In the last week or so, I’ve written about 8,000 words on The Gate. Partly this was jump started by my having nailed Fiona’s underlying character motivation. But more importantly, I belatedly realised that the reason I’ve stalled on The Gate lately isn’t just because I’ve been madly scribbling away to get a pile of short fiction pieces submitted around the country, but because I haven’t been reading.

Well it seems obvious in retrospect, but I can’t remember the last time I sat down and read a book. Three months ago? Four?