Beach Hut Inspiration

Writing in Mablethorpe

Yes, that's a photo of me, taken this morning. Writing my latest manuscript on a netbook by our hired beach hut in Mablethorpe. My family and I have come back for a few days to revisit the seaside resort where we spent several happy summers in the 70s. It's lovely and sunny, the resort is well cared for, and I am able to stop by the shop where my sister bought her cricket bat over 20-odd years ago and it is still there, looking exactly the same. (The shop, not the cricket bat.) I know the shop still looks the same because I remember it vividly. How lucky are we, forced by profession to endlessly cast our minds back to our own childhoods? Now I'm getting to see it all again in bricks and mortar (and sand and sweets and fish and chips!).

I know I've said it before, but I love the flexibility of being a writer. I love the fact that I was able to write on the train over here, that I can enjoy the ludicrous pleasure of writing in a beach hut (take that garden sheds!) and that I am able to sit on a bench - the only place I can pick up my wifi connection - to compose this post, schedule it for publication tomorrow (Wednesday) and hope to goodness that technology doesn't let me down.

I have worked very hard in the sunshine today. It probably doesn't meet a single health and safety regulation and I don't particularly care. It's getting a bit chilly now, so I'm going to leave this bench and duck back into the hut to crack open that bottle of wine. I wouldn't be allowed to do that in an office.

Did I mention I love writing?

What do you like best about this mad profession of ours? I highly recommend beach huts for inspiration!

Please visit my website at www.karen-ball.com.