I’m writing this still in Devon, when I should actually be in Bristol. Thank goodness I checked the satnav before doing my usual thing of just setting off! Three and a half hours to do a one hour journey is not advisable, so I’m staying put for a while, with one eye on the map, watching the journey time slowly go down…

Meanwhile, I’m fortunate I can continue to sit at Mike’s table, drinking tea and cold water as required, rather than be sat in dangerously hot conditions in a car on the M5.

I’ve used the extra time to type up newly completed lyrics, and check against recordings, so we have accurate documentation of these three days. We made one decent recording of a song written last time; finished off two we started last time, then started two completely new songs. In between, over lunch and tea breaks, we had a couple of really good ideas that we need to ponder for a while. A productive time.

I love it here. As much as anything because for the duration I have no responsibility. I am housed and fed and entertained, and in that respect it does feel holiday-ish. But don’t be misled.

We have worked. It has been tiring. Last night I took myself off to bed just before ten because I was afraid I would embarrass myself by falling asleep on the sofa and snoring!

The work is intense. It requires deep thought and concentration. It requires proper listening, and consideration of the other person’s ideas. It is interactive, all of the time. I’m used to working mostly on my own, so this is much harder.

Sometimes the hard work is the push…this goes both ways. Staying at it, persevering when you know a breakthrough is close. Because previously it has been proven to work. When one of us is flagging and tending towards a tea break, the other will say “this is really good” or “I think this is close now” so that we carry on. The reward for perseverance is that it works, you find the right word or phrase, or series of chords to carry it through. We have discovered it is often better to have the tea break after the breakthrough, not before. There’s a train of though and a continuity that is often worth pursuing. (Except sometimes it’s not.)

In between the songs are conversations that we have realised make the songs possible. Chatting about what you’re writing about: “Who are these people?” “What is this place?” “What’s happened?”

These conversations are the difference between writing with Mike, and writing with other people. This is a different beast completely. It is hard work, yes, but it is also all the more rewarding because of that. The in-between bits are what turn a song into a good song. Or even a great song. This doesn’t happen in an hour or two, it’s a marathon not a sprint… We have to keep pushing at it.