5. Structure. In talking about a writer’s lifestyle, I touched on the need to have space and time to write. We create that as sacrosanct to fulfill our writerly dreams.

This is structure. Otherwise known as a routine — a word that seems, to my mind, the antithesis of the freedom associated with being master of one’s own soul (again paraphrasing Roald Dahl). Which is why I have written nothing in months.

I know that writing within a framework is the only way to move the work forward. Writing regularly frees up brain space where new ideas are born. And ultimately, ‘having written’ is better than forever ‘planning to write’.