Doesn't sowing take a long time? I’m one of those people who tend to judge how well I’ve used my time by how much writing I’ve done. However, what ultimately matters to the freelance writer, of course, is how many commissions you’re offered. Well, unless you’re extremely lucky — and even if you are — it’s still necessary to keep your ideas fresh.

Thus it is that so far today I have spent several hours looking at the following:

• Checking the ideas I’ve had in the past, to see if they can be used, re-used or updated. (I keep a spreadsheet of my ideas.)

• Checking my ideas spreadsheet to see which magazines I’ve pitched which ideas to. Perhaps the same idea could be repurposed for a different outlet. Or perhaps an idea that was rejected before will not be rejected this time.

• Trawling the internet to find inspiration.

• Pitching ideas to two editors.

• Pitching ideas for courses to a college.

Even if none of these pitches are fruitful now, I’m sure they will be one of these days.

One last thing. The secret of pitching ideas to editors is to not wait until you need to. Do it while you’re busy writing. The idea is that by the time your present assignments have been completed, there will be more to start getting on with. As some of the station announcements in London say: mind the gap!