Imagination

With so many distractions these days, it’s often hard to really let your mind drift, but a lot of good writing should be about letting your imagination run freely, I think. Whatever the type of story you are writing, whether it is based in a mythical country or somewhere closer to home, or perhaps even fact based, the writing still has to have some imagination to it to avoid clichés and to make it readable.

I personally find it very difficult to let my mind go. There’s always something else in my mind battling for attention, whether it be the fact that I have to make food for work tomorrow, or do the dishes, or more often lately, spend time considering what baby items I should be buying.

It also doesn’t help having a one room flat where you have no real space to yourself.

My imagination can let go sometimes though, usually when I go out for a walk, and perhaps the fresh air helps a bit too. I also think that having broader horizons to look at in reality help to broaden the horizons of your creative thinking. Either way, this is when my brain runs at its most free.

The trouble is when you’re out walking it’s not so easy to take notes about the things that you come up with, or at least to be able to take a break for a moment to write things down. I’m usually off to work or taking a trip to the shops anyway. [Reading this back it makes it sound like I have a very hectic life – I don’t!]

Anyway, what I am really trying to say is that the toughest things about writing are both finding the time to physically sit down and do it, but mostly it’s finding the time and space to come up with new ideas and different ways of telling old ones. I’d be grateful for any hints and tips that people have for doing this in the city.