Oscar Wilde once said that he passes on good avice to others because it is rarely of any use to oneself. I wonder if the same applies to advice about writing.

I've tried doing what all the "greats" do, write every day. This proved a bit too difficult, but then I read some advice to the effect that writing for 15 minutes a day is a good idea. After all, anyone can find 15 minutes during the course of 24 hours, right?

Well, it worked for me for a week or so, but there's a lot I want and have to do -- and as someone I know commented when I was relating how I felt a bit of a failure at not doing this simple thing:

"There are only so many 15 minutes in a day."

I think the best thing is, experiment with different approaches, read as much as you can about how the great writers did it and do it, and then find what works for you.

I believe that a lot of writers go through the stage of reading about and then trying lots of routines, and then developing their own.

It seems to be a necessary phase, but the key thing is to make sure it is a phase, not a permanent state. I can think of nothing worse than suddenly realising that years and years have gone by in which you have not managed to write or publish anything -- because you've been searching for that magic formula that works for everyone.

I no longer think there is one.