There were dry days and a steady breeze, earlier this week and it was time to light a bonfire. Over months hedges have been cut back, clumps of brambles have been cut out and branches have been lopped off trees or blown down in winter storms; these have all been gathered into piles for burning. The job has to be tackled with care as after only a few weeks small mammals, birds or insects have found refuge in the piles. So the fire is lit under a new pile.

Withth luck, and there is always a period before it is certain, the fire will taked and as it builds the old piles are moved across giving the chance for any resident livestock to make their escape.

There is a strange connection between the writing process and a successful day with a bonfinire. I have an obvious hesitation in mentioning ‘burning’ and ‘books’ in the same sentence, but bear with me, there is a parallel. There is a period, sometimes a long period, when ideas, plot and sub plots are accumulated before a story can be built. Then when the time and concept is right the whole comes together in a successful outcome – be it a cleared field or a book launched.