Fi Phillips

I've already mentioned the writer's love for pens but along with that goes a writer's giddiness over a well-formed writing pad. Be it A5 or A4, lined or blank, ringbound or punched, a lovely, fresh pad will make any writer smile. As with the pens, they don't have to be expensive and they're widely available in stationers, gift shops or supermarkets.  Here's a selection that I came across. Pink Blossom Blue Sky Gifts, Zazzle Strangemoo, Zazzle W H Smith Tesco Paperchase

I was recently watching a YouTube clip where Stephen King answered questions about his approach to writing. When questioned about the use of notebooks, he had this to say, "People say do you keep a notebook? And the answer is I think a writer's notebook is the best way in the world to immortalise bad ideas. My idea about a good idea is one that sticks around and sticks around and sticks around. To me, it's like if you were to put breadcrumbs in a strainer and shake it, which is what the passage of time is for me. It's like shaking a strainer, all this stuff that's not very big and not very important just kind of dissolves and falls out. But the good stuff stays, you know the big pieces stay." He then goes on to talk about how he had the idea for 'Under The Dome' when he was teaching high school in 1973 and how the idea was 'too big' for him and he was too young for it. He wrote about twenty five pages of the idea and put it away. We now k...