It’s been one of those weeks where, on reflection, I would say that I’ve got no writing done at all. Sure, I’ve written stuff; in fact I’ve been busy writing stuff all week. But I’ve made very little progress with the actual writing of the new novel and there’s been almost no output of a creative nature (by that I mean made up). However, when I think about it, I haven’t been idle.

So far this week I have:

• Researched and written a 1,000 word Education Bulletin about the use of celebrities in advertising, for my work website.
• Planned and written an explanatory hand out launching my partner’s new management consultancy.
• Blogged.
• Written a 500 word review of a book about the making of 30 great adverts.
• Read two books.
• Prepared and polished a 2,000 word short story which I read on the radio.
• Written various intricate work emails negotiating contracts and fees.
• Researched and written 36 captions to accompany the vintage advertising images used in our three Advertising Memories calendars
• Come second in our weekly pub quiz.

None of this constitutes really creative writing, but at least I’ve kept the little grey cells working in the right direction. All writing is useful, be it summarising events for a newsletter, keeping minutes during meetings, composing dry business reports, or writing essays for a college project. It all keeps the brain active, with the added bonus of giving me something to blog about when I haven’t had time to create something more edifying.

In between times, I’ve had little time to concentrate on my new novel and where it’s headed. I’ve made some mental notes, promptly forgotten, of course, and settled on names for some of the characters. I even know where I’m going to set the story and I’ve got a better idea of where to start (please don’t say at the beginning, or my carefully laid plans will be all to whack) having changed my mind several times. Various jumping-off points have presented themselves, each with their own set of problems, but I think I’m there now. I’m taking my own advice and starting right in the middle of the action.

Tantalising, isn’t it?