I know I shouldn’t complain. I mean I know it’s December. And it used to be that I barely noticed. But since we got Kimber, the weather has become a major part of my life. Every day I take a look out of the window and work out what today’s walks will look like. Will they be a quick walk around the block before retreating home to play with a ball? Or will they be long walks in the countryside to take advantage of that winter rarity: a beautifully crisp sunny day? Even when the weather’s shocking we still have to make at least a brief sojourn; but when the weather’s fine we always make up for any lack of exercise the previous day.

And it occurs to me that I’ve learned to apply this practice to my blogging too. Even though I love to write, there are days when the words don’t flow for my own blogs. I blog most days in one shape or another: for clients, for Sunday Sunshine, or for Blog Club’s Weekly Shot; and those are words that have to come, whether I like it or not. But for this blog and my blog at samdounis, I don’t commit to blogging daily or on any particular day, so I can afford to wait until the words come more easily.

But what I’ve learned is that even on those days where I’m not blogging for myself, the trick is to make at least a short sojourn into that world. Whether it’s taking photographs of Kimber, or the landscape to use as a blog or social media image; or creating memes from those photographs; or stocking up my Story Cupboard; or making time to read. If I do what feels fun and easy on the days I don’t feel like blogging, it means I can take full advantage on the days when I do feel like writing, on the days that the words do flow freely. When I can make word hay.