You may have guessed that progress with my second novel is rather slow at the moment  – hence all these displacement activities. I could write a book about writer’s block – 100 ways to beat the block.  But would it be just another diversionary tactic? Watch this space.

Other things that are intruding on my time include trying to build up a supply of 400 word stories for the parish magazine and longer ones to read on the radio. If I can do that I’ll be free to concentrate on the novel for a while.

Anyway, here are a few more suggestions for beating the dreaded block.

Pay attention to your surroundings and let your imagination take over.

• How did that person come to be homeless?
• Who owns that abandoned shoe and how did they lose it?
• Who’s buried under that anonymous wooden cross in the churchyard?
• What horrible ailment brings that poor soul to the doctor’s surgery?
• Why are those two people so annoyed with each other?

Study other people and imagine them in different situations.

• Do they like dancing?
• Are they allergic to anything?
• What makes them shudder? Or giggle?
• Are they afraid of spiders? Or roller coasters? Or buttons?
• Do they like cheese? Or hate it?

Agatha Christie said that the best time for planning a book is while you’re washing the dishes. So, when none of the above is working, distract yourself.

• Trim the budgie’s beak
• Do the crossword, or some weeding
• Practice cartwheels round the yard
• Bake some bread
• Stare into space
• Spend that lottery win.

When you can’t see a way out of a problem, put it on the back burner and forget about it. Trust your brain to come up with a solution. Trust me – it will. Though I can’t guarantee that this won’t be at 3am, so keep that notebook by your bed, just in case. Who needs sleep, anyway?