“Don't tell me the moon is shining; show me the glint of light on broken glass.”― Anton Chekhov

This summed it all up for me as I scrolled through page after page of quotes for today's blog.

I was asked by someone the other day - why do you write?

Fair question, when I could fish, or fly or fly fish for that matter.

Writing is a curse. It's also a blessing - a sort of blessing in disguise, it keeps you awake at night, normally around two a.m. when it taps into your sub-conscious mind, like a phantom, busily making notes on an ancient typewriter, that happens to be right next to your pillow.

But ask any author if they object to this type of insomnia and they will just smile.

As Scrooge was visited by his Ghosts - then so a decent author must be visited by their scripts.

It's how it is and probably always has been - even in Chekov's days, who, incidentally was a doctor as well as a writer. I loved this - "Medicine is my lawful wife", he once said, "and literature is my mistress."

I'll leave it at that, but don't tell the Redhead..

Oh, and keep looking at that broken glass, there may be a clue in there about me and my future...