Screw January, Stay In and Write

    Dear writers, look outside. It's grey, isn't it? Raining and miserable and the last place you'd want to go? I'm also guessing that no-one wants to go out and play because everyone's sick of small talk and spending their money, and that you're secretly feeling like a bit of a chubster? I know, it sucks. It's January, it always does. So, what is one to do with all this extra time on the sofa? Watch new Glee and eat novelty fudge? Sure, but that's only Monday. How about picking up a pen, finding a fresh page in your pad and, as Kingsley Amis put it, 'applying the seat of one's trousers to the seat of one's chair'?




    Alas, this is not actually my idea (although my own January hermitage was already planned), it is the brainchild of the clever ladies at the London Writer's Club (@writersclub). Throughout January they are running an initiative called 'Stay In and Write', with the aim of encouraging all you writers out there to eschew the cold and make the most of the month when you most likely might be found at a lazy loose end. By signing up on their website you get daily tips, hints or encouraging advice to help you not only apply bum to seat but to keep it there and keep you returning to it throughout the month (it's not too late to sign up; the six tips already emailed out have been rt'd on Twitter today).

    So come on, give January some colour and perhaps air that hilarious party happening or festive family grievance and turn it into something with a word count and a purpose. I'm going to be doing it, in between the Glee and the fudge, of course. Here's today's to get you started.