I’d like to write an article on this blog but out of the millions of things I could write about, what am I going to choose?
I could always start with a piece of creative writing; what do I think would happen if Shaun the Sheep turned up in The Silence of the Lambs? What about a short story using the character of Lydia Bennet from Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice?
How about a book review, or a review of a character from a particular novel? I’ve just finished reading North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell and could start expressing my opinions about either the book itself, or its main character Margaret Hale. Book reviews don’t have to be limited to pieces of fiction; writing about Alexandra Fuller’s Scribbling the Cat or David Starkey’s Monarchy are other possibilities.
I could also write about things I enjoy. I think crimson roses are absolutely beautiful and could put together a 1,000-word article on the different varieties. As I spent my childhood in Zambia, I could pen a piece on the current economic conditions under President Rupiah Banda, or the diversity of wildlife in the South Luangwa National Park.
Or how about something out of the ordinary: a long piece on the apricot, or the Cabbage White butterfly, or fibre-optic cables, or the Zambian company Africonnect or the global charity SOS Children’s Villages?
Life experiences is another category: my feelings on spending my eighth birthday in Australia, for example, or my university days in Norwich, my duties as a Red Cross first-aider, or my first day at secondary school.
So, after all that deliberation, what am I going to write about?