I’ve had a pretty hellish week. Work has been a nightmare, I’ve got toothache, and to cap it all off, when I get back into work on Monday morning I’m probably going to get a mouthful from the boss. So, really, all things being equal I should be taking a break; flicking on the Xbox and blasting away on Call of Duty, while downing a few beers. But no, I’m sat here stressing out about the fact that I haven’t deposited my night’s words on the blog page. Sad, or dedicated?

I’ve got to say, the words are not coming easy tonight – the fact that it’s 11pm probably has something to do with that. My living room is a war zone of kids’ toys and research material. Somewhere under the Lego that my daughter managed to throw all over the floor is the TV remote. I guess I should pick it all up; there’s nothing worse than Lego bricks under bare feet! That’s the thing with kids, they take up time even when they’re in bed snoring.

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Now the cat’s come into the room to nag me about going to bed. It’s quite funny watching him trying to walk on Lego! I know I’m in trouble. This fella won’t quite meowing at me until I give up, shut my laptop down and go to bed. But I’m damned if I’m going to power off before this entry is done.

That’s the thing with writing. It’s like running. Even when you don’t want to do it, you still make yourself put on the running shoes and get out on the pavement. If you don’t get out and pound the pavement things that were firm go soft. Writing is exercise for the brain; it helps keep things trim, ticking over. If you don’t practise daily you lose your edge. Your observation skills diminish; your stamina for sitting at the keyboard wains. In short you lose your drive. Yeah, playing Xbox would be nice, but it won’t do me any good mentally – and there’s certainly no point attempting to take on the world on-line when I feel I should be writing; my focus will be shot to hell.

Even if this session turns out to be a bust, I know that simply by turning up at the page today I’ll probably be able to find something worthwhile to say tomorrow. Going to back to the runner analogy, our runner may have a couple of bad morning jogs where it feels pretty pointless, but come the day of the marathon he’ll be glad he made the effort. Even when you can’t be bothered, even when you feel there’s nothing worthwhile to say, turn up and share a few words.