Lists! Lists! Lists!

People are always interested in lists. In fact, you can buy books which consist entirely of lists, such as The Book of Lists: The Original Compendium of Curious Information by Amy And Wallechinsky and David Wallace, The Top Ten of Everything: The Ultimate Book of Lists by Russell Ash; Ultimate Book of Lists by Michael Cader.

I used to have letters printed in magazines which were based on lists, and there is a website called listverse which contains lots of lists of odd things. One of my favourites in RJ Evans' article Top Ten Bizarre Coffins. They really live up to their name. The pictures are incredible.

When I'm searching for some books to buy on Amazon, I enjoy the lists of books that readers have compiled on Listmania! I often come across books I wouldn't have known about otherwise.

Making lists is a fun thing to do as a warm-up or to fill in spare moments while you're waiting for a bus or for the kettle to boil. We played this game in my writing class recently and really enjoyed it.

It was particularly interesting when people wrote about 'Ten things I would rescue if my house were on fire'. Most people chose things that were irreplaceable like their insurance policies, their wedding photographs and items of sentimental value.

But one of the students was intent on saving the contents of his kitchen, including the washing machine, the fridge, the freezer, and even the bacon and eggs he had in his fridge!

Have fun! Read a few lists. Then maybe write some of your own.