One more spread to go on my Crab story, Nip! Nip!

My very first books were only fourteen sentences long. Nip! Nip! is only 41 words long. When my first books came out, I was often told how clever I was to be able to write such short stories. I’d not thought that was supposed to be difficult. In those days I suppose I thought that you start small and learn to write longer. Many people think that you write children’s books and then grow up to write adult books. (It doesn’t work like that.)

When I was told that it was hard to write short, I found I couldn’t do it anymore. Only in the last four years have I got back into the swing through a book I did called Cat and Dog, that had no words at all. Then I did a couple of stories that fitted into a Phonics regime, so I only had a few letters of the alphabet to play with – S A T P I N M D – for example. Writing a story like that is a bit like doing a sudoku puzzle or carving a walrus tusk. The story is in there already, you have to work at it until you find it.

Now that I’m older and wiser, also know that waiting around for inspiration is a waste of time. The secret is to just get down and do the work. Working hard at a problem gives inspiration a chance to drop by. Sitting on the beach drinking beer only gives you sunburn and a hangover. There is no substitute for getting out a pencil and paper and working out a problem.