Don't write while you drive!

Don't write while you drive!

Seems like rather obvious and sensible advice. But I'm not talking about texting. I'm talking about drifting away from the wheel and into story; slightly more dangerous than birdwatching with your foot on the accelerator and neck craned to glimpse a rarity flying overhead. Don't even record your thoughts on your phone if you are racing along.

If you want to write, sit at your desk. If you want to make notes sit anywhere, but don't try to multi-task.

The best ideas I have had have not come to me in an instant whilst doing something else. Occasionally something has occurred to me as I'm about to drop off to sleep, but I have rarely followed those ideas up. They never look so great in the morning.

For me, the best ideas come from the discipline of doing. Being in the right place at the right time. That is not luck; it is arranged. In my case 8.00 - 11.00 a.m. If I step out of that space I am less creative and certainly get less down.

If the day is sunny and crisp, like this morning, and I go early birding then I have to accept that the writing won't get done. For me there is no such thing as Total Writing. It is immersive when I do it, but it does not consume the rest of my existence.

Concentrating is the best way of staying alive.