I’ve generally been inclined to scoff at the seemingly ubiquitous advice that a writer should write every day, whether for practice, or exercise, or to avoid losing momentum. It seemed to me that few things could be more dispiriting than to discover that you had written something inconsequential or disposable merely in order to have written, or to meet the daily quota.

But I’m starting to believe that I really should write first thing every morning (too late for that today) including days which are not “writing days” but rather “day job days”. Not for practice, or as a way of going through the motions or even to maintain continuity, but rather because writing is the way — in the absence of a self-image — that I reconnect myself (consciousness) with myself (habits, instincts etc), and that seems to be something that I need to do every day.