Okay, so since I last posted a Writing Tip, the country has gone into lockdown. All the pubs, clubs, cinemas, restaurants and gyms have had to close and my Monday nights have cleared up considerably. No more Movie Night, no more bar work.

In the last few days, there have been loads of images on the news and social media of people, flocking to the countryside, filling up the beaches, mountains, parks, with their presence – potentially spreading disease by going to areas which have hitherto been relatively unscathed. As such, Britain is now on lockdown. Only essential travel is allowed: for shopping, collecting prescriptions, and urgent things that couldn’t otherwise be accomplished later. Gatherings of no more than two people in public. This is very serious and I hope you’re all staying safe.

Now, if you’re anything like me, you’ve probably found yourself at home, perhaps working on a computer, checking the post and trying not to get distracted by the news or the mail and wondering how quickly a person can lose their minds from sitting in a room.

Well, the major problem for people starting the write is a lack of time in which to do it – that might not be a problem right now.

Second problem, in some ways bigger than the first – what to write about?

Here we come to one of the finest inventions in the creative world – writing prompts.

You can find them on some Facebook writing groups but it’s probably easier to find them on google images. They usually look something like this…

writingprompt

Going back to what I said about an Author’s Voice
https://petrinabinney.com/2020/02/22/writing-tip-9-author-voice/,
the wonderful thing about a writing prompt is that you could take an idea, someone else could take the same idea, and two totally different stories would emerge.

And, circling back to the beginning – much of the world is in lockdown. So many stories could come from that. Sit, think, sketch out some ideas. You never know where your imagination might take you.

There was a drama on the BBC some years back starring Lenny Henry as the dynamic new headmaster of a troubled school. As I recall, he had a phrase he used in an assembly which has stayed with me for the last twenty years.

If-not-you-who_daily-inspiration