in the blank).

Of course you have, and these things are important to you. But you have to decide - what's more important to you in the grand scheme of things: slouching in front of Emmerdale (yes, I do. Guilty, m'lud) being spoonfed soap, or actually getting uncomfortably creative? Because it is uncomfortable isn't it to buckle down and apply ourselves to what we profess to want to do? But when you get to my age or beyond(!) what would you rather be saying: "I've seen 10,000 episodes of Emmerdale" (or Eastenders, or Corry or...whatever) OR "At last! I've just put the finishing touches to my novel!"   

Come on, you can do it - and when you do, you'll join a rare bunch of people who have motivated themselves to get out of their comfort zone and actually achieved something. 

Final thought: I was watching the film of "The Likely Lads" last night. One of the characters - Terry - was about to leave Newcastle to go to sea. This seemed quite adventurous to his mate Bob and Bob's wife Thelma, who had opted for a safer, more predictable life. Just as Terry was about  to leave, Thelma sidled up to him and said, "Not many people know this, but I nearly went to Morocco once."

Let's just make sure our parting words are not "I nearly wrote a book once."

See you soon.
Ian     Please take a look at my new novel 'Slybacon'