At the end of April I took a couple of days off for my birthday which coincided with what I’m tempted to refer to as the start of summer, but let’s call it a surprise balmy Spring, which allows room for summer still to arrive.

When it’s sunny outside I get the guilt, (I suspect it’s a Scottish one), where I feel the need to go OUTSIDE as much as possible to top up my tan and Vitamin D deficiency. This can make it difficult to write as a part of my brain switches off in the sun, and craves to read instead.

And then I remind myself that an important part of my creative process is to give myself permission to read, (and my montage of book photos is just a selection of ones I was gifted during April and May, from other people, as well as myself). My partner treated us to a night away in Anstruther, a beautiful coastal town, where we went for long walks and took our books to the beach, (I’m grateful that he’s an avid reader also, and lets me talk aloud when I’m musing about plot-lines in my own books).  My time-out from real life allowed me to stop for a while and daydream.

Finding time to daydream in a world which wants to keep us constantly switched ‘on’, but not always truly connected is a big challenge. I always have a to-do list swimming around my head, with WRITE SOMETHING flashing at the top, but often tumbling to the bottom to be buried underneath other every-day ‘priorities’. A big part of letting it fall away is allowing self-doubt to creep in, or to allow my practical brain to shout louder than the dreamer in me.

Over the past couple of months I’ve made the time to go out and listen to other people talk about their dreams and creative journeys. Hearing other writers talk about how they started on their journey, and the dips and turns they took along the way, always inspires me to keep going and to keep dreaming, and to be brave – there is an element of just going for it when you’re engaging in anything creative, or starting something new.

I recently visited local writer Anne M. Scriven at her new bookstall, Ardgowan Books, (click to view the website), which is housed within Randall’s Antiques at the ‘Barras’ in Glasgow. It’s a wonderful little sanctuary of books and Anne has such a passion for words, (and people), that it was a pleasure to see her exciting new venture and purchase her memoir, Cadences.

A friend alerted me to the fact that Marian Keyes was speaking at an Aye Write add-on event at the Mitchell Library a couple of weeks ago. This was one of the best author talks I’ve been to. Marian was so entertaining and hilarious, but I was most moved by her honesty about the struggles she has faced in her life. What really struck me was the way writing called to her, and ultimately saved her. She described reading a short story in a magazine and wondering if this was something she could try, with a voice inside asking her to stay around, if only to give this a go.

I think we’ve all got that voice inside us, that part of our creative self who is shouting, trying to make us listen, to ask us to just give it a go, and to give us permission to make time for ‘play’, to daydream and wonder, no matter what form that takes for you – it doesn’t have to be getting lost in words. I think some form of creativity, freedom of expression or play, whatever you want to call it, is so important to keep us sane in this world of responsibilities, and expectations and roles and rules. I’m looking forward to escaping reality for a while next weekend at the Chasing Time writing retreat, aptly billed, Stop the Clock. I can’t wait to take some time out to WRITE.

In my day job as a careers adviser we have been learning about the future world of work, a feeling that we are moving into the 4th Industrial Revolution, (Industry 4.0). Experts predict young people of the future will need ‘meta-skills’ such as creativity, empathy, innovation, and the ability to collaborate. If we allow more time for exploration, for play, and space for experimenting with ideas and making mistakes, then perhaps more people would dare to dream and create something wonderful.