[Mark McDonnell]

I don't have a writing routine because I have a full-time teaching job in a secondary school, my wife also works full-time and we have 11 year old twins. Oh, and I have a (wonderful) 24 year old daughter who likes to pop by with her boyfriend unexpectedly for the weekend in search of free beer and Indian meals. Nobody will allow me the luxury of cloistering myself away with a 'do not disturb' sign on the door. Besides, on the rare occasion when I do have 'alone time' (Rebecca taking twins overnight to her friend's who has kids) I build up the idea of precious solitude in my head and then inevitably sit frustrated in front of a blank sheet of paper. It doesn't seem to work like that.

But I'm always writing. By 'writing' I mean I'm constantly mumbling half-formed lines to myself in my head, obsessively panicking that I'll never write a poem again, staring into space, and jotting things down on bits of paper which I then lose. And jabbing away at the sphere, of course. All this results in me not focussing as I should at work and mixing up simple words at home, like 'fridge' when I mean 'washing machine'.

But then sometimes, suddenly, all the mumbling, panicking and staring into space coalesces into a poem which usually comes very quickly. I can feel that it's ready and I might write it parked in the car or I go to the pub for an hour after work. Then it's just tinkering. Lots of my poems happen in the pub.

Maybe I should build a shed...

Edit: or I get up in the middle of the night and sit on the chair in the garden with a blanket and a notebook. That's resulted in a few good ones!