The image of the well is quite an engaging one. Makes you think of shepherds coming in from the desert to feed their flocks, or humble peasants lining up with buckets.

Back in those times, a well would have felt like the most important place in the world – the primary source of health and well-being. Without the water sourced from its depths, there would be no community, no life. And lowering that bucket must have sometimes felt like a bit of a gamble. What would be drawn out? Would it be crisp, clear, life-giving water, or dank and dirty mud? Or would the well be dry, with no water left to draw?

I recently read a couple of books.

I know, this shouldn’t be a particularly unexpected occurrence. We all know that reading is one of the major activities all writers should engage in. It’s at the top of pretty much all those ‘what you need to do to be a successful writer’ lists put out by a bunch of famous writers, as well as not-so-famous writers who hope one day to be famous writers.

Well it’s not a particularly original sentiment – it’s one that numerous others have already expressed. But this is my blog where I get to say what I want, regardless of how many times it’s already been said. So here it is. I’m going to say it.

Hooray! It’s no longer 2020. 2021 is here at last.

Well, would you believe it? We’ve finally arrived at the last day of 2020. What a journey. At times, it was hard to believe we’d actually get here. And the sad thing is lots of people around the world didn’t get here.

At the end of any year, I like to post a bit of a reflection on what has just passed – to talk a bit about how I’ve managed, and how I’ve gone with meeting the goals I set myself at the start of the year.

One of the most vexed topics to consider when looking at the art of creating a story is where to start. At what point do you start to conceive the idea of what your story is about?

The most obvious point would seem to be the beginning. That makes complete sense, doesn’t it? I mean, a conventional story has a beginning and a middle and an end, so why wouldn’t you want to start at the beginning?

Well, judging from my experience, there are a lot of reasons why you might not start at the beginning. Because I’ve written stories where the initial inspiration has come from pretty much every point in the narrative arc.