- Writing constantly is very important, I tend to keep a journal, and several notepads for all kinds of things; I write down ideas, sentences I like, words I like or don’t recognise, or don’t use a great deal, names, etc, etc.
- Usually at some point I’ll take time to trawl through the notebooks and try to expand on anything I’ve written. During these attempts it begins to become clear what will work best as a short story or a poem or anything else.
- Next follows draft upon draft upon draft, all annotated and changed back and forth until I am reasonably happy with the result. I read and reread my work, internally and out loud. When it reaches a certain stage I try to have others read it too and give feedback.
- Even after something is ‘finished’ I will often go back and make changes to it.
- Writing is very important to me because it helps to make sense of myself and the world as I experience it. However, it can be a very difficult task to connect with other writers because sharing work can make me very self-conscious. In trying to overcome this awkwardness I thought sending the work to a website would make an excellent start.  
 

Peter Cummings - January 2012.