I have recently discovered the joys of audiobooks. "AAARGH!" I hear you scream, "Sacrilege!" Writers are supposed to read books, not listen to them, surely?

Perhaps, but I like them anyway. I particularly enjoy an audiobook that is read by the author, it seems more personal, somehow, to hear a writer speak her own words with her own emphasis, and if you are lucky, give some extra insights and commentary.

At the moment I am listening to "Writing Down the Bones", by Natalie Goldberg. There is something oddly soothing about her slow, nasal, Jewish-American voice encouraging me in my meagre writing efforts and reminding me to "know who you are". I am probably about half-way through it, and as I listen, I can feel my writer's spirit re-awakening from a long, dead sleep.

It is so easy to make washing the dishes, weeding the garden or my day job more important than my writing. And for all practical purposes, perhaps they are. But my writing, even when it is bad and self-indulgent (as it often is), is what grounds me and gives me the energy to deal with the irritating minutae of life that so often catch me off-guard.

If I know who I am, I can take the incompetent government officials, bad tempered colleagues and tantruming children in my stride. When I know who I am, I am emotionally shielded from the "credit crunch", crime statistics and crazy fuel price.

And who am I? I am a mother, a wife, a worker and a citizen of this world. But above all, I am a writer who trusts in the Stream of Conciousness that feeds my talents, and those of all the great artists, thinkers, economists and workers for good in this world.