Practice and progress in climbing and writing

This is the third of a short series on lessons learnt from climbing and how they relate to writing. Click on these links for the introduction and a look at progress.

When the climbing wall has put up new problems, there’s a temptation to jump straight on them. But I try to be sensible. I’ll do a few easier climbs to warm up. After sitting in my car for an hour I need to stretch a bit. I need to get my fingers used to gripping holds again, my body used to twisting at strange angles.

I p...