Cooking with Kate or How to Get Started

I was thinking the other day  that writing these blogs sometimes feels like writing a recipe - take 4 oz. of inspiration, a pound of persistence, half a pound of linguistic flair, a pinch of editorial ruthlessness etc etc and you end up with...

If a Pain aux Raisins isn't quite your thing, here is a list of ingredients that you will need to start writing a good story:

You need a theme to explore.
You need characters to help you do this.
You need to create a situation as a starting point.
You need a location in time and place.
You need a series of subsequent events -- a plot -- which enable you to wring every drop of interest from your theme.
You need time to think before you start (I'm sure that's when the most important part of the cooking happens, almost by magic, without you apparently being involved in the process very much at all)
You need time to write.
You need the fire given off by a passion for what you do.
You need a raising agent  - or a literary one - if you want to get published.
You need to know that if you can't stand the heat you should get out of the kitchen, because it isn't an easy path to follow, but if cookery (or writing) is your thing, then keep doing it, because nothing tastes sweeter than something you have made yourself.