Don't let the grass grow...

I remember when all this was fields...

No, the picture is not our garden, but only because Anne wouldn't let it (or rather, let me let it) get to that stage. It's actually a small walled field up above the coast. Today it's filled with campion, but if you'd visited back in February, as we did, you'd have seen a gorgeous swathe of daffodils.

Timing is everything, and everything has its moment. Often we don't realise that until the moment has passed. The thing we meant to say in anger or in affection, that amazing piece of dialogue we meant to write down just as soon as we'd had that next sip of coffee. Each moment is precious because that exact moment will never return.

The magical first draft of a novel can be a little like those daffodils. Suddenly, after a pleasant hike, there it is - beaming at you. A field of campion, perhaps, is more like the subsequent edits. There's beauty there too, but you have to look harder for it. And it can be darn congested in there! No point wishing you were back in the time of daffodils - things have moved on and you're no longer the same writer anyway.

With all that in mind, it's crucial to seize the day and write when inspiration grabs you (and sometimes even more important to do so when it doesn't). How many notebooks lie at the back of a drawer, gathering dust, only to see the light of day at a time when 'man loses train ticket - chance encounter' no longer triggers that prize-winning story you were sure you were going to write?

So, as spring's showing of colour slowly but surely gives way to summer's pageant, let me ask you:

• What stories have you been meaning to write?
• How many neglected notebooks are eager for your attention?
• What have you been putting off that would help your writing?
• What would you like to look back upon and see that you've completed? (An old coaching trick!)

Because, before you know it, that field will be full of foxgloves and we'll all be wondering where the time went!