Don’t assume you know what your blackout poem (or any poem, really) will be about when you begin. If you try and shoehorn your preconceived notions into your work it will often come out hamfisted and obvious. Better to let the words tell you what they want and have your subconscious take the wheel.

I started getting emails from strangers. People wanting me to give them writing advice, or workshop pieces with them. A podcast wanted to interview me on “whatever I was working on at the moment”. I began freaking out. The commissioning editor rang from London wanting me to write more…

If now is not time to seize control of our own narratives, then it never will be.