Getting started ....
the starting line, the trailhead, the big leap ... all things new are smoother together.
Starting is the toughest part.
Truth is, every part of writing is a challenge.
When you’re starting, don’t worry about the pen, the place, the paper OR the how, when, where, or why.
Writing chooses its writer, its time, and everything else. You are a vehicle for flow now. Hold the hose. You feel like telling a story, right? You’re motivated to remember? Or did you just want to get something down that you suddenly remembered?
Write. It. Down.
It doesn’t matter where. Don’t wait for the ideal moment or the prettiest piece of paper.
Notebook, journal, scratchpad, iPad, envelope, napkin, bank machine receipt, or a cracker box you yanked out of the recycling.
Write. It. Down.
Many a fine title or opening line has found its birth on the edge of a note the teacher sent home from school. As you progress, compile a few pages (Yay!), stack up some notes in a file folder somewhere … remember a few things as you struggle to keep going…
This is your story…
It’s yours to tell. You choose the how and you choose the when.
Write because you can. When you are questioning whether to bother—get in touch with the purpose that drew you to put pen to paper in the first place. Preserve a family story? Leave a legacy? Purge some things that have nagged you for years?
Forgiveness, gratitude, appreciation, or love? Write because of those things, again.
You don’t have to know what this is going to be … write some lists, craft a scene, make it an essay or a chapter, but know that the book will take care of itself.