Monthly Archives: January 2010

Nine ways to trick yourself into writing

By Matt Hill | Published: January 21, 2010
After last week’s moan about writing anxiety, I spent the days since tricking myself back into writing. Has it worked? Well, I’ve got myself 4,000 words for the trouble. Below, I’ve listed what I think I did better. It’s not a methodology. It’s not life-coaching for writers. But it’s something. Use Microsoft Notepad, not Microsoft Word Notepad looks [...]
Posted in Writing | 25 Comments

Half a thought on new writing

By Matt Hill | Published: January 14, 2010
I am pregnant with a story. It’s overdue, but I can’t get myself into labour. It won’t crown. It’s kicking my belly but it doesn’t want to play. It’s a distraction; I feel it most of the time. It’ll be the third time. The first time it was diarrhea. The second was a textbook delivery — [...]
Posted in Writing | 19 Comments

Manchester snow

By Matt Hill | Published: January 5, 2010
Manchester’s had more snow than anyone remembers. We woke to drifts a foot deep in places, and transport that scarcely worked. But there’s no meaningful way to write about snow without cliche — no point, even — not least when so many pictures have already coloured our day. The south’s next. Here’s hoping they have [...]
Posted in Places | 1 Comment

Flying

By Matt Hill | Published: January 3, 2010
I’m on fences about aeroplanes. You know the cold physics add up, but it’s one of the few occasions you really fear gravity for what it is; for what it will do. My throat lumps every time the wheels leave tarmac. The lurch as the tail section dips, the engines screaming, you wondering if the last [...]
Posted in Living | 2 Comments