Summer is often the time, if you’re not working and have the opportunity, to rest the mind and sink into the world of books. Summer reading is always a big thing, with bookshops doing their best to tempt you with beach reads and not-to be-missed novels. Shop windows will be magnificently dressed to entice you in. Maybe offers of coffee and comfy sofas too will be positioned near to the door offering you the chance to nip in to browse then nab a book or three.

But what if you’re the writer? Been to a few lit fests and been inspired? Need to get those words down? Well now’s the time, and never shy to offer you, loyal reader, a few writing prompts, how about these: how often do you see a shop described as a Noted house for paper bags? Isn’t it wonderful? If you’d like to know more, here’s a link to the website Ghost Signs where you can learn more about it. If you fancy a bit of black and white, try this, taken at one of the UK’s last remaining tidal mills, Woodbridge Tidal Mill in Suffolk.

Or maybe this? Early morning sunlight on the River Leam in Leamington Spa. And here, one of my favourites this year, taken somewhere in the Caribbean. And not by me unfortunately! No filters, nuthin.

How about some written prompts then?

Here’re some that may nudge you toward a poem or short story, novel even…

1 The Tunisian sand, warm beneath his feet, shifted slightly as he moved. There, out at sea, he saw something resting on the water…

2 Heat was everywhere. The ground, the walls, the windows, fever-hot and unrepentant. Shadow was in short supply…

3 Midday and the forest air was still. Silently life continued deep underground and in the canopy, but for now, the stillness held an eerie calm…

4 The fight in the street caused little interest. A baby cried somewhere and a desolate dog barked. Ed returned with onions and apples stolen from his local supermarket and his stomach grumbled, hollow and cold…