‘I could never write a book,’ a friend said to me recently. She meant it as a compliment and I accepted it graciously but not before I told her, ‘of course you could’. She argued that ‘no, she had no talent for it,’ but again I replied, ‘you could if you wanted to. You just need an idea and the passion to see it through’.

Because of course, none of us are born writers. Shakespeare wasn’t born with a quill in his hand. Dickens, I’m pretty sure, didn’t emerge from the womb with  a working synopsis of The Pickwick Papers. I mean, I don’t know anything about the writing habits of Shakespeare or Dickens but I’m pretty sure that they started out like every one of us – by having a go, enjoying it and learning as they went to hone their craft. 

I suppose what I’m saying is we’re all just winging it. As human beings we are, as adults, as writers. I don’t mean that some of us don’t plan. I plan. I plan to the nth degree but I don’t leave those plans in a box. I don’t wait for the perfect moment, I don’t wait until next year, I don’t wait until I’m trained, or ready. I’m definitely more a fuck it, what’s the worst that can happen kind of a girl.

I’m lucky that my husband is too. That’s how we came to run our guesthouse. If we’d have given the humungous mortgage too much thought in the ratio of risk to safety, we’d have never bought it. Not that we’re gamblers in any shape or form. But speaking of gambling and being lucky, yeah, we all need a bit of luck too. 

I know I fell lucky when I found Litopia. It has had the biggest effect on the quality of my writing in just a few months, more than all the creative writing classes, other internet courses and tips put together.

It has also pushed me out of my comfort zone – my own ‘I can’t…’ In my case, I can’t write poetry. Of course, I can. Everybody can. It might not be any good, (and I’m not looking for any compliments there). Not at first. But then nothing has to be any good, especially if you’re writing it for yourself, for the joy of it. After all, art of any sort is subjective. One man’s Banksy is another woman’s graffiti after all.

So what I’m trying to say, is have a go. Especially in writing. So long as you have the passion for it and it gives you joy, what have you got to lose? I’ve found here, you’ll only receive constructive feedback and enthusiasm and if the stuff you write and perhaps post, isn’t the greatest, well just use that feedback, harness that enthusiasm and keep going and improve.