Just Start

I started writing FN yesterday and continued where I left off in a very important chapter. My goal was to hit 500 words and within an hour, I’d written 600 and didn’t even realize I’d gotten that far. I thought I’d written maybe 200 or a little more, but I didn’t expect 600. At that point, knowing where the rest of the chapter was going to go, I wrapped it up for the day. Leaving off where you know what’s going to happen next ensures that it’ll be easier to get started the next writing session because you don’t have to worry about what to write next, you already know what it’s going to be.

I don’t believe in Writer’s Block. I think it’s just an excuse for people to not write. If you sit and stare at your screen or paper long enough and tap at the keyboard or push the pen to paper, you will eventually start writing something. Having a moment where you lack creativity is one thing, but you can push through that. The idea of not being able to write because there is a mental block against it occurs simply because you’re not physically writing. When you’ve done any job of writing where you aren’t allowed to have Writer’s Block, such as journalism, you learn that the physical act of starting to write is enough to find some creativity and inspiration. It comes to you once you sit down and start. You can become inspired and then write but as we all know, not every session is going to start like that. You need to sit down and begin writing and then it will start to come to you. Wannabe writers wait for inspiration to strike and then begin writing. Real writers start writing and then the inspiration comes. Not every session is going to create a masterpiece. Most if not all of your sessions will produce shit. Editing and rewrites will eventually produce a masterpiece if you’re any good.