Blossom is sparking in the tangle of gardens which spills down the hill. I can hear birdsong (and builders, shouting). It should be perfect, and in a way it is, but because it's my first day properly back at work it feels freighted with expectation.
In every sense it's like sitting in front of a blank page -- my little shed a literal Writer's Block: I'm already conscious of the pressure to deserve it.
So, how to cope with writer's block of the literary kind?
- Give yourself permission not to write anything at all -- go for a walk, hoover the house, have a cup of coffee.
- Do some kind of desk work that is not writing, to break yourself in gently -- pay bills, respond to e-mails, that sort of thing.
- Gaze out of the window, and gaze, and gaze, until something comes to you.
- Write down the first thought that enters your head and then pursue it, writing and writing - it doesn't matter what -- until the flow comes.
- Write about how it feels not to be able to write. Write about why you can't write, and see what it reveals to you.
- Outstare the blank page; sit in front of it, obstinately; face it down. Make yourself write, even if it is rubbish, even if it feels like punishment; persist.
- Blog...
