Tough Writing Project? Just Start
May 16, 2007 by Anne Wayman
Filed under Jobs
Have you ever had a writing project you didn’t know how to start? I just started one… I’ve been pacing around, avoiding this one, doing all sorts of things instead of this one for about a week.
It’s not that I don’t like the project – I do. I just didn’t know how to get any traction on it.
So what changed?
I opened the file and began… I turned off the radio and wrote.
It took about an hour to get three paragraphs, and you know what? They aren’t bad. Oh, they’ll get rewritten, but the sense of the way to begin this particular book is there.
Sure some of the pacing and avoidance was letting the information yeast. But the truth is, the last couple of days at least have been my refusal, until today, to do what I know needs to be done, and that’s write. Even if it’s wrong, if I write I’ll get something. If I don’t, nothing at all happens.
Whew!
Write well and often,
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There’s nothing to it but to do it :)
Hi Anne,
Boy, does that resonate with me! I’ve been pacing, looking at hardcopy, moving back to the computer, walking the dog… and finally, finally, I broke through and started writing something that shows promise. It ain’t pretty, but I can work with it. One line at a time. Eventually I’ll have a couple of pages of lines, which I can then modify, rearrange, delete, and expand. All of a sudden, it takes shape and somehow works. Maybe not perfect, but g-o-o-d e-n-o-u-g-h! Thank God!
Anne,
Great advice. When I run into that kind of problem, I go right back to basics. I turn off my computer’s wireless card, find a secluded corner (hard to do in a bungalow), and fire up a minimalist writing tool like a text editor or JDarkRoom. Then, I just type. And type and type and type.
It takes a bit of discipline to do that, but the process works.
Yep! Been there, done that! Somehow we always manage to get through though!
We all need a Round Tuit. Or a Do It Tuit.
The best part of writing is to be able to create something worth while out of a page of mis-matched words.
So true. So true. And just what I needed to hear this morning ;)
Side note – this is pretty much how I handle all tough projects, i.e. cleaning out a closet that’s been ignored for a year, giving my office an overhaul, diving into the fridge, etc. Anything that needs tackled but seems so big or difficult that I don’t know where to start.
ahhhhhhh – I knew I wasn’t alone!