Last weekend I had two what I would call Good Writing Days (GWD). Normally when I find myself with a free weekend I get so intimidated by the hours stretching ahead of me that I start to find excuses not to start writing.

So this time I set myself a much better timetable. I treated myself to a lie-in and spent the morning doing those niggly little jobs, going for a run, taking books to the library and doing the grocery shopping. At last I sat down to write at 2pm. This really worked because as I’d been going about my daily chores all I’d been thinking about was writing. This meant when I finally sat down, I was in The Zone and raring to go. There were no worries about whether the flat was tidy or what I’d be making for dinner. It was all there and all done. All I had to do was write. And I did.

I didn’t turn on broadband and my Blackberry was on silent so it couldn’t disturb me. (As I’m writing now, it’s in the other room so I’m not tempted to text anyone or check up on my social networking). And it all worked. Two-and-a-half hours later I sat back to find I’d not only typed up everything I written the week before, I’d also added about 1,000 words. Whether it requires heavy editing in future is completely immaterial. What matters is that it’s there – there’s nothing more intimidating than a blank page! – and I wrote it. I wrote with confidence and enjoyed doing it. I seem to have dragged myself out of the slump I’d got into and it feels great.

The following day I sat down and not only planned two scenes I needed to write next, I also added a 500-word scene earlier in the manuscript, which I’d started to write on my Blackberry. It took me a while to work out where I’d intended it to go in the book and why I’d written it, but it’s in there now.

So all in all, I’d had a successful couple of days and it really feels like I’ve got my writing mojo back. The work may not be perfect but I’m turning up, getting my bum on the seat and writing. Quite frankly, at this stage, that’s all that matters!