Getting Started Is the Hardest Part

The hardest part of writing, for me, has always been getting started.  As a matter of fact, that's always been the hardest part of anything.  It was the hardest part of doing homework; it was the hardest part of practicing the guitar; it's the hardest part of working out; it's the hardest part of my work day.

Yesterday, I finished my first short story for 52 Short Stories, and I think it was probably the hardest one that I'll have to write.  I have not written fiction in over a year, and I had to jump head first into it, find inspiration, and start producing words.  The end result is nothing that I'm proud of, but I know it's a step in the right direction.  Rereading the piece, I can see the prose tightening up as the story progresses, to the point where the end feels like it was written by a completely different person than the beginning.

What follows are a few tips that I find helpful in overcoming the dreaded blank page/canvas/slate/etc. 

1. Set a deadline

Whether it was back in school, or freelancing, or working my day job, I have never been able to get anything done unless I knew there was an impending deadline.  The stress of a deadline gives me the mental focus I need to get something done.

If I don't have a deadline, I will procrastinate indefinitely, and something will never get done.  "Put up blinds," has been on my to do list forever.  Unfortunately, I haven't bothered to give it a deadline, so it will probably continue to live there indefinitely.

Setting deadlines is more than just selecting an artificial date for when something needs to be done.  It also means making yourself accountable for that date.  Myself, I use this blog as a means of staying accountable (as well as posting a progress sheet).

Another simple way of creating accountability is by telling someone that you intend to have something done by a certain date, and making them ask you on that date, if it's done.  For most of us, the desire to not fail in the eyes of another is enough to get our asses in gear.

2. Ease your way into it

I stumbled across a neat website the other day that is a tool for writers who have a hard time getting started.  OneTwoFiver tries to slowly coax you into writing by asking you to start by writing a single word.  Then two words.  Then five.  Then ten, 20, 50, 100, 200, 500.  By the end of the exercise, you've written 888 words and are pretty much in the writing groove.  I don't use the site, but the idea behind it remains the same.  Even if you can't imagine where you're going from the blank page, start by putting a single word down.  Just the act of writing something, even if very little, psychologically eases the burden.

3. Create your own writing prompt

Part of the problem with starting a creative project is that from nothing, you can go anywhere. The magnitude of options open to a person is enough to awe him into shock (not the same as shock and awe).

A prompt is simply a way of giving yourself a topic, any topic, to focus your creative energies on.  I have started keeping a document that I call an idea dump. Any time a cool idea, a catchy phrase, or an interesting insight occurs to me, I jot it down (if I'm not at a computer, I jot it down on plain ol' notepad), and at some point, I collect all my jotted notes, and transcribe them into the idea dump.  The dump is just a collection of random ideas, and thoughts.  The great part about it, is that if I need inspiration, I can go into it, grab one of the dozens of bits that's in there, and expand upon it to form a topic.  Two or three words are usually enough to narrow the scope from anything to something.

If you don't have an idea dump, there are plenty of places you can get writing prompts from.  The front page of a newspaper is full of content that can be used as a starting point.  If you're in a public place, spend a few minutes people watching and someone will eventually inspire an idea.  If all else fails, grab a dictionary, open it up to a random page, and pick a word.  Now create something that has to incorporate that word.  The idea is not to stay as focused on the prompt as possible, rather it's to use it as a starting point from which to build something that could very well be completely unrelated to it.

4. Give it 10 minutes

Part of the problem with starting something new is regarding the enormity of the project, and being overwhelmed by a project that seems impossible - or at the very least like a whole lot of work.

Instead of thinking of finishing the thing, tell yourself that you're just going to work on it for ten minutes, and then stop.  Anyone can find ten minutes to work.  And it should not be hard to produce ten minutes worth of content, whether it be words, art, or any other project.  The idea is to make "starting" as ridiculously simple as possible.

The next time you come back to your work, your goal may be to work on it for two hours, but it will already seem infinitely easier, because at least now, it's been started.

5. Reward yourself

I will admit that I don't really do this, but I know many people who find it highly effective.  Set yourself a goal, say to write the first 1,000 words of your short story, and if you accomplish it, you reward yourself with a snack, or watching a TV show, or anything else that you might enjoy.

The idea is that most people don't work for free, so by rewarding yourself, you're giving value to the work that you're doing.  You're also providing positive reinforcement for yourself, so that you associate getting a project started with a positive outcome (the snack, the TV show, the romantic evening, etc.).

Although there's something vaguely unsettling to me about training myself the same way dogs are trained, this method works very well for many people.

6. Just Do It

My final tip, and the one that is usually the last resort if none of the above work, and I need to stop being lazy is to "Just Do It."  Sounds stupid, right?  "If I could 'just do it,' then I wouldn't need this damn list," you're probably thinking to yourself.  Well, guess what?  You don't really need this list.  Just get off your ass, stop reading this blog, and go produce.

Tough love is sometimes the only thing that works.  Artists and creative people can often be a whiny lot. We constantly complain how hard it is to be creative. I say, suck it up.  Writers and creative types need to toughen up and just realize that if they don't get it done, then it just won't get done.  If you crank out widgets all day, and you decide you don't feel like doing it anymore, someone else can be found to crank out widgets.  But, if you don't write your novel, no one else will write it for you. 

Essentially, you need to force yourself to produce.  This will likely cause what you create to be total crap at the very beginning, but once you get into a rhythm, the initial friction of getting started will give way to free-flowing creative juices.  Later on, you can go back and edit that crap and bring it up to par with the rest of your masterpiece.

So?  What are you waiting for?   Get to it!

Photo courtesy of amypalko.