Do you feel you must wait for inspiration to strike before you can write? It’s time to let that go. When you allow yourself to just write for the pleasure of it and not weigh yourself down with lofty expectations? Writing becomes a hell of a lot more fun. And the best way to start? Write about how you started your day.

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It doesn’t matter what time of day or night you write. You don’t need to write in the morning to capture the morning. (But it does help.) Writing about how you started the day is an easy way to get into the flow. It takes away the pressure of perfection. Remember. Allow the writing to feed you vs feeling you have to feed it.

Take this morning, for instance. The zombies didn’t attack. The Martians didn’t land. I had oatmeal with dried cherries in it. In my book, these are three good enough reasons to write about.

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“When you wake up in the morning, Pooh,” said Piglet at last, “what’s the first thing you say to yourself?”

“What’s for breakfast?” said Pooh. “What do you say, Piglet?”

“I say, I wonder what’s going to happen exciting today?” said Piglet.

Pooh nodded thoughtfully. “It’s the same thing,” he said.”

A.A. Milne

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My day started at 5:30 a.m. with coffee in hand and three books on my bed. A werewolf dog lying on the floor beside me. And a notebook and a pencil close by too. (I have to use a pencil as I’ve wrecked too many sheets with my fountain pens. I kid you not.) I wrote about my friend who just had surgery. And I scribbled about what I could see out the window. I wrote about the next Scribbly issue for my subscribers. And when I needed a break I dove into one of the three books on my comforter.

What were they?

The first is a translated Dutch novel. (Superb writing, however the story is so sad I’ll throw it back into the sea and donate it to the thrift store.)

The second is a nonfiction book by one of my favorite Canadian authors, Helen Humphreys. Unlike her other books – this one is a dry read. And contrary to my usual habit of tossing a book if it doesn’t capture me in the first chapter – I pressed on – which is a funny turn of phrase as her book is about herbariums worldwide filled with centuries of dried, pressed plants.

And my last book? It will make you chuckle. Tin Fish Gourmet by Canadian food writer, Barbara-jo McIntosh, is a delight. Sardines. Anchovies. Smoked herring. Oysters and clams. I can’t wait to dig out my can opener and give her recipes a whirl. I love when a writer makes you look at something ordinary with fresh eyes. At 5:30 in the morning. Who knew Curried Sardines on Toast would make me write this blog post? (Wait a second. That rhymed!)

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I know when you start to write and just write about whatever is around you – “the scales drop from your eyes” and suddenly the words appear. They won’t be perfect words and thank goodness for that.

Imagine how dull you’d be if you wrote perfectly every time you put pen to paper or fingers to the keyboard? You wouldn’t be someone I could ever hang out with.

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Sit down and write about how you started your day.

Was it a lazy start to the day and you woke up to the sun? Did a hot flash wake you up? Did you go to bed mad and woke up still fuming? Did you want to throw the alarm clock with the crappy buzzer out the window?

Are you one of the people I envy because you did your yoga stretches and meditated before doing anything? Did you jump out of bed, put the coffee on, and read the paper or start scrolling on social media? Did your dog wake you up with a request for a walk? Did you make pancakes, or did you hoover down a granola bar as you dashed to a meeting?

Write about this slice of your day. It doesn’t have to be fancy, profound, or even meaningful.

And if you read about a good tin fish recipe? Well, feel free to fire it over to me.

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*Did you love this? Then check out Scribbly – my quirky and gentle writing program that we snail-mail right to your house. We’re nice like that.