Too late to start a Pandemic Journal?

But not too late to resume writing 'morning pages'.  When I was working every day on my (I hope temporarily) abandoned novel, I began each day by writing a simple journal. Not so much a diary as random reflections, jotted down, without much pause for thought or refinement, in a series of notebooks. These 'morning pages' served as a kick-starter for  the hard work of structuring, writing, editing the novel-in-progress. I can't find the first note book with page after page of handwritten observations and reflections, but I found one which begins on January 1st, 2008. The first words are "New Notebook". In the general tidying/clear-out inspired by lockdown, I daresay the first notebook(s) will turn up. No matter. I can see that I began this particular writing exercise known as 'morning pages' more than ten years ago. I see from the notebooks I have found on the waiting-to-be-tidied shelves and cupboards that there are gaps. The most sustained sequences correspond with periods when I was structuring, writing and editing my last two novels. I conclude that the exercise works. And it's what I always tell aspiring novelists who turn to me for advice. "Exercise the writing muscle," I say. "Routine is important. Inspiration needs to know where you'll be every day in order to turn up." And "the most important thing is to begin." Or, in my case, begin again. I must follow my own advice.