At our last Churchill Writers session, we started off talking about our perfect writing days, when the muse is our best friend and the writing flows like chilled mojito down Papa Hemingway’s throat. Then, of course, chat turned to how we keep our writing going when things are not so good.

We came up with this list – feel free to add your own:

• Keeping a journal can limber up the writing muscles and clear the mind before you start on your novel. Liz Lochhead has described it as like skimming the top of a good broth before it’s served.
• Congratulate yourself as much on a good session of wool-gathering or writing exercises as on producing pages. It’s all needed.

• A trick I learned from journalism is to get a rough draft down, quickly, last thing before bed if need be, so that you have something to work on…