Creative writing advice while at home

In our new creative ‘Start-Write’ competition, we’re asking children to write about their lockdown experience to win some fabulous prizes - a year's worth of Start-Rite shoes and an Eco Scooter from Micro Scooters.

We know it can be tricky to get started, so we asked Heidi Scrimgeour, mum of three, writing tutor and freelance journalist, for some inspirational tips on how to get started…

“It doesn’t matter what’s going on in the world – or inside your head, for that matter – writing it all down can really help you make sense of things. The secret of great writing is simple – don't worry about what anyone else will think of what you write – write for YOU. One day, when all of this is over, people will read about what we experienced during the pandemic and how lockdown affected us – but you’re getting to live through this chapter of history!"

• If you’re not sure where to start, think about what you can see, hear, taste, smell or touch nearby, and write about that to get your ideas flowing.
• Or perhaps imagine yourself as a news reporter, capturing the colourful detail of this unusual time so that people in the future will have a glimpse into what life is like.
• If that doesn’t get your creative juices flowing, focus on the fact that you could win some gorgeous new shoes or an Eco scooter, and write about how much those prizes would cheer you up during lockdown!”

Find out more about entering our creative ‘Start-Write’ competition>

Find out more about Heidi on her Instagram page >

The Start-Rite Team have also put together six sensational reasons to ‘Start-Write’ today…

• Help make sense of feelings at a difficult time.
• Learn to communicate feelings.
• Focus on the positives as well as the negatives.
• Improve reading, writing and grammar skills.
• See your writing up on our dedicated page for all the world to see.
• Win an amazing prize from us and Micro Scooters.