When you visit somewhere new, make notes.  Think about the different smells and tastes, the way the weather feels, the way the people act, the way the light falls through the window.  It’s hard to write when you’re on the road, but even if you only jot down a few ideas, a sentence or two, you can always use what you’ve got later.

And if you’re not travelling, use writing as an opportunity to go wherever you want to.  I don’t believe in writing what you know.  I believe in using your imagination (and some research) to create something believable on the page.  So travel right now – choose a country you’ve wanted to visit or one you know and love.  Look it up on the Internet or read about it in a book.  Then imagine yourself there.  Describe it intimately so someone else could go there too, through your words, with you.

I’ve just read and loved YA novel If I Stay by Gayle Forman.  Simple and clear, sad and compelling.  Just the sort of novel I enjoy reading.  I’m in a writing phase where I’m reading everything I can, getting ideas and inspiration from books around me.  I finished Sarah Dessen’s Just Listen the other day and am starting Alice Hoffman’s The Story Sisters now.  Books are the galleries of the mind – and for a writer thinking about what to work on next they are like visiting rooms full of paintings.

Gayle Forman says: Such is the wonderous magic of writing.  There’s a wall.  And then, suddenly, there’s a door.

I like that.

I was listening to the radio today and a writer, Lynne Ried Banks , said that her advice to people who want to write is to look at what’s happening around you and then notice what’s different.  Pay attention to unusual moments – things that are out of place.  Wonder why or how they happened or happened to be there.  From that you’ll find stories and inspiration.