You see, there are two types of musicians - those who make music for their own enjoyment, and those who do it for others. My mother would never have dreamed of playing her one piece in front of a group of people, whereas some people live for performing. But both are using music for a totally legitimate reason. Both are entitled to play that song or that instrument either as a private expression or a public one.

I think writing is just the same. Some people, like me, write to perform. I get paid to write, and I feel lucky and priviledged to be able to do that. But it's OK to write just for yourself. You shouldn't ever think that a poem or a story is too corny, too daggy or too rude to write down. I think everyone should have a secret place where they can put bits of writing that no one else should ever see. I have one. I also believe that such a folder or box should be clearly marked "To be destroyed unopened upon the unfortunate occasion of my death," and such a request totally respected. That would then be a place where you could keep anything you'd written that you wanted to keep private. That way writing could fulfil one of its great but slightly cliched roles: self-expression.

So some people perform, while some people write for fun or because they want to get certain things off their chests. Some people (like me) do both. That's the first way writing is like music, and now here's the other.

Anyone who wants to play an instrument well, either for fun or performance, has to do two things. First they have to practise, and as we all know, the least interesting form of practise is scales. But it's also one of the most important, because it trains your fingers where to go, and it trains your ear to recognise differences in tone, pitch and tempo. It is no different for a writer. You need to practise, and by that I mean every day.

How does a writer do scales? Easy, really -- much easier than you'd think. You just write, every day, about anything. Even if you feel no inspiration at all, you just have to write. Musicians don't feel like practising every day, but they know they have to, and so do writers.

Here are some ideas for practise. Close your eyes and listen. Then describe everything you can hear. Or just start writing without stopping for five minutes, scribbling down whatever comes into your head. Take a word - any word, like love, or pain, or fire, or green, or fingers or anything at all (even someone's name) and write a few lines using that word at the beginning of each line. Write a letter to someone - that's one of the best, I think.

This practise I'm talking about doesn't have to be for very long. Fifteen minutes, half an hour, 500 words, two pages -- it doesn't matter. As long as you write something every day, and do it as well as you can. Soon you'll find that you're putting words together in a way that you'll find quite amazing. You'll read something you've written and think I had no idea I could write this well! It's a good feeling.

The other thing musicians must do to be successful is to listen to a lot of music, and not just one kind, either. Of course, you'll have guessed by now that the equivalent activity for a writer is reading a lot. I have up to five books that I am reading at any one time, and I find that if I read books by only one author my writing soon starts to sound like that author. So read a lot, mix it up a bit, and your writing will become more versatile and flexible. And better.

So there you have it - no excuse available. If you want to write just for you, then go for it. If you want to write for others, do that too. But write every day and read every day. Musicians practise for hours every day - I think we writers get off pretty light compared with that!