When the Muse Strikes.....

Writers are often asked where the inspiration comes from, and obviously a great deal of it is due to an overactive imagination! However, once one has the outline of a story, all the ideas have to be organised into a logical sequence, and that's when I like to take a walk to get the story straight.

I have just returned from a week's holiday, where I was determined not to do any work, so I left the computer behind, didn't pick up any emails and just switched off for the week – only to come back with ideas for three new stories all jostling for supremacy in my head! So this morning I set off to walk from home down into the valley. After a weekend of torrential rain, the morning dawned bright and sunny up on the hill, but the valley was filled with cloud, like a huge milk-white lake.

It was lovely to walk in the clear sunshine, then to drop down into the mist. The ghost-like images will feature in a book somewhere, I am sure (and just to reassure you I do wear a high visibility jacket when walking on the roads int he fog - the poor drivers have enough to do following the winding hill roads without having the peer through the mist for almost-invisible walkers!)

The walk to the valley is about a mile and I find it a good time to sort out story-lines, plot ideas or just to wrestle with some of the fine detail. I especially love it at this time of the year, when the leaves are turning to gold and the moors glow almost orange in the sunshine.

So now, walk done, I had better get back to the writing!

Have a happy autumn.

Sarah Mallory/Melinda Hammond.