I came across a brilliant idea in The Daily Writer a few days ago.

There’s the old saying isn’t there, write what you know. Yeah, ok, that’s boring and I don’t know much anyway. Well, actually…I’ve discovered I do! What about the 45 years of experience I have? All those little events throughout my life that I can use in my stories and novels? All I need to do is embellish the truth a bit, use my imagination 😉

So lets do a little experiment….what do I know about?

(I do love a mind map lol)

But what about one off experiences? What about the evening I spent at London Zoo with a picnic? Or the day I spent in Hay On Wye going round the book shops?

In The Daily Writer they suggest that I keep a file/folder/notebook of “experiences” that I can then draw on for use in my writing. What a great idea! Fred White recommends that you list them chronologically, ie:

“Childhood Experiences”
“Adolescent Experiences”
“Adult Experiences”

And then divide those into sub sections such as:

“Experiences in Nature”
“Holiday Experiences”
“Religious Experiences”

I’d like to add a couple of my own to that list, but when I sit down to mull this over I’m sure I’ll be able to think of loads lol

Food Experiences
Places of Interest Experiences

We all think our lives are so boring, but they’re not. If you were brought up on a farm you will have a wealth of info to draw on. Me, I was brought up in an inner city, and just thinking about it now I can list a handful of experiences that might, at some stage come in handy 😉

Oh dear, so that’s another notebook to add to the collection of the 10+ that I’m already using *snigger* 😉

So tell me, what’s a recent experience you’ve had that you could use to inspire a story?