My best ideas often come when I wander off somewhere with nothing specific in mind. Here are three of my favourite wanders:
Letting the dog take me for a wander
Old dog pace is slow, with stops for joyous sniffs and rolls.
Wandering through old magazines
Thanks to poet Roger Stevens for introducing me to the delights of cutting and pasting random words, phrases and pictures and making surreal poems.
Wandering round a local place of interest
There are loads of interesting places, museums and art galleries where I live, but a supermarket or my local town, Deal, will do just as well, too.
Wandering around Dover Castle has given me ideas for three books - which I occasionally get invited to read in the awesome setting of the Great Tower.
I don't have a notebook by my side when I go off wandering- because that would make me think I had to have an idea, and the whole point of wandering is that it's pressure-free. But I often come back with something to add to my compost heap of ideas.
Here's a link to my post about ideas composting
But even if I don't come back with anything to put in the notebooks, wandering off occasionally stops me stagnating - and makes me feel less guilty about the chocolate nibbling when I'm back at my desk.
Jane's currently polishing up three picture book texts for Nosy Crow. She's been having a lovely time wandering round Dover Castle, and doing some readings there over the autumn break, and Bramble has taken her for lots of walks.
Jane's Website Jane's Facebook author page
